The Silicon Valley Football Classic (SVFC), sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley Bowl or Silicon Valley Classic, was an NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

-certified Division I-A post-season college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 bowl game that was played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San Jose State University

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

 in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, from 2000

2000 in sports

2000 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Renate Götschl, Austria-American football:...

 to 2004

2004 in sports

2004 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* College football Bowl Championship Series :**January 1 – Rose Bowl – USC 28, Michigan 14...

. It had a contractual tie-in with the Western Athletic Conference

Western Athletic Conference

The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...

 and the Pac-10. The bowl was initially televised on Fox Sports Net

Fox Sports Net

The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...

 and later moved to ESPN2

ESPN2

ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...

.

History

The Silicon Valley Bowl got off to a positive start as the 2000 game matched mid-major

Mid-major

Mid-major is a term used in American Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences...

 conference powers Air Force

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

 against Fresno State. The game drew about 85% of the stadium's capacity and fans saw an exciting 37-34 contest with one of the most memorable finishes of the year. Trailing 37-34 to Air Force with 14 seconds left, Fresno State was going to go for the win, not the tie. The Bulldogs faked a field goal, but holder Jason Simpson's pass to Giachino Chiaramonte fell incomplete in the end zone and Air Force claimed the inaugural Silicon Valley Classic.

The 2001 edition proved to be just as entertaining as Big 10 power Michigan State accepted an invitation to play Fresno State. The game was a near sellout with over 30,000 fans in attendance. Michigan State would defeat Fresno 44-35 in a shootout that would be the last college game for the 2002 NFL Draft

2002 NFL Draft

The 2002 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. The draft took place April 20–21, 2002 at the theater at...

 first pick, David Carr

David Carr

David Duke Carr is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Houston Texans first overall in the 2002 NFL Draft...

. Carr would throw for 531 yards and 4 touchdowns in a game that also featured future NFL players Jeff Smoker

Jeff Smoker

Jeff Smoker is an American football quarterback who played for the National Football League's St. Louis Rams from 2004 to 2005. He was also the starting quarterback for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League.-Michigan State:Jeff Smoker attended Michigan State University...

, Charles Rogers, TJ Duckett, and Bernard Berrian

Bernard Berrian

Bernard Berrian is a free agent American football wide receiver who last played for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft...

.

Things would eventually take a turn for the worse in 2002 when only 10,132 fans attended the third Silicon Valley Bowl, which featured Fresno St. and Georgia Tech. The 2002 game was hampered by bad weather combined with Georgia Tech bringing very few fans across the country to the game. Fresno State defeated Georgia Tech 30-21.

Fellow California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 team UCLA accepted an invitation to the 2003 game against Fresno State, but attendance still only reached 20,126 fans, representing approximately 64% of stadium capacity. After the 2003 game, the NCAA instituted new rules for the 2004-05 Bowl Season stating that stadiums had to draw at least 70% of their capacity for bowl games in order to continue hosting them.

The 2004 game would mark the end of the bowl. Although the bowl once again would have pre-season bowl tie-ins with the WAC

WAC

WAC is a three-letter acronym and may refer to:* WAC Corporal, the first U.S. sounding rocket* Walker Art Center, a modern art museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA...

 and Pac-10, neither conference would produce enough bowl-eligible teams to fulfill their obligations to the Classic. Although Fresno State's 8-3 record would normally have gained the Bulldogs an invitation to the game, WAC conference champion Boise State opted to play in the Liberty Bowl

Liberty Bowl

The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in December of each year from 1959 to 2007 and in January in 2009 and 2010. The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003...

 against Louisville, thus allowing 2nd-place Fresno to play in the Humanitarian Bowl against Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 in a matchup that was normally reserved for the WAC conference champion.

Silicon Valley Bowl officials would have to make do and invited Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois University

Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...

 of the Mid-American Conference

Mid-American Conference

The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 and Troy

Troy University

Troy University is a public university that is located in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was originally founded in 1887 as Troy Normal School. Its main campus enrollment is 7,194 students. The total enrollment of all Troy University campuses is 29,689...

 of the Sun Belt Conference

Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of Division I football competition . The Sun Belt has member institutions...

 as at-large teams. The two schools fielded relatively low-profile teams that year, and both schools were located more than 2,000 miles away from the game's location. The two teams also represented two of the three lowest-ranked bowl eligible teams in the NCAA that season. The only other bowl eligible team that could have been picked was another team from the MAC

Mid-American Conference

The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 in Akron

University of Akron

The University of Akron is a coeducational public research university located in Akron, Ohio, United States. The university is part of the University System of Ohio. It was founded in 1870 as a small college affiliated with the Universalist Church. In 1913 ownership was transferred to the City of...

. Although higher profile teams such as Clemson

Clemson University

Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....

 and South Carolina

University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

 were also bowl eligible, and could have drawn larger attendance numbers, both schools endured a self-imposed bowl ban that year because of a brawl that occurred between the two teams earlier in the season.

The 2004 Silicon Valley Bowl game itself was a disaster from the start, in part because of a severe thunderstorm that caused many local fans to stay away from the game. Also, just prior to the opening kickoff, the driving rain and wind caused an electrical transformer outside the stadium to malfunction, causing two light stanchions inside the stadium to fail. There also were persistent problems with the television feed that included starting the game 23 minutes late. Game attendance was a dismal 5,494, which represented approximately 18% of Spartan Stadium's capacity of 30,456. Even though the play by both teams was competitive and exciting, the inclement weather, empty stands and bad lighting amounted to a very unattractive national television broadcast.

Aside from the complete failure of the 2004 game, there were other issues that led to the bowl game's demise. Three out of the five games were played in horrible weather conditions. The type of rain experienced during the 2002, 2003 and 2004 games is highly uncommon in the San Jose area at that time of year. Also, the Classic was supposed to have a tie-in with the Pac-10 by offering an automatic berth to the 7th bowl eligible team in the conference. The PAC-10 and WAC tie-ins were supposed to make travel easier for fans of both bowl participants. However, during the bowl's five-year run, the PAC-10 conference only once produced enough bowl eligible teams to fill its spot in the Silicon Valley Classic. Also, the Classic received very little support from the local San Jose residents. Organizers hoped from the outset the host school would send its own San Jose State Spartans

San José State Spartans

The San Jose State Spartans is the name of the athletic teams representing San Jose State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Western Athletic Conference at the NCAA Division I level...

 to compete in the bowl, thus drawing attendance numbers up. Although the Spartans were bowl eligible in 2000, the bowl bid went to Fresno State because the Bulldogs finished with a better overall win-loss record.

Financial Impact

Surprisingly, the 2004 game was a financial success. This was largely due to the bowl requiring each school to purchase 8,000 tickets at $45 each for a total payout to the bowl of $720,000. Furthermore, both schools accepted no upfront money to play in the game. Troy had not yet appeared in a bowl game since moving to Division 1 in 2002 and Northern Illinois had not played in a bowl in 21 years. The advantage of featuring lower-profile programs in the 2004 Classic was that both schools were willing to make huge sacrifices just to appear in a nationally televised bowl game. Also, the city of San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 and Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

 each paid $100,000 to be named as primary bowl sponsors, and the WAC made a $300,000 commitment as well. The Classic also spent very little money on advertising. Despite the low attendance numbers, it was estimated the bowl netted a $200,000 profit in 2004. The bowl organizers planned to use these proceeds toward the 2005 game, which they hoped would bring more familiar west coast schools. City officials estimated the game brought roughly 6.4 million dollars to the San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 economy annually through increased hotel bookings and dining in what bowl and city officials stated is normally the slowest tourism week of the year.

Official end

In the end, poor attendance figures were too much to overcome to keep the Classic alive. On April 20, 2005, it was announced the game's license would not be renewed by the NCAA and the Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee. The SVFC was replaced by the Poinsettia Bowl

Poinsettia Bowl

The Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was created in 2005. The game was created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl and is played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The game is currently sponsored by the San Diego...

 in San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

.

Game results

Date Played	Winning Team		Losing Team
December 31, 2000		37		34
December 31, 2001	Michigan State 2001 Michigan State Spartans football team The 2001 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 2001 college football season.The Spartans played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan...	44		35
December 31, 2002		30		21
December 30, 2003 2003 Silicon Valley Football Classic The 2003 Silicon Valley Football Classic was a post-season college football bowl game between the and the on December 30, 2003, at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. It was the fourth time the Silicon Valley Football Classic was played and the final game of the 2003 NCAA Division I-A...		17		9
December 30, 2004		34		21

• The 2004 game featured a MAC
  Mid-American Conference
  The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
  
   vs. Sun Belt
  Sun Belt Conference
  The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of Division I football competition . The Sun Belt has member institutions...
  
   matchup- neither the Pac 10 or WAC was able to send a team.

Game MVPs

Year	Offensive MVP	Position	Team	Defensive MVP	Position	Team
2000	Mike Thiessen	QB	Air Force	Tim Skipper	LB	Fresno St.
2001	Charles Rogers	WR	Michigan St.	Nick Myers	DE	Michigan St.
2002	Rodney Davis	RB	Fresno St.	Jason Stewart	DL	Fresno St.
2003	Rodney Davis	RB	Fresno St.	Garrett McIntyre	DE	Fresno St.
2004	DeWhitt Betterson	RB	Troy	Lionel Hickenbottom	S	Northern Illinois

Most appearances

Rank	Team	Appearances	Record
1	Fresno State Fresno State Bulldogs football The Fresno State Bulldogs football team represents California State University, Fresno in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The green “V” on the Bulldogs' helmets, uniforms, field symbolize California Central Valley, specifically the San Joaquin Valley, the agricultural valley from which they...	4	2-2
T2	Air Force Air Force Falcons football The Air Force Falcons are a college football team from the United States Air Force Academy, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA Division I and the Mountain West Conference.-Style:...	1	1-0
T2	Michigan St. Michigan State Spartans football The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University in college football as members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level...	1	1-0
T2	Northern Illinois Northern Illinois Huskies football The Northern Illinois Huskies football team represents Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference of the NCAA's Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision.-History:...	1	1-0
T2	UCLA UCLA Bruins Football The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll...	1	0-1
T2	Georgia Tech Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in collegiate level football. While the team is officially designated as the Yellow Jackets, it is also referred to as the Ramblin' Wreck. The Yellow Jackets are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference...	1	0-1
T2	Troy Troy Trojans football The Troy Trojans football program represents Troy University, Alabama, in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A, of which it has been a member since 2001...	1	0-1