The 2006 MPC Computers Bowl was a postseason

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

held on December 31, 2006 at

Bronco Stadium Albertsons Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Western United States, located on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home of the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West Conference. Known as Bronco Stadium f ...

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. The game featured tie-ins between the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) which was represented by the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

and the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC), represented by the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

. The game was sponsored by the

MPC Corporation MPC Corporation was a computer-hardware company based in Nampa, Idaho, United States. It was best known as a provider of desktops, notebooks, servers and services to customers in the federal, state and local government, education, small and ...

which was formerly known as Micron.

Team comparison

Pre-season the ACC media favored Miami to win the conference but Miami posted a 6–6 record in the regular season. A brawl during the FIU game and the murder of defensive lineman Bryan Pata also marred the season. Miami fired head coach

Larry Coker Larry Edward Coker (born June 23, 1948) is an American former college football coach and player. He served as the head football coach of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2006 and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) from 2011 to 201 ...

at the end of the season and named defensive coordinator

Randy Shannon Randy Leonard Shannon (born February 24, 1966) is an American football coach and former player. He is the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Florida State University, positions he has held since 2022. Shannon was the head coach a ...

as his successor to take effect after the bowl game.2006 MPC Computers Bowl Recap
College Football Poll.com, December 31, 2006. Accessed June 6, 2009

June 10, 2009. The Hurricanes were ranked the third-best rushing defense in the nation, having allowed 792 yards on the ground. The Miami secondary, however, had proven somewhat porous by allowing 2,233 passing yards. The Hurricanes offense had struggled and quarterback

Kyle Wright Kyle Wright may refer to: *Kyle Wright (baseball) (born 1995), baseball player *Kyle Wright (American football) Kyle Wright (born October 18, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted ...

had thrown eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He suffered a broken thumb and was replaced late in the season by

Kirby Freeman Kirby Lyn Freeman (born March 28, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Miami Hurricanes footba ...

for the last three games. Freeman threw for five touchdowns and seven interceptions. On the ground, Miami gained 2,295 rushing yards.2006 MPC Computers Bowl Preview
College Football Poll.com, December 27, 2006. Nevada, led by long-time head coach

Chris Ault Christopher Thomas Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 20 ...

had performed according to expectations during the season, finishing the regular season 8–4. Quarterback Jeff Rowe passed for over 2,000 yards and a completion rate of 64.7%, but had also suffered 25 sacks. The Wolf Pack recorded 2,128

rushing Rushing means a sudden forward motion, or a surge or onslaught. Rushing may refer to: Tactics * Rush (gridiron football), advancing the ball by running on offense. On defense, charging the quarterback or kicker is a pass rush. * Human wave atta ...

yards, led by Robert Hubbard and Luke Lippincott. The Nevada defense recorded 19 interceptions to tie for eighth in the nation and allowed an average of 19 points per game.

Game summary

Miami tallied first when

led a 70–yard, 13–play drive capped with a one–yard

quarterback keeper A quarterback keeper or keeper in American football is a designed play in which the quarterback does not pass or hand off the ball to another player and instead rushes forward with it in an effort to gain yardage. The play typically is run in in ...

. With five seconds remaining in the first quarter,Game-saving interception by Grant ices win for Miami

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, December 31, 2006. Nevada recorded a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

by forcing Freeman to intentionally ground the ball. In the second quarter, Jeff Rowe connected with receiver

Marko Mitchell Marko Terrell Mitchell (born March 11, 1985) is an American former professional football wide receiver. He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft. He played college football for the Nevada Wolf Pack. M ...

for a 27–yard touchdown, but a

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion, two-point convert, or two-point attempt is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that ...

attempt failed. In the following possession, an 80–yard, four-play Miami drive culminated with a 52–yard Freeman pass to Ryan Moore. With five seconds remaining in the half, Nevada kicker Brett Jaekle made good a 33–yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

attempt. Miami led at halftime, 14–11. In the third quarter, Jaekle connected on a second 31–yard field goal to equalize the score. On the first play of their next possession, Freeman completed a pass to Sam Shields for a 78–yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Jaekle made 44– and 40–yard field goals to close the deficit to one-point. In the final minute, defensive back Chavez Grant intercepted a pass from Jeff Rowe on the Hurricane 33–yard line to seal the victory for Miami, 21–20.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Mpc Computers Bowl

MPC Computers Bowl The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, previously the Humanitarian Bowl (1997–2003, 2007–2010) and the MPC Computers Bowl (2004–2006), is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 1997 at Albertson ...

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Miami Hurricanes football bowl games Nevada Wolf Pack football bowl games

December 2006 sports events in the United States