The 2004 Silicon Valley Football Classic 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

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I-A in 2001 in sports, 2001, became a American football, football only member of the ...

and the

Northern Illinois Huskies The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I and the Mid-American Conference (M ...

on December 30, 2004, at Spartan Stadium in

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. It was the fifth and final time the

Silicon Valley Football Classic The Silicon Valley Football Classic, sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley Bowl or Silicon Valley Classic, was an NCAA-certified Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that was played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of ...

was played and the final game of the

2004 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2004 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season ...

for both teams. Northern Illinois defeated Troy 34-21.

Background

For the 2004 bowl season the Silicon Valley Classic had contractual tie-ins with 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) and the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

(Pac-10); neither conference had enough bowl-eligible teams. In previous years the SVC had an agreement to take the Pac-10's No. 6 team, but was displaced by the new

Emerald Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it w ...

and had to settle for No. 7, if one existed. Organizers obtained permission from the Pac-10 to look elsewhere, and on November 16 announced an agreement with the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

, which had five bowl-eligible teams but as yet only two bowls. Since the beginning of the bowl in 2000, 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 ...

represented the WAC. Although the SVC invited Fresno State back, the Bulldogs opted for the

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 ...

, where they would face #18-ranked Virginia from the ACC. Left without a WAC team, organizers turned to the

of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

. Troy had never played in a bowl game before, having just moved up to Division I in 2001 and joined the Sun Belt in 2004.

Game summary

*Troy - McDowell 1 yard touchdown run (Whibbs kick), 1st 10:41 (9-78, 4:19) *Troy - Richardson 23 yard touchdown pass from McDowell (Whibbs kick), 1st 6:05 (8-73, 2:51) *Northern Illinois - Wolfe 50 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 1st 4:46 (3-73, 1:19) *Northern Illinois - Haldi 1 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 1st 1:15 (5-28, 1:46) *Northern Illinois - Nendick 30 yard field goal, 2nd 9:49 (4-1, 1:35) *Northern Illinois - Haldi 1 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 2nd 0:34 (7-56, 2:45) *Northern Illinois - Nendick 39 yard field goal, 3rd 7:50 (9-46, 3:35) *Northern Illinois - Harris 3 yard touchdown run (Nendick kick), 4th 14:30 (11-70, 6:37) *Troy - McDowell 4 yard touchdown run (Whibbs kick), 4th 10:50 (9-82, 3:40) Rain could not stop the Huskies from scoring 34 straight points after trailing 14-0 early in the first quarter. Northern Illinois rushed for 213 yards (as opposed to Troy's 170) while passing for 146 yards to the 122 yards of the Trojans. NIU had the ball for 32:08 of the game. Josh Hadli threw 8-of-24 for 146 yards while rushing for 11 yards on 5 carries. For Troy, DeWhitt Betterson rushed for 150 yards on 25 carries.

References

{{Troy Trojans bowl game navbox

Silicon Valley Classic The Silicon Valley Classic was a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Started in 1971, the tournament was the oldest women's-only tournament in the world and was played on outdoo ...

Silicon Valley Football Classic Northern Illinois Huskies football bowl games Troy Trojans football bowl games Silicon Valley F