The 2021 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

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 ...

played on December 21, 2021, with kickoff at 3:30 p.m. EST (1:30 p.m. local

MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...

) on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. It was the 25th edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and it featured the Kent State Golden Flashes of

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 ...

and the

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

of the Mountain West Conference. It was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by the

Idaho Potato Commission The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) is a marketing board that represents the potato growers of the U.S. state of Idaho. The group's main initiative is ''Grown in Idaho'' — a collective trade mark program for marketing Idaho-grown potatoes, product ...

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game will be played between teams from the

(MAC) and the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Kent State made their first appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl while Wyoming made their second appearance and first since the 2017 edition. This was Kent State's 5th bowl game appearance in program history, following their win in the 2019 Frisco Bowl. This was Wyoming's 17th bowl game appearance in program history, following their win in the

2019 Arizona Bowl The 2019 Arizona Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2019, with kickoff at 4:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. local MST) on CBS Sports Network. It was the 5th edition of the Arizona Bowl, and one of the 2019–20 bowl g ...

. This was the first time that Kent State and Wyoming have ever played each other.

Kent State Golden Flashes

Kent State started the season with a blowout loss against Texas A&M 41–10. They would then bounce back against VMI before falling to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. After a 37-16 loss against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, Kent State would win five of their next seven games. A 38-0 victory over Akron would secure their bowl eligibility. In the last game of the regular season the Golden Flashes would face off with the Miami (OH) RedHawks for the MAC East Division. In a thrilling 48-47 overtime victory, Kent State secured a spot in the MAC Championship Game. In a rematch vs Northern Illinois, the Golden Flashes lost 41-23 giving them a 7-6 record coming into the game.

Wyoming Cowboys

Wyoming started the season hot at 4-0 with wins over

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

, Northern Illinois,

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball C ...

, and UConn. After that the Cowboys went on a four game skid losing to four conference opponents. They beat a conference team for the first team on the year after beating

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

31-17. The Cowboys then lost to Boise State 23-13 before beating the Mountain West Conference Champion

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

44-17 to secure bowl eligibility. In the final game of the regular season, Wyoming lost to Hawaii 38-14. Wyoming entered the contest with a 6-6 overall record, and a 2-6 record in conference.

Game summary

Statistics

Aftermath

With the win, Wyoming concluded the season with a record of 7-6. With the loss, Kent State concluded the season with a record of 7-7. Wyoming won their first bowl game since the 2019 Arizona Bowl and improved their bowl record to 9-8. Kent State's overall bowl record dropped to 1-3. This was the first bowl loss for Kent State head coach Sean Lewis. After the game, Wyoming head coach

Craig Bohl Craig Philip Bohl (born July 27, 1958) is an American college football coach and former player, currently the head football coach at the University of Wyoming. He was previously the head coach at North Dakota State University in Fargo from 2003 ...

was dumped with a bucket of

french fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

to celebrate the victory. 10,217 people attended the game down from the last game that allowed fans from 13,611. Wyoming quarterback

Levi Williams Levi Williams (1794–1860) was a Baptist minister and a member of the Illinois militia. He was active in opposing the presence of the Latter Day Saints in Hancock County, Illinois, during the 1840s. He is one of five defendants who were tried and ...

was named the games

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. Following the game, days late
Williams transferred
to conference foe Utah State and Sean Chambers who also started for Wyoming during the seaso

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Wyoming Cowboys bowl game navbox Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Kent State Golden Flashes football bowl games Wyoming Cowboys football bowl games Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Famous Idaho Potato Bowl