Utah State to appear in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl against Georgia State

LOGAN — Utah State was selected Sunday to participate in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl against Georgia State.

The Potato Bowl will take place Dec. 23 (1:30 p.m. MST, ESPN) in Boise, Idaho, and will mark the first meeting between the schools. Georgia State (6-6) opened the season 6-1 before losing their final five games.

Blake Anderson said he is familiar with the Sun Belt team from his time coaching at Arkansas State.

"We've got a good idea of what we're up against," Anderson said. "I think it's a great matchup. They run the ball well, they're physical. … It'll be a tough matchup, but we're excited."

The game in Boise is located just a few hundred miles from Logan (much closer than the few thousand miles that Georgia State will travel from Atlanta), which is something Anderson hopes will encourage Aggies fans to come and support the team.

"Hopefully it'll be a little bit like a home game for us," Anderson said.

And, perhaps to add a little more incentive for fans to come to the bowl game, Danielle Brazil, the executive director of the Potato Bowl, said there will be an all-you-can-eat french fries opportunity, as well as other potato products involved.

"The potato is at the forefront of all that we do," Brazil said.

She isn't joking, either. For those unfamiliar with the bowl game, there is a "fry bath" for the winning coach rather than the traditional Gatorade bath. The Idaho Potato mascot, "Spuddy Buddy," is featured, and the Idaho Potato Commission partners with the bowl.

The upcoming bowl will mark the Aggies' fifth appearance in the Potato Bowl dating back to its inaugural 1997 game (known then as the Humanitarian Bowl), but will be their first since 2015. They have not appeared in any other bowl game more than twice.

Despite the handful of appearances in the Potato Bowl, the Aggies have only won it once in 2012.

The Aggies have participated in 16 bowl games in their history and have only missed a bowl game twice since the 2011 season (2016 and 2020). Their bowl record in that more recent period is 5-5.

After a thrilling regular-season finale victory over New Mexico, the Aggies achieved six wins and bowl eligibility this season, something the team emphasized heavily for the past several weeks.

"We talked all over the last month or so about how important being in a bowl game and finishing with a bowl game was; that has not changed," Anderson said. "The only thing better than finishing with a bowl game is winning it and going into the offseason with positive momentum, and that's what we hope to do."

Under Anderson's tenure, the Aggies have yet to miss a bowl game and are 1-1 during that time. The sole victory was against Oregon State in the 2021 LA Bowl; the Aggies lost last year to Memphis in the First Responder Bowl.

Whether Anderson will receive his first "fry bath" this season remains to be seen.

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