The 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the 15th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football

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 Subdivi ...

, held on December 17, 2011 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 S ...

on the campus of

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding ...

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 ar ...

as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. This was the first year the game was known as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The game was known as the Humanitarian Bowl in 2010. The game, which was telecast at 3:30 p.m. MT 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%). Th ...

, featured the

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 ...

from 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, and Texas. Due to mos ...

(WAC), and the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Ame ...

from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

. Utah State accepted a bid to compete in the 2011 edition of the game on November 28, with Ohio accepting the other bid on December 4.

Teams

Utah State

On November 28, 2011, the Utah State Aggies accepted an invite to represent the WAC. The Aggies entered the bowl with a record of 7–5, their first winning season since 1996. One notable game from Utah State's season was against defending national champions Auburn, where they nearly upset the Tigers 38-42.Auburn needs two late TDs, onside kick recovery to escape Utah State

. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011. The 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl marked the first appearance in a bowl game for Utah State since the game's very first incarnation as the

1997 Humanitarian Bowl The 1997 Humanitarian Bowl was the inaugural edition of the bowl game now known as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It featured the Cincinnati Bearcats of Conference USA and the Utah State Aggies of the Big West Conference. This was Cincinnati's first ...

. The Aggies were looking for their first bowl win since the 1993

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...

. Utah State entered the game on a 5-game winning streak after starting 2-5.

Ohio

On December 4, 2011, the Ohio Bobcats accepted an invite to represent the MAC. The Bobcats entered the bowl with a record of 9–4 and were the MAC-East division champions. However, they lost to NIU in the

2011 MAC Championship Game The 2011 MAC Championship Game was a college football game played at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, December 2, 2011, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, USA, to determine the 2011 champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The game featured the Oh ...

20-23. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl marked the third consecutive appearance in a bowl game for Ohio, following the

2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl The 2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned bowl game (previously the Motor City Bowl game) played at 1:00 PM EST on December 26, 2009, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan and aired on ESPN. The game was the 13th installment of the ...

and the

2010 New Orleans Bowl The 2010 New Orleans Bowl was the tenth edition of the New Orleans Bowl. The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday, December 18, 2010, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The contest was televised live on ESPN. The ...

. The Bobcats hoped to win their first bowl game in school history.Bartl, Jeff
Ohio at Utah St. Preview

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. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011. The two teams had met before on September 17, 1994, when Utah State won 5-0 at Ohio.

Game summary

Utah State received the ball first and drove to the 1-yard line of Ohio. However, the Aggies were unable to convert to on a 4th down, turning the ball over to Ohio. On Ohio's first drive, quarterback Tyler Tettleton recovered his own fumble and ran to the back of his endzone for a safety. USU scored in again in the 1st quarter on a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback

Adam Kennedy Adam Thomas Kennedy (born January 10, 1976) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Washington National ...

to go up 9-0. Ohio cut the lead to 2 in the second quarter when Tettleton completed a 26-yard pass to Derek Roback.Ohio scores in waning seconds to upend Utah State, earn 1st bowl victory

. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.Ohio Bobcats vs. Utah State Aggies play-by-play

. Retrieved 18 December 2011. Ohio received the ball to start the second half, but had to punt the ball away after they were unable to get a first down. On the ensuing drive, Utah State's Michael Smith rushed for a 63-yard touchdown to go up 16-7. Ohio responded with a 32-yard field goal to make the score 16-10. However, Utah State went up 23-10 with another rushing touchdown from Michael Smith. Ohio was able to respond again with a 44-yard touchdown pass to LaVon Brazill to cut the deficit to 17-23. The Aggies had a chance to end the game with possession at their own 7-yard line with 4:23 to go. However, Utah State had to punt the ball away with 2:21 left. The Bobcats were able to drive down the field and score on a 1-yard rush by Tettleton with 13 seconds remaining, going up 24-23 after the extra point. The Bobcats were able to hold to victory after the Aggies were unable to score on their final possession. With the win, the Ohio Bobcats won their first bowl game in school history. The Bobcats also had their first 10-win season since 1968.Fortuna, Matt
Instant analysis: Ohio 24, Utah State 23

. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.

Scoring summary

Source.Ohio Bobcats vs. Utah State Aggies box score

. Retrieved 18 December 2011.

Statistics

Referee call

This game was notable for a confusing set of explanations by referee Penn Wagers on the play that led to the game-winning touchdown.QUICK HITS: Ohio 24, Utah State 23

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2012. The initial ruling on the field is that Ohio wide receiver LaVon Brazill had crossed the goal line for the touchdown on a reception from Tyler Tettleton. But a replay review of the play was issued following the play to determine if Brazill was downed before getting the ball into the end zone. After a first look, Wagers came out to confirm the touchdown, indicating that the evidence is clear that Brazill scored the touchdown. But there was confusion as to the reason it was a touchdown. It appeared that Brazill fumbled the ball and since he recovered his own fumble, that he is allowed to advance it making the score a touchdown. After further discussion, Wagers came out and said: However, after another review, the touchdown was reversed since Brazill was downed before getting the ball into the end zone. Wagers then said: Two plays later, Ohio scored the game-winning touchdown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, 2011 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games 2011 2011 2011 2011 in sports in Idaho December 2011 sports events in the United States