TORONTO — Kevin Lovell's 33-yard, fourth-quarter field goal lifted Cincinnati to a 27-24 victory over Western Michigan yesterday in the International Bowl — the first college bowl played in Canada and first outside the United States since 1937.

Lovell's kick with 8:49 left came after a 7-yard touchdown run by Western Michigan's Brandon West tied it. The Bearcats led 24-0 early in the second quarter, and barely held on. The Broncos had a chance to force overtime with 1:21 remaining, but Nate Meyer's 51-yard field-goal attempt was wide.

Brian Kelly enjoyed a winning debut as Bearcats coach. Kelly began the season at Central Michigan before going to Cincinnati on Dec. 4 to replace Mark Dantonio, who went to Michigan State. Kelly led Central Michigan past the Broncos 31-7 on Nov. 10, making him the first NCAA coach to beat a school in the same season with two teams.

Cincinnati (8-5, 4-3 Big East) made its fifth bowl appearance in seven years and first since beating Marshall, 32-14, in the 2004 Fort Worth Bowl.

Western Michigan (8-5, 6-2 Mid-American Conference) made its first bowl appearance since 1988 and third in school history.

W. MICHIGAN 0 17 0 7—24

CINCINNATI 14 10 0 3—27

FIRST QUARTER

Cin—Bowie 25 interception return (Lovell kick), 11:32.

Cin—Goodman 21 pass from Davila (Lovell kick), 6:27.

SECOND QUARTER

Cin—Goodman 21 pass from Davila (Lovell kick), 14:30.

Cin—FG Lovell 37, 10:23.

WMU—Simmons 76 pass from Biggers (Meyer kick), 9:45.

WMU—H.Martin 30 pass from Cubit (Meyer kick), 5:35.

WMU—FG Meyer 29, :08.

FOURTH QUARTER

WMU—West 7 run (Meyer kick), 10:53.

Cin—FG Lovell 33, 6:11.

A—26,717.

WMU CIN

First downs 19 21

Rushes-yards 29-108 34-126

Passing 260 221

Comp-Att-Int 24-45-2 20-37-2

Return Yards 0 40

Punts-Avg. 7-41.6 5-43.6

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 3-19 2-20

Time of Possession 29:45 30:15

RUSHING—W. Michigan, West 21-109, Thompson 6-9, Cubit 2-(minus 10). Cincinnati, Benton 10-62, Moore 10-57, Grutza 3-22, Glatthaar 4-14, Davila 7-(minus 29).

PASSING—W. Michigan, Cubit 23-43-2-184, Biggers 1-1-0-76, H.Martin 0-1-0-0. Cincinnati, Davila 19-35-2-214, Grutza 1-2-0-7.

RECEIVING—W. Michigan, Simmons 13-172, Ledbetter 5-38, H.Martin 4-43, Maragos 1-5, West 1-2. Cincinnati, Goodman 7-109, Celek 4-21, Poland 3-17, Benton 2-26, Moore 2-20, Martin 1-19, Stewart 1-9.