Three days out from Sunday night’s Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl it is becoming more apparent that BCS No. 15 Nevada (11-1) will have a sizable home field advantage when it takes the field to face Boston College (7-5) at AT&T park in San Francisco.

Situated just 218 miles northeast of San Francisco by car, Reno, Nevada is a reasonable drive for a fan base full of fervor after the Wolfpack delivered one of the biggest victories in program history when it knocked off then-No. 3 Boise State 34-31 in overtime in front of a national TV audience on Nov. 26.

Recent reports claim that Nevada sold more than 15,000 tickets through university sales. Wolfpack head coach Chris Ault claims that he expects at least 25,000 fans to make the trip from Reno to “The City by the Bay” for the bowl game. Boston College sold approximately 6,000 tickets and returned 2,000 in comparison. AT&T Park seats 40,184 when configured for football.

The penultimate game of the bowl season, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is far from a throwaway matchup scheduled unfashionably late in comparison to the Bowl Championship Series games being played this week. Nevada’s lone loss of the season came in October at Hawaii while Boston College won its final five games.

Led by the No. 1 rushing duo in NCAA history in quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running back Vai Taua, Nevada finished the regular season with the third-ranked rushing offense in the country. The Wolfpack averaged 305.9 rushing yards per game, 6.3 per carry, and totaled 52 touchdowns on the ground.

To the surprise of no one, Boston College found its greatest success on the other side of the football. Known for its dominant linebackers, the Eagles found their groove late in the season when it limited its last five opponents to 59 points combined (11.8 avg.). Luke Kuechly led the country with 171 stops for Boston College and finished second in Butkus Award voting while fellow linebacker Mark Herzlich returned from a season off the field battling cancer to contribute 60 tackles.

Boston College enters the game with the nation’s No. 1 rushing defense, limiting opponents 80.1 yards per game on the ground and just 2.6 yards per attempt. The Eagles are the only team to have allowed fewer than 1,000 rushing yards during the regular season. Teams combined for 962 yards on the ground against BC’s stout defense.

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