What To Know About The 27th-Annual Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Dec 3, 2023, 3:22 PM | Updated: 3:23 pm

Utah State football team warms up before hosting Fresno State at Maverik Stadium on Friday, October 13.

KSL Sports

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State will be in familiar territory as they take on Georgia State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on December 23.

The Aggies get the Christmas season started against the Georgia State Panthers (6-6, 3-5) for the first time at Albertson’s Stadium in Boise, Idaho on Saturday, December 23.

WE GOT EM’ @GeorgiaStateFB and @USUFootball are going to battle it out on the blue December 23! pic.twitter.com/7WsuCVsknM

— FamousID Potato Bowl (@IDPotatoBowl) December 3, 2023

It will be the fourth time USU has participated in the annual Boise bowl. The Aggies split games against the Ohio Bobcats and Toledo Rockets in 2011 and 2012. Utah State lost to the Akron Zips in 2015.

In the bowl’s initial iteration, John L. Smith’s upcoming departure to Louisville helped lead to a 35-19 Utah State loss to the Cincinnati Bearkats.

Current Aggie QB Levi Williams earned 2021 Potato Bowl MVP honors, leading the Wyoming Cowboys to a 52-38 win over Kent State.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Originally known as the Humanitarian Bowl, the aforementioned USU loss was played on December 29, 1997. The first version of the bowl was affiliated with the Big West through the conference’s final season in 2000 when it transitioned to the Western Athletic Conference.

Along with the WAC, the Humanitarian Bowl began an eight-year partnership with the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2001.

Remembering the Top Ten Moments from The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl!

#1 features the Idaho Vandals last minute win over the Bowling Green Falcons.#BowlSeason pic.twitter.com/4HRyiTzD2K

— FamousID Potato Bowl (@IDPotatoBowl) December 2, 2023

Name changes over the years have seen the bowl cycle through names like the MPC Computers Bowl, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, and the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl, among others.

In 2011, the Idaho Potato Commission became a long-term sponsor, giving the bowl its current identity as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Utah State lost a heartbreaker to Ohio In the first-ever Potato Bowl. The following season, it was Kerwynn Williams rushing for 235 yards in a 41-15 Aggie win over Toledo.

In 2013, in conjunction with the final season of WAC football, the FITB aligned with the Mountain West Conference, an alliance they have maintained for ten seasons.

Utah State will face Georgia State (Sun Belt Conference) in the 27th year of the “longest-running cold-weather bowl game in college football”. 28 different schools and 21 future first-round NFL draft picks have played in the game.