January 4, 2010: College Football's "NIT"

January 4, 2010: The Fiesta Bowl is held, at the University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. This game is not for college football's national championship. But there were those who believed it should have been.

Boise State University, home of Albertsons Stadium and its garish blue artificial field known as the "Smurf Turf," were the Champions of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). They were 13-0, having beaten then-Number 16 Oregon at home, Miami University of Ohio at home, Fresno State away, Bowling Green away, the University of California at Davis at home, the University of Tulsa away, Hawaii away, San Jose State at home, Louisiana Tech away, arch-rival Idaho at home, Utah State away, Nevada at home, and New Mexico State at home.

They had risen to Number 6 in the country. However, the WAC was not one of the "Power Five Conferences" that tended to get its teams admitted to the Bowl Championship Series: The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Ten Conference, the Big Twelve Conference, and the Pacific-Twelve Conference (Pac-12). And, with only 1 win over a ranked team, it was decided that the Broncos weren't worthy of the Playoff.

Texas Christian University, a.k.a. TCU, had one been a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC), one of college football's "major leagues." But that league had folded in 1996, and so the Fort Worth-based Horned Frogs moved on, eventually landing in the Mountain West Conference, a school that had grown out of the WAC.

In the 2009 season, they had beaten Virginia away, Texas State at home, Clemson away, arch-rival Southern Methodist University (SMU) at home, the Air Force Academy away, Colorado State at home, then-Number 16 Brigham Young University (BYU) away, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) at home, San Diego State away, then-Number 16 Utah at home, Wyoming away, and New Mexico at home. They had risen to Number 3, and they did have wins over 2 ranked teams, 1 more than Boise State.

There were 3 other undefeated teams heading into the bowl games. Alabama was ranked Number 1, and Texas Number 2, and so they were sent to the BCS National Championship Game, to be held in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. Number 3 TCU and Number 6 Boise State would have to settle for the Fiesta Bowl. The University of Cincinnati also had to settle: They faced Number 5 Florida in the Superdome in New Orleans.

Since neither the WAC nor the MWC, which grew out of the WAC, is a "Power Five" conference, this was a consolation prize: Whoever won was still going to be undefeated, but wouldn't get to be called National Champions. It was, essentially, college football's version of the NIT. As far as I know, no one publicly called it it that at the time, but among the taglines used were the Separate But Equal Bowl, the Quarantine Bowl, the Fiasco Bowl, and the BCS Kids' Table.

Boise State took an early lead when Brandyn Thompson intercepted an Andy Dalton pass, and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown. Kyle Brotzman added a field goal in the 2nd quarter. In the last minute of the 1st half, Dalton threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Clay, bringing the Frogs to within 10-7. Late in the 3rd quarter, Ross Evans tied it with a 29-yard field goal.

Midway through the 4th quarter, the score was still 10-0. Bosie State had 4th down on their own 33-yard line, but pulled a fake punt: Brotzman threw a 30-yard pass to Kyle Efaw. The drive continued until Doug Martin ran the ball in from 2 yards, and Boise State won, 17-10.

Despite remaining undefeated, the Broncos only rose to Number 4 in the polls. Alabama beat Texas, 37-21, and were crowned National Champions. All Boise State could do was complain.

Florida ended Cincinnati's pretentions to the National Championship, 51-24. Still, Boise State fans thought they deserved a shot at Alabama -- a team with 6 All-Americans, including the Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mark Ingram.

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January 4, 2010 was a Monday. That was the only bowl game played that day. There was no Monday Night Football game in the NFL. Baseball was out of season.

There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 92-75 at the American Airlines Center (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Chicago Bulls, 98-85 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Utah Jazz, 91-87 at the Delta Center (then known as the EnergySolutions Arena) in Salt Lake city.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-95 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

Two games were played in the NHL. In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden. And the Los Angeles Kings beat their arch-rivals, the San Jose Sharks, 6-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose. (The Anaheim Ducks' arch-rivals are the Kings, but not vice versa.)

This was also the day that the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, shattering the record for the tallest building in the world. I have a separate entry for that event.