By Alex Pavlovic, San Jose Mercury News (MCT) Posted January 8, 2011
The team that shook the college football landscape has come to the Bay Area with a chip on its shoulder.
Nevada is ranked 15th in the country and a heavy favorite over Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T Park on Sunday. But the Wolf Pack is still stinging from the aftermath of its Nov. 26 upset of Boise State and the universal perception that the game was lost — not won — when BSU’s Kyle Brotzman missed two chip-shot field goals.
“Yeah, the kid missed two late field goals, but who put Boise in that situation?” asked Nevada running back Vai Taua. “They were blowing everybody out, but we came to play. We should be getting a little more credit for what we did that night.”
That night, Nevada didn’t merely knock Boise State out of the BCS bowl picture; it changed the course of many teams. For instance, Stanford seemed destined to play in the Alamo Bowl. Boise State’s loss opened the door to the Orange Bowl.
Nevada had trailed by 17 points, but rallied to tie the game with 13 seconds left. Boise answered with a 53-yard pass that set up Brotzman for a 26-yard field goal to win the game. He pushed it wide right, and then missed a 29-yarder in overtime.
Nevada won 34-31 when its freshman kicker, Anthony Martinez, converted from 34 yards out. That’s the part Nevada coach Chris Ault remembers fondly — and wishes more people did as well.
“Everybody talked about their kicker, but they all forgot to mention our kicker,” Ault said. “We had a great comeback, held the ball that whole fourth quarter, and then we almost lost because we played some poor defense at the end. People kept asking me about their poor kicker, and I said: ‘If we had lost, not one of you would have asked me about the poor defensive back who got beat on that (53-yard) pass.'”
A former athletic director, Ault knows firsthand why Boise State’s loss was such a big deal. For one, it had enormous financial repurcussions on several schools. including San Jose State.
According to Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson, the WAC would have made $8 million if Boise State had played in a BCS bowl — $5 million of which would have been shared by WAC member schools. Instead, Boise State ended up at the MAACO Bowl, worth about $1 million altogether. Everybody in the WAC lost out, including Nevada.
“I’m sure there are a lot of WAC teams that are upset, but that’s the way it goes,” Ault said. “It’s unfortunate that we celebrated the greatest win in school history and it actually ended up costing the conference money and costing the school.
“Maybe that’s a sign that some things need to be changed.”
Several Nevada players said they received angry emails and Facebook messages from Boise State fans, but added that most of their post-victory interaction was congratulatory. Then the Wolf Pack went out and beat Boise State again — this time for a berth in Sunday’s game. The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl could have chosen Boise State, but Nevada lobbied hard and has eased concerns about marketability by selling 15,500 tickets through the school.
As a result, the game will be sold out, and with a national television audience Sunday night, the Wolf Pack is looking forward to its moment in the sun.
“I feel that this school didn’t get the recognition it deserved up to the Boise State game, or since that point,” star quarterback Colin Kaepernick said. “We’re proud to finally be earning some recognition right now.”
