When Oregon State coach Mike Riley met current Boise State quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith, it was purely by accident.

Riley had just begun his first tenure as Beavers head coach in 1997 and was recruiting a lineman at Glendora High in California when one of his assistants noticed a quarterback with a lively arm.

"I asked (the high school) coach, ‘Can I meet your quarterback?’ Riley recalled. "Here comes this 5-10, 175-pound guy and I’m thinking, this is not a Pac-10 quarterback."

The two talked and Smith was just looking for an opportunity to be on a college team. His aspirations involved becoming a coach one day.

Riley saw a bit of himself in the kid and made him an offer Smith wouldn’t refuse.

"I even offered him an official visit to trip (to Oregon State)," Riley said. "Come look at us if you want to walk on, and if you ever get to be second string, I’ll give you a scholarship. That was the deal."

Riley was 7-11 with only one Pac-10 victory midway through his second year when the team played a late-October game at Husky Stadium against Washington.

"We decided to alternate him. We were going to put him in at the end of the first quarter and he doesn’t get in because they’ve got the ball until midway through the second quarter," Riley said. "Jonathan Smith goes in and throws for 469 yards that day, breaks the Husky Stadium passing record. That is the game that turned Oregon State around."

Smith led the Beavers to their first bowl game in 34 years the next season, a 23-17 loss to Hawaii in the 1999 Oahu Bowl.

A year later, Oregon State went 11-1 and ended its season with a 41-9 pasting of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

Smith graduated owning seven school records and recorded more than 9,000 total yards of offense, going 24-14 as a starter.

He’ll reconnect with his former coach in Tuesday’s Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in his final game with the Broncos.

Smith is expected to join the staff of former Boise coach Chris Petersen, who accepted the head coaching job at Washington earlier this month.

Ticket update

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl executive director David Matlin estimated more than 26,000 tickets had been distributed for Tuesday’s game at Aloha Stadium as of Friday afternoon.

Matlin said there has been an up-tick in local sales since the matchup between Boise State and Oregon State was announced, with per-day sales ahead of the pace for last year’s game between SMU and Fresno State, which drew 19,712 through the turnstiles with 30,024 tickets distributed.

Bringing the swag

Regardless of the outcome of the game, neither team will return to the mainland empty handed.

The NCAA allows bowl games to give out up to $550 worth of gifts to players, with the Hawaii Bowl’s package coming out just under that amount, Matlin said.

The package includes a backpack, sunglasses, an aloha shirt, workout shirts and shorts and a beach towel. Players can also pick from a limited selection of electronics that will be shipped to them at a later date.