In December 2010 , organizers announced that they had reached a deal with BYU to play in the 2013 edition of the Fight Hunger Bowl . The Cougars , who became conference independent during the 2011 season , were scheduled to fill a slot originally allotted to a team from the Western Athletic Conference , which discontinued football prior to the 2013 season . After defeating the Boise State Broncos for their sixth win of the season on October 25 , bowl director Gary Cavalli extended an invitation to play in the game . Cavalli stated in 2010 that he had been hoping to secure the Cougars ' participation in the game since 2002 . If the Cougars did not earn enough wins to become bowl eligible , an alternate team from the Atlantic Coast Conference would have replaced them ; though they finished bowl eligible , one ESPN writer opined they were even better than their record indicated
conference independent
NCAA Division I FBS independent schools
2013 Fight Hunger Bowl