After years, Rutgers in bowl

Boise State is staying home for its postseason game.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rutgers will play in a bowl for the first time in nearly three decades and Boise State is staying home for its postseason game.
Rutgers (7-4) accepted an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 27 game in Phoenix against Arizona State.
The last time the Scarlet Knights played in a bowl game was 1978, when they played Arizona State in the Garden State Bowl at Giants Stadium, not far from their campus in New Jersey. Rutgers has had just four winning seasons since 1984.
Boise State accepted an invitation to play in the MPC Computers Bowl on the blue artificial turf of its home stadium. The Broncos will be making their fourth appearance in the nine-year history of the bowl.
Boise State (9-3) will play a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Dec. 28. North Carolina State (6-5) is considered to be a front-runner after beating Maryland 20-14 Saturday.
The Broncos beat Louisiana Tech 30-13 Saturday to earn a share of the WAC championship with Nevada. Fresno State (8-3) can also win a share of the title by beating Louisiana Tech on Friday
Home bowl games
Boise State last played in its home stadium bowl in 2002, defeating Iowa State 34-16. The Broncos also won two previous appearances, beating Louisville 34-31 in 1999 and UTEP 38-23 in 2000. The bowl was known as the Humanitarian Bowl in its first seven seasons.
Nevada (8-3) has a standing invitation to play in the Hawaii Bowl but still has an outside shot at the Motor City Bowl or Las Vegas Bowl. WAC officials decided to hold off on sealing that deal to see how the Bowl Championship Series shakes out.
If No. 8 Oregon earns an at-large berth in one of the BCS bowls, that would make it possible for the WAC to replace the Pac-10 in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22, commissioner Karl Benson said. If that happened, Louisiana Tech (6-4) would have a shot at the Hawaii Bowl.
BYU of the Mountain West Conference has already accepted a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.
Louisville is going to represent the Big East in the Gator Bowl. The game will pit the 16th-ranked Cardinals (8-2) against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2.
Officials waiting
Bowl officials will wait until after the inaugural ACC championship game between Florida State and No. 5 Virginia Tech to announce Louisville's opponent.
If the Hokies win and gain the automatic BCS bid that goes to the ACC champion, the Cardinals would likely face 10th-ranked Miami.
Toledo (8-3) of the Mid-American Conference will play in the GMAC Bowl on Dec. 21 against a team from Conference USA. The GMAC Bowl will be Toledo's fourth postseason game in the last five years and 10th overall. The Rockets played in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit in 2004, '02 and '01.