Sometimes when you win you lose

With a win over Nevada, Boise State would play in a championship bowl. If Boise State makes a championship bowl, then all of the teams in its conference would also receive a 1 million dollar payout. Nevada is in Boise State's conference so if Nevada lost they would receive the million dollar payout (see this article). Now a more complex analysis would consider some other things, but I think looking at all the possibilities, Nevada would lose money by winning the game.


Nevada lost the million dollars, but won the game.

This reminds me of the story of trying to score on yourself. The game was Barbados vs Grenada in the 1994 Caribbean soccer cup. Due to tie breakers Barbados would advance to the next round if they won by 2 or more goals. With 3 minutes left Barbados was only leading by one goal. But a tournament rule declared a team won by two if they won in overtime. So Barbados scored on themselves on purpose forcing the game in overtime. Then they won in overtime and went to the next round.

h/t to John for sharing this article