STATE YOUR CASE: Happy with Potato Bowl?
STATE YOUR CASE: Are we really happy with the Potato Bowl?
Mark Hopkins, staff writer:
First, a shout out to our record-setting football team. We’ve reached No. 20 in the nation, the first ever 10-win season, the first outright conference championship since leather helmets went out of style and are basically one win away from a BCS berth.
So how do we celebrate? By going to the same frozen bowl we did last year, where a crop is more famous than the game.
Last year, the Famous – more like infamous – Idaho Potato Bowl was an honor. What else can you say about the first bowl game in 13 years? But this year, honestly, I think Tavin is the only one pulling a “Singles Ward” and jumping off his couch saying, “I’m going to Boise, Idaho!”
Think for a moment of all the nice places you’d like for a bowl game. Miami, Fla., Tempe, Ariz. – heck, even the Cougarettes are going to San Diego, Calif for sun, fun and national exposure.
Now imagine the worst possible place your team could end their season. Out of all bowl locations, does anywhere even come close to Boise, Idaho? If it weren’t for the Smurf Turf, would they even allow teams to play where five of the last seven years it has snowed during the game?
No, I am not a football hater. In fact, this year has made me tear up in a joy I never knew. But I now feel ripped off – Aggie nation deserves more and better.
I’m still going to the game, by the way.
– m.hop@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @legendarymhops
Tavin Stucki, sports editor:
The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is the best-available postseason game Utah State can get this year.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see USU in the Cotton Bowl or the Hawaii Bowl or somewhere else worthy of reliving spring break memories, but it’s not going to happen.
I mean, maybe if the Aggies had scored seven more points in the games against BYU and Wisconsin we would be busting the BCS this season, but it didn’t happen.
I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the chore of going back to Boise, Idaho, but what more do those fans want?
Yeah, there are other bowls available, but there aren’t any better bowls available. We could go to the bowl
in Detroit, Mich., but why travel across the country to play a team from the same conference we would play in Boise, Idaho?
I’m not a rich guy from a big house in Draper, Utah. I can’t exactly empty my pockets to pay for a magic carpet ride to wherever-I-want, USA. I’m pretty happy with the idea of seeing my team play in a relatively close stadium.
Besides, Utah State has been to six bowls in the history of football. Maybe we could be a little more picky if the Aggies had a streak of 10 or 15 years-in-a-row of bowl games, but they don’t and we can’t.
Give it a couple seasons of success in the Mountain West Conference, then we can go to custom-made bowl games.
See you in Boise, Idaho.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @StuckiAggies