Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

This Bowl was formally known as the Humanitarian Bowl and is played in Boise, Idaho at Boise State’s, Bronco Stadium (33,000) each year. The Humanitarian Bowl began in 1997 and it name was changed just this past year to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, when the Idaho Potato Commission signed a 6 year naming rights contract. The Bowl has had an interesting history, in 1997 & 1998 the bowl was the Humanitarian Bowl and then from 1999 to 2002 it was called the Crucial.Com Humanitarian Bowl. For the 2003 season (game played in January 2004) the bowl did not have a sponsor and was referred to as the Humanitarian Bowl … yet again.

From 2004 to 2006 the Humanitarian name was dropped and the Bowl was referred to by its new sponsor’s name…. MPC Computers Bowl. Change came again, in 2007, the naming rights were purchased by a Boise based company, Roady’s Truck Stops and … you got it…. the bowl’s name was changed once again… to Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl. This alteration lasted through the 2009 bowl season when the winds of change struck again, the small mobile business, uDrove secured naming rights and in 2010 the bowl was presented as the… U Drove Humanitarian Bowl.

And now… 2011… we have the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl…. I am not hopeful for longevity with this Potato stuff! Remember the fast food franchise … One Potato Two… they went south… I think the Great Steak and Potato Company bought them out and did we not have a VP who could not spell potato. I am thinking we should rename the bowl…. The Great Steak Potato Company Danny Quayle Potatoe (don’t forget the E kid… Quayle got the blame… even though those dopey teachers spelled it wrong on the flash cards they gave to Danny boy) Humanitarian Bowl!! Ok… How about the game.

The current bowl conference tie-ins are the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) and the MAC (Mid-American Conference) with Utah State (7-5) representing the WAC and Ohio University (9-4) carrying the MAC’s banner. These teams have not met in the past five years however, they do have a common opponent to compare one to the other this year (and for those of you who say these types of comparison are worthless… your a dope… you do not just consider the score… if you look at a myriad of statistical data… U can learn a lot) Both Utah state & Ohio met New Mexico State this year. Ohio played the New Mexico State Aggies (not to be confused with the Utah State Aggies) at Aggie Stadium and put a whipping on them, 44-24, while Utah State also traveled to Las Cruces and survived, 24-21.

So while there was nothing to be learned from head to head games, we can gain some insight from the contests played in New Mexico. Ohio rushed for 241 yards and passed for another 211  for a total 452 yards vs the Aggie defense. This game was played on September 3, the season opener for both teams. Conversely, Utah State and New Mexico State met on the last weekend of the regular season, December 3rd. Utah State ran for 392 yards and passes for another 123 for a total offensive output of 515 yards. On Defense, Ohio gave up 6 yards of rushing offense to New Mexico State and surrendered 362 yards passing for a total of 368 yards. Later that same season, the Aggies from Utah allowed the Aggies from New Mexico to run the ball for 145 yards and pass for another 252 for a total of 397 yards.

So lets take this data and make some observations on what the season should have looked like based on #’s from these two games.

Ohio U should have been rated higher than State as a run defense… and… it is closer than this game would suggest … but accurate…  in that Ohio is the better run defense, 128 YPG (ranked 30 in FBS)  to the Aggies 130 YPG  ( ranked 32 FBS). In defending the pass, the results of these game suggest that the Aggies would be the better @ defending the pass throughout the season … and…not the case…. the Bobcats gave up 228 YPG vs the pass while the Aggies allowed 240 YPG. So the Ohio D has played at a slightly higher level statistically (against similar competition) when compared the Aggies.

Offensively, this game suggest that Utah State should have been the better rushing team… and…absolutely true… Utah State averaged 277 YPG while the Bobcats ran it for 205. The game also suggested that the Bobcats would be the better throwing team… and …… absolutely true as well….  Ohio produced 249 passing yards per contest to the Aggies 178 throwing yards per game. Ohio better be able to stop the run or….. get the lead early … and force the Aggies to abandon the run.

Two other points… 1) Turnovers both teams had 2 in the New Mexico State Game, this suggests that they would be relatively close for the season… and…  Ohio had 28 turnovers during the season while the Aggies turned it over 23 times… a plus 5 for Utah State .. not so close. In the New Mexico State game the Aggies won the turnover battle 3 to 2, while the Bobcats lost this statistical game changer 2 to 1. This suggests that the Aggies would have won the turnover margin differential throughout the season while Ohio would have lost this critical stat…. and …. True for Ohio… 2.15 drops to 2.0 recoveries per game for a negative .15. But not true for Utah State… they did not win this critical statistic as the New Mexico State game suggested they would, they lost the turnover margin 1.92 to 1.17 for a negative .75 TPG.

2) Coaching… No disrespect intended for or toward Gary Anderson (8-16)… but I think Frank Solich (106-59) gives Ohio U a bit of an edge.

I watched both of these teams give away games that they should have won… Utah State had Auburn beat and found a way to lose it 42-38 and Ohio had NIU handled to win the MAC championship and simply gave it back to the Huskies, 23-20.

This game should be close!

Utah State 31 Ohio 28