The 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a post-season American

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bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

held on December 15, 2012 at

Bronco Stadium Albertsons Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home field of the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West Conference. Known as Bronco Sta ...

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

in the United States. The sixteenth edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl began at 2:30 p.m.

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and aired on

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. It featured the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

against the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

champion

Utah State Aggies The Utah State Aggies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Utah State University, located in Logan. The school fields 16 sports teams – seven men and nine women – and compete in the Mountain West Conference. Sports spon ...

, and was the final game of the

2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 30, 2012 and ended on Dec ...

for both teams. The Rockets accepted their invitation after earning a 9–2 record in the regular season, while the Aggies accepted theirs after earning a 10–2 record. Utah State won the game 41–15.

Teams

Since 2001, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has given an automatic bid to a team from the

. However, this was the final year of the bid, as the WAC ceased sponsorship of football following the season. Coincidentally, the WAC's bid was given after the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

(whose champion had the automatic bid) ceased sponsoring football following the

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game. The

has held their automatic bid since 2010, following the

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-based

International Bowl The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010. During its run, it was the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States ...

ceasing operations. This was the first meeting between these two teams.

Toledo

In one of the more successful seasons in the conference's history, the Rockets were one of the MAC's more successful teams, finishing with a 6–2 conference record, good for a tie for second place in the West Division (though losing the tiebreaker to the

Ball State Cardinals The Ball State Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Ball State University, located in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals are part of the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. Charlie Cardinal is the team mascot. The Ball State Univers ...

). After the season, the Rockets accepted their invitation to the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. This would be the Rockets' first Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Utah State

The Aggies came off of one of their most successful seasons in school history, finishing 6–0 in WAC play and winning the conference's final outright championship. In fact, the Aggies' only two losses of the season by a margin of no more than three points (to the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

by a score of 16–14 and their

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rivals the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

by a score of 6–3). After defeating the

Idaho Vandals The Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of Idaho, located in Moscow. The Vandals compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big Sky Conference. The football team was an independent for th ...

to finish their regular season record at 10–2 (winning ten games for the first time in school history), the Aggies accepted the fourth invitation of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season to the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. This would be the Aggies' third Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, following the inaugural

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game against the

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as well as the

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game against the

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, both of which the Aggies lost. It would also be the Aggies' final game as a member of the WAC before they moved to the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

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Game summary

;First quarter Toledo got the ball to start the game and executed a 5-play, 49-yard drive that resulted in a 37-yard field goal by Jeremiah Detmer for the first points of the game. On the ensuing Utah State drive, the Aggies managed one first down prior to punting away after two plays for losses of yardage as well as an illegal substitution penalty. Later in the quarter, Utah State got the ball back and executed a drive that culminated with a 62-yard rushing touchdown by

Chuckie Keeton Charles Adam Keeton IV (born June 15, 1993) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He played college football for the Utah State Aggies. College career As a true freshman in 2011, Keeton started eight of nine games, completing 10 ...

. That was the last score of the quarter. ;Second quarter The second quarter began with a 9-play, 50-yard drive for Toledo that was capped off with a 37-yard field goal by Detmer, his second of the game from that distance. After exchanging punts, Utah State executed an 86-yard drive in the final 1:39 that resulted in a successful 27-yard field goal by Nick Diaz. ;Third quarter Since Toledo got the ball at the start of the game, Utah State got possession at the beginning of the second half. Like Toledo did on the first drive of the first half, Utah State marched down the field but settled for a field goal after an 8-play, 45-yard drive. The ensuing Toledo drive ended with an interception, but Utah State failed to capitalize and ended up punting it back to Toledo. Heading into the fourth quarter, the score remained 13–6 Utah State. ;Fourth quarter Toledo began the quarter by putting together a 14-play, 74-yard drive. Since they were down by seven points, however, they decided to go for it on fourth and one at the Utah State nine-yard line, but were stopped short by the Utah State defense. After a Utah State fumble on their ensuing possession, Toledo was able to score on a 29-yard field goal by Detmer. The next three drives for Utah State all ended the same way, a Kerwynn Williams touchdown run. In the course of three minutes, Williams ran for three touchdowns to put Utah State on top 41-15, which would end up being the final score.

Scoring summary

Statistics

;Passing *Toledo- Austin Dantin: 12/21, 132 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT *Utah State- Chuckie Keeton: 21/31, 229 yards ;Rushing *Toledo- Bernard Reedy: 10 rushes, 50 yards *Utah State- Kerwynn Williams: 18 rushes, 235 yards, 3 TD ;Receiving *Toledo- Bernard Reedy: 6 receptions, 62 yards *Utah State- Matt Austin: 6 receptions, 77 yards

References

{{Utah State Aggies bowl game navbox

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, previously the Humanitarian Bowl (1997–2003, 2007–2010) and the MPC Computers Bowl (2004–2006), is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 1997 at Albertson ...

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Toledo Rockets football bowl games Utah State Aggies football bowl games