The 2004 MPC Computers Bowl was a post-season

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 ...

between the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

and the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

on December 27, 2004, 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, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. Fresno State won the game 37–34 in overtime on a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Paul Pinegar to

Stephen Spach Stephen Joseph Spach (born July 18, 1982) is an American former professional football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played co ...

. Virginia had a complicated route to the MPC Computers bowl. Strong hopes based on a 5–0 start and a #6 ranking were dashed by a 36–3 blowout loss to

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and a third-place finish in the ACC. The

Champs Sports Bowl The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone many name changes due to sponsorship rights. The bowl is o ...

typically took the fourth-place bowl eligible ACC team, but Virginia declined the bid as the game (played on December 21) would have conflicted with final exams. For a time the

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bow ...

was a possibility, as the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) failed to produce enough bowl-eligible teams, but this was contingent on the MPC Computers Bowl getting a

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

school—either Boston College, Connecticut or Syracuse—to replace an ACC team. The MPC Computers bowl normally had the sixth choice of ACC teams, which would have been

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

or Clemson. Clemson declined all bowl invitations after a season-ending brawl, while Georgia Tech took Virginia's place at the Champs Sports Bowl. The Big East declined to send a team to the MPC Computers Bowl, so on December 1 Virginia accepted the bid. Fresno State accepted a bid on December 1 as well, after finishing third in 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 ...

. It was Fresno State's six straight bowl game and its first one outside of California since the

1999 Las Vegas Bowl The 1999 Las Vegas Bowl was the eighth edition of the annual college football bowl game. It featured the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Utah Utes. Game summary Fresno State scored first, when Utah placekicker Cletus Truhe had his field goal atte ...

. Virginia and Fresno State had never played each other before.

References

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 Fresno State Bulldogs football bowl games Virginia Cavaliers football bowl games 2004 in sports in Idaho December 2004 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub