Bowl History: The Potato Bowl

Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images Talking about the birth of the Idaho Potato Bowl is actually tied together with the previous piece that I did on the California Bowl. When Fresno State moved to the WAC in 1992, the Big West and MAC lost out on their premier bowl game hosted at Bulldog Stadium. They briefly moved to what is now the Las Vegas Bowl, but lost that tie-in in 1996, as the Vegas Bowl looked to move up the ladder of prestige. They needed somewhere to go, and they received a lifeline in Boise State. The Broncos had joined the Big West conference in 1996, and were looking to make a splash in the top division of college football. They also had some lurid blue field that they were trying to show off on TV, but we’ll gloss over that.

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