It was the first postseason bowl game (in American football) to be played outside the U.S. since the final Bacardi Bowl was played in Havana, Cuba in 1937.
It also made coach Brian Kelly the first coach ever to beat the same team twice in a season with different teams.
The game drew a crowd of 26,717. In this game, Cincinnati jumped out to a 24–0 lead with 10:22 left in the first half, but Western Michigan was able to score 24 unanswered points to tie the game at 24 early in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats defeated the Broncos 27–24 with WMU missing a late 51 yard field goal that could have sent the game into overtime.[1]
Besides the historic significance of the game itself, the UC–WMU matchup was of particular interest because newly-hired Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly coached Central Michigan University during the 2006 regular season. Kelly and Central Michigan, the main rival of WMU, defeated Western Michigan 31–7 just eight weeks earlier. In addition, both schools had been charter members of the Mid-American Conference (WMU is still in the conference today, but UC left after the 1952–53 academic year).
Broadcast[]
The on-air ESPN crew included John Saunders, who was born and raised in Toronto and graduated from WMU; and Doug Flutie, who played two seasons with the Toronto Argonauts, both of which ended in Grey Cup championships.