 In 2003, the Insight Bowl contracted with the Big East conference and Pacific-10 conference to select teams for participation in its annual game. Big East champion Miami was awarded an automatic Bowl Championship Series berth, and second-place Pittsburgh accepted a bid to the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina. Continental Tire Bowl officials considered inviting Virginia Tech to participate in the game, but were required to invite Virginia due to the Continental Tire Bowl's contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference. Rather than selecting two teams that faced each other in the final game of the regular season, Continental Bowl officials chose another team. The other possibility for the Hokies was the San Francisco Bowl, whose managers also held a contract with the Big East, but because Tech played in the previous year's San Francisco Bowl, the bowl's organizing committee decided against a second invitation.
