Akron loses chance to vindicate 2004 Silicon Valley Classic snub

The San Jose State-Akron game in 2033 was the Zips’ chance to right a wrong dating back nearly three decades before the game was supposed to be played.

Unfortunately, the Zips will not get a chance to avenge their 2004 Silicon Valley Football Classic snub, as San Jose State and Akron agreed to cancel their 2032 and 2033 home-and-home last week– a potential casualty of the MAC's anticipated move to a nine-game conference schedule.

One could easily overlook the series, but it connected to one of Akron’s greatest teams at the FBS level. The 2004 Akron Zips went 6-5, narrowly missing the MAC East title after losing a winner-take-all game against Miami in the season finale. Quarterback Charlie Frye threw for 2,623 passing yards and 18 touchdowns that season, receiving a Senior Bowl invite. Running back Brent Biggs and wide receiver Domenik Hixon both exceeded 1,000 all-purpose yards for the resurgent Zips.

Despite losing the chance to play in the MAC Championship, Akron still had hope. 2004 was one of the MAC's best years to date. The conference took advantage of numerous unfilled bowl spots to send five teams to bowl games. In all, there were fewer bowl-eligible teams than in most years. 59 of the then-120 FBS teams were eligible for the 28 bowls. Clemson and South Carolina helped the MAC immensely by removing themselves from bowl eligibility after their infamous brawl.

One such bowl game that needed a team was the Silicon Valley Football Classic. The bowl knew it would not get a seventh bowl-eligible team from the PAC-10, so it agreed to select a MAC team in mid-November.

After Bowling Green and Toledo took the MAC’s two original contracted bowl spots (the GMAC and Motor City Bowls, respectively), the Independence and Fort Worth Bowls also took MAC teams, with Marshall (then a MAC member) going to Fort Worth, while Miami went to Shreveport.

This left two MAC teams, Akron and Northern Illinois, fighting for the last bowl spot in the Silicon Valley Football Classic. The Silicon Valley Football Classic opted to take Northern Illinois to play against Troy, leaving the Zips at home for the holidays.

NIU would go on to beat the Trojans at Spartan Stadium by a final score of 34-21 in front of a crowd of just over 5,000 attendees in what would turn out to be the last edition of the Classic.

The NCAA went on to de-certify the Classic in the offseason, with the Classic's spot in the postseason eventually occupied by the Poinsettia Bowl, which played from 2005-16 before going on a 10-year hiatus.

In a strange twist of fate, the Poinsettia Bowl will be back for the 2026-27 campaign, with the game set to be played at Snapdragon Stadium, home of SJSU's main rival San Diego State.

Although the snub was disappointing, the Zips built on their 6-5 season in 2005, finishing 7-5 and winning their first MAC title ever. Akron finally received its first-ever FBS bowl appearance in the Motor City Bowl against Memphis.

Akron’s 2004 bowl snub may be a footnote in the program’s history, but it added additional narrative to a routine non-conference series.

Now, that opportunity is lost.