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Broncos looking for first bowl win Saturday

Jan. 3, 2007

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's football team will face the University of Cincinnati in the inaugural International Bowl Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The game will be televised live on ESPN2 in the United States and TSN in Canada beginning at noon EST. Live coverage also will be carried on the Bronco Radio Network, including, in the Kalamazoo area, WFAT 96.5 FM and WZUU 92.3 FM.

WMU Alumni Association "watch parties" for the International Bowl are planned in cities throughout the country, including Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth; Naples, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C.; San Antonio, Texas; Tampa, Fla.; and several locations in Michigan. For complete details, visit the Alumni Association on the Web.

The football Broncos are playing in their first bowl game since the 1988 California Bowl and only the third bowl game in school history. WMU is winless in its previous bowl appearances.

WMU finished the 2006 regular season with an 8-4 overall record and was 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference. The eight wins were the most since the Broncos posted nine during the 2000 campaign. Cincinnati finished 7-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big East Conference. The two teams have met only twice before, and not since 1950. Cincinnati is on a two-game winning streak, following victories over nationally-ranked Rutgers, 30-11, and Connecticut, 26-23.

WMU is led offensively by sixth-year senior Ryan Cubit, who is just 46 yards from eclipsing the 2,000-yard mark for the season and already has a career-high 15 touchdown passes this season. Cubit has thrown at least one scoring strike in nine-straight games this year and a season-best three at Ball State on Oct. 21. The Broncos also boast a potent running attack with Mark Bonds over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career.

Five Broncos were all-conference selections this season and linebacker Ameer Ismail was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the Associated Press All-America Second Team.

The International Bowl is the first college bowl game played outside of United States since the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba.

For more information, visit wmubroncos.com.

Media contact: Mat Kanan, (269) 387-4125, mat.kanan@wmich.edu

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