Famous Potato Bowl

[GoZips88]

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl web site ...

http://www.famousidahopotatobowl.com/

Utah State Aggies fan board ...

http://www.usufans.com/Forums/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=945cbf7701374d57e4dfa21843bd0ef2

[Sergeant Zip]

Haven't been to a bowl in 10 years and people are complaining... Amazing.

[LZIp]

Taking a look over there, they seem pretty disappointed about their season. I think they lost Chuckie Keeton (has been one of the better G5 players the past few years) earlier in the season which may have had a nice impact on their record. They are probably more talented as they've been an above average program (lost a few coaches I believe) for the past few seasons, but I think they'll come in lethargic and we will obviously come in excited and proud to be there. Should have a good chance to win if we come in and play the game we can, but certainly won't be easy.

Edited December 6, 2015 by LZip

[ProvoAggie]

Taking a look over there, they seem pretty disappointed about their season. I think they lost Chuckie Keeton (has been one of the better G5 players the past few years) earlier in the season which may have had a nice impact on their record. They are probably more talented as they've been an above average program (lost a few coaches I believe) for the past few seasons, but I think they'll come in lethargic and we will obviously come in excited and proud to be there. Should have a good chance to win if we come in and play the game we can, but certainly won't be easy.

We did lose Chuckie early in the year but he returned for our last game. A lot of the disappointment was because we made a lot of stupid mistakes that cost us a lot of games. Early in the year we were projected to go to a NY6 bowl as the G5 representative by a lot of publications. We really shouldn't have had fewer than 8 wins. The team had more talent than what we saw on the field.

[Buckzip]

A bowl game against an opponent that we can beat is good.

Just being in a bowl game is awesome. I am not sure how anyone can complain......

[LZIp]

$50/ticket. The U. needs to put together a bargain travel package ASAP.

i reached out on twitter to the football and university account regarding a travel package. no answer yet. I'd like to support the school, but I'm not going to do it if I can get it much cheaper somewhere else.

[mes102]

It's a great time to be a Zip fan. Stop complaining and enjoy the opportunity. Akron soccer back in National Semifinals, Akron football in bowl game, and 3 former Akron soccer players including 3 coaches as well, specifically Caleb Porter, just won the MLS Cup in Columbus, OH of all places(where 3 former Akron players were on the other half of the pitch for Columbus Crew as well).

EDIT: Thanks Zip_ME87. I totally forgot about Cameron Knowles.

Edited December 10, 2015 by mes102

[Jrship35]

The look of utter excitement .........cmon man, we're going bowling !!!!!

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/ua-zips/university-of-akron-zips-blog-1.277207/video-akron-zips-coach-terry-bowden-culture-shifted-with-miami-win-1.645752

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/ua-zips/university-of-akron-zips-blog-1.277207/video-akron-zips-coach-terry-bowden-now-it-s-time-to-go-win-a-bowl-game-1.645753#.VmTYRlB9R6M.twitter

[johnnyzip84]

Utah Valley -3.0

Earth to Zach - UA moved up from 1-AA/FCS in 1987.

I'd expect the Utah STATE Aggies to be about a 7-10 point favorite. Having Chuckie back at QB is huge for them, although he looked a little tentative when I watched some of their game in Logan against BYU.

Edited December 7, 2015 by johnnyzip84

[Z.I.P.]

Wow! Congratulations to coach Bowden and his team. If I were ever going to travel to an American football game, this would absolutely be the game. Boise is a fantastic and beautiful city. The weather can be anywhere from snow and 20s to sunny and 70s -- and I think over the past 25 yrs this game has been played, they've had more good than bad weather. If you're going, do your research, as there is a lot in the area to do. You may, if the weather is good, consider driving in from Portland over the Wallowa Mts. The area around Boise is one of the most scenic in America. And of course, don't forget to enjoy the Basque Block! Happy travels, and Go Zips!

[Z.I.P.]

i reached out on twitter to the football and university account regarding a travel package. no answer yet. I'd like to support the school, but I'm not going to do it if I can get it much cheaper somewhere else.

In the olden days, when the UA Alumni Dept cared about average grads, they would have put something together, but now they don't care unless you have a seven-figure check to present. I'm afraid you are on your own. Lots of cheap lodging in and around Boise, however. Figure a plan, and you'll have a nice trip. Could be an interesting game, since both teams are unpredictable, with up and down seasons. Let's hope we cut down on mistakes, and we should have a real chance for a bowl win.

Hey, just remembered this connection between the schools: I believe USU's stadium was used as a model for Infocision. Anyone else remember that?

Edited December 7, 2015 by Z.I.P.

[GJGood]

A bowl game against an opponent that we can beat is good.

Just being in a bowl game is awesome. I am not sure how anyone can complain......

Yes they are 6-6 but how beatable is this opponent? If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that Boise State was not winning the MWC, I would have thought it must have been Utah State that did. Injuries hurt them. If they have healed this team is very strong and the Zips will more than have their hands full. The upside, though, is that defense can win games like these and Akron's D, especially the against the rush, is as good or better as anything USU will have seen. I just worry about their passing game against the back end of our D and which of Akron,s Jekyll and Hyde offenses shows up.

[scottditzen]

We did lose Chuckie early in the year but he returned for our last game. A lot of the disappointment was because we made a lot of stupid mistakes that cost us a lot of games. Early in the year we were projected to go to a NY6 bowl as the G5 representative by a lot of publications. We really shouldn't have had fewer than 8 wins. The team had more talent than what we saw on the field.

Thanks for the info, and welcome to Zipsnation.

Hope you stick around this is should be fun!!!

[The Hip Zip]

I'm diggin' this scene....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXmnmvDl-ao

[BigBlueSteve]

Hey everyone! A couple of things for you about the FIPB. Other than an appearance and win over Ball State at the Humanitarian Bowl five years earlier, our first bowl in 30+ years was in Boise. Just like you, we had a few who were not impressed. Even though the bowl isn't a top tier one, the city gets into it and makes it a big deal! There are plenty of places to go for all income and group sizes, and the locals are excited to have you.

Other bowls we have been to were bigger names, but the fanfare was less than impressive.

For better pricing on tickets, go to the official bowl site itself. Don't buy into the hype of not supporting your school if you don't buy tickets through them, they should've made their prices competitive in the first place.

Also, look for seats low in the upper section since there is a large space between the field and the seats and the higher level provides better viewing angles.

Come visit us at usufans.com and remember to ignore the cranky posters.

See you in a couple of weeks!

[Elkaggie]

Looking forward to this game. I would love for someone to give a break down of your team. I think this should be a good competitive game.

Our team had very high expectations coming into the year. We have a senior laden team and returned some of our best players who went down last year to season ending injuries. This included a one time possible heisman hopeful and Chuckie Keeton but he went down early in the season. Our team has been very inconsistent this year. Our high was taking Boise to the wood shed 52-26. We were in the drivers seat for MW championship but only beat WY and Nevada after that win. Our team has been very inconsistent and has had a hard time getting up for big games. Hopefully we can get up for this game.

[phil]

I was in Boise 2 years ago and was very impressed with the town. Lots of good places to eat and drink and the downtown was vibrant. The campus was very close to downtown and it was a nice campus. My rental car was very cheap, like $10 a day and my room was in a nice hotel and it was cheap. There is skiing about an hour from Boise. They had a minor league hockey team and it was a fun time. I do not think I can make the game but I would not hesitate to go because of the location. I hope this information helps anyone who is thinking about going.

[Zip_ME87]

I was just at Utah State in Logan, UT for the SmallSat Conference back in August. Nice campus. Saw the Portland Timbers beat RSL that following weekend in Sandy, UT.

I like the matchup.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Zip_ME87

[LZIp]

Looking forward to this game. I would love for someone to give a break down of your team. I think this should be a good competitive game.

Our team had very high expectations coming into the year. We have a senior laden team and returned some of our best players who went down last year to season ending injuries. This included a one time possible heisman hopeful and Chuckie Keeton but he went down early in the season. Our team has been very inconsistent this year. Our high was taking Boise to the wood shed 52-26. We were in the drivers seat for MW championship but only beat WY and Nevada after that win. Our team has been very inconsistent and has had a hard time getting up for big games. Hopefully we can get up for this game.

Thanks to you and others for joining and hopefully providing insight on your team as well.

Akron is a historically horrible program, but many of us believe there is real potential to be a decent program due to our location, facilities, and the amount of football talent in Ohio. OSU is clearly the big fish in the state, but unfortunately there are many small fishes to compete with as well. The school hired Terry Bowden (son of Bobby Bowden, once led Auburn to an undefeated season) 4 years ago after back to back 1-11 seasons. I think its fair to say that Bowden has slowly progressed the program over time. Probably a little slower than some would like, but we also need to keep in mind just how bad our program was; literally a bottom 3 program.

Regarding this season's team, they are really what most people predicted. We finally got over the hump and got that bowl bid along with a winning record. However, if you look closely, you'll see that our wins aren't very impressive. In short, we beat the teams we should have beat and all losses were to bowl teams. We are a pretty balanced team. Sophomore QB Thomas Woodson started out the season #3 on the depth chart, but took hold of the position after the 3rd game and never looked back. He isn't a game breaker like Keeton (yet), but he has the ability to make plays with his feet and hit the long ball. He generally takes decent care of the ball as well. Leading rusher is Conor Hundley. Not overly athletic, but just a tough ass player. Rarely goes down on first contact. Love the guy on the team. Leading WR is Jerome Lane. He actually has a position switch this season. He was a stud on the defensive side of the ball last year, but took one for the team and made the switch to WR. He has steadily improved over the season and has turned into a real stud. Still some kinks to work out, but he's a great talent.

Our defense is what we like to hang our hat on. Its led by former FSU coach and NC State HC Chuck Amato. The staff is filled with FSU connections via Bowden. We finished the season #3 in rush defense and #17 in total defense. This may be the best front 7 the Aggies face all year, seriously. Led by MAC DPOY Jatavis Brown who is an absolute animal. Also includes Jamal Marcus (OSU transfer and just an absolute beast when he wants to be), Se'von Pittman (OSU transfer), All MAC Cody Grice and Rodney Coe (ISU transfer). We also have Darryl Monroe, a Wazzu transfer in the LB corp. Some may talk the DL/front 7 up, and believe me, they aren't exaggerating. Oklahoma fans were giving them praise after our game vs them this year.

I do not know much about USU besides normal tidbits like Keeton, generally a pretty solid G5 team, and that you lost your coach to Wisconsin a few years ago, so any in depth insight would be appreciated. Also, what's your thoughts on JoJo Natson? It doesn't look like he was a model citizen at USU, but seems like he could add a nice new dimension to our offense next season. If you couldn't tell above, Bowden has relied on his connections to land us some transfers to help fills holes and boost recruiting classes while rebuilding the program. Most have worked out on and especially off the field.

Edited December 7, 2015 by LZip

[ProvoAggie]

As Aggie fans we've definitely seen more than our fair share of terrible football. In the modern era USU went to a bowl game in 1993, 1997 and then not again until 2011. A lot of the seasons in between had 1-3 wins. Gary Andersen (the Coach that took off to Wisconsin and now to Oregon State) took over and was finally able to get us to a bowl game in 2011 where we fell in the final seconds to Ohio. This was Chuckie Keeton's freshman year and a lot of people remember us for nearly knocking off the reigning National Champions (Auburn) before completely melting down in the final few minutes and giving the game away (all 6 of our losses that year came after leading in the 4th quarter). In 2012 we had our best season in school history finishing 11-2 and beating Toledo in the Potato Bowl. Since then we have beaten Northern Illinois (2013 Poinsettia Bowl) and UTEP (2014 New Mexico Bowl). This is our 5th straight bowl game (best streak in school history) and we currently sit at 3 straight wins (also the best streak in school history).

This year had really high hopes. We were supposed to start the year with 3 QB's that had started in and Won bowl games (Chuckie Keeton - 2012 Potato Bowl, Darrell Garretson - 2013 Poinsettia Bowl and Ken't Myers - 2014 New Mexico Bowl). Garretson ended up leaving with all of the QB depth. We also expected a lot out of star WR Jojo Natson but he was dismissed from the team and you guys will get to enjoy watching him next season. He is a great ball player but made too many mistakes for USU to keep letting him play. Hopefully he's learned his lesson and makes a strong comeback for you guys. The season was looking up when we beat the crap out of Boise on our home field. That put us in the driver's seat to win the conference. We flat out lost to SDSU (the eventual champion) but made stupid mistakes that cost us games against New Mexico and Air Force. We finished the year hosting BYU where the game started really well before we completely collapsed. A lot of people had USU pegged as a 10 win team before the season started because of the returning talent. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We ended up having to replace both our OC and DC this year and both sides of the ball took a step backwards. Our field goal kicking has also been terrible the last few weeks. I'm expecting a good game.

[ZippyRulz]

Akron is a historically horrible program

http://www.collegefootballresearch.com/winpercent/

50% all-time winning percentage. Mediocre, not horrible.

[zippy5]

Wonder what those numbers are as a D-1A program

[MurkyAg]

I am looking forward to this game. It sounds like you guys have a great front 7, which could give our O-line fits. Our O-line has been better the last few weeks, but for the past two seasons many fans have been calling for our O-line coach to be fired. Our quarterbacks are consistently pressured, and our running backs often have defenders in their face in the backfield. The poor line play was especially surprising this year, with 4 returning starters on a line that improved over the course of last season. Again we've improved over the course of this season, but we are still not great on the O-line.

Our front 7 is pretty good, but we expected them to be better. Some injuries to our DTs have really hurt our defense, especially since we play a 3-4. Our starting DT and key backup are healthy now, and can make big plays. We have 2 great LBs in Kyler Fackrell and Nick Vigil. They represent two of the three first team All Mountain West linebackers. The rest of the linebacking corps is very solid.

I like that ProvoAggie got autocorrected to say Can't Myers, instead of Can't. He has been really good this year at QB until getting injured against Nevada in our second to last game. Chuckie Keeton came in and played well to lead a come-back against Nevada. Unfortunately he couldn't do enough to beat BYU at home in our last game. Chuckie also did not play well in our first three games, mostly due to a nagging knee injury. He just looked hobbled at times early in the year. Chuckie has looked healthier and more confident the last two games, and I expect him to be the starter in the bowl game, even though Myers should be healthy. We are pretty solid at every other position, except maybe FG kicker.

Overall we are a better team than our record suggests, having played 9 bowl teams. granted we are only 3-6 against those teams. Our main problem (in my mind) is that when we turn the ball over, we seem to lose all momentum and motivation. When we protect the ball, we are a very good team. I think the Aggies will win, but then again, I always believe that we will win.

Boise is not a bad place to visit. The worst part will be the awful blue turf. To those of you traveling to the game, safe travels and I hope it's an enjoyable experience. I expect a lot more Aggies than Zips there, partly because the drive from Logan should be shorter than your flight. Any way, best of luck. Here's to a good game with no inujuries.

[johnnyzip84]

As Aggie fans we've definitely seen more than our fair share of terrible football. In the modern era USU went to a bowl game in 1993, 1997 and then not again until 2011. A lot of the seasons in between had 1-3 wins. Gary Andersen (the Coach that took off to Wisconsin and now to Oregon State) took over and was finally able to get us to a bowl game in 2011 where we fell in the final seconds to Ohio. This was Chuckie Keeton's freshman year and a lot of people remember us for nearly knocking off the reigning National Champions (Auburn) before completely melting down in the final few minutes and giving the game away (all 6 of our losses that year came after leading in the 4th quarter). In 2012 we had our best season in school history finishing 11-2 and beating Toledo in the Potato Bowl. Since then we have beaten Northern Illinois (2013 Poinsettia Bowl) and UTEP (2014 New Mexico Bowl). This is our 5th straight bowl game (best streak in school history) and we currently sit at 3 straight wins (also the best streak in school history).

This year had really high hopes. We were supposed to start the year with 3 QB's that had started in and Won bowl games (Chuckie Keeton - 2012 Potato Bowl, Darrell Garretson - 2013 Poinsettia Bowl and Can't Myers - 2014 New Mexico Bowl). Garretson ended up leaving with all of the QB depth. We also expected a lot out of star WR Jojo Natson but he was dismissed from the team and you guys will get to enjoy watching him next season. He is a great ball player but made too many mistakes for USU to keep letting him play. Hopefully he's learned his lesson and makes a strong comeback for you guys. The season was looking up when we beat the crap out of Boise on our home field. That put us in the driver's seat to win the conference. We flat out lost to SDSU (the eventual champion) but made stupid mistakes that cost us games against New Mexico and Air Force. We finished the year hosting BYU where the game started really well before we completely collapsed. A lot of people had USU pegged as a 10 win team before the season started because of the returning talent. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We ended up having to replace both our OC and DC this year and both sides of the ball took a step backwards. Our field goal kicking has also been terrible the last few weeks. I'm expecting a good game.

Thanks for the additional insight, PA!

In case you're wondering why K-E-N-T Myers turned into "Can't" Myers, this site has a rivalry motivated "autocorrect" feature that changes what it thinks is a reference to our arch-rival only 10 miles to the east of us. I'm sure Mr Myers CAN do many things, on and off the football field

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/ua-football-zips-will-play-utah-state-in-famous-idaho-potato-bowl-1.645695