Presented by BACON BOISE.
This Day In Sports…December 18, 2010, 15 years ago today:
The Humanitarian Bowl, soon to become the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, moves to the opening day of bowl season for the first time, and Northern Illinois removes the drama early with a 40-17 drubbing of Fresno State. The Huskies had lost coach Jerry Kill to Minnesota and were coming off a stunning last-minute loss to Miami (Ohio) in the MAC championship game two weeks earlier. But interim coach Tom Matukewicz glued the team together with his enthusiasm and wit, and Northern Illinois passionately outplayed Pat Hill’s Bulldogs at every turn to finish 11-3.
It has been said so many times in the secondary bowl games: “They who not only want to be there the most—but want to have the most fun—win.” I don’t think we’ve ever seen a sideline quite like that of Northern Illinois in the second half against the Bulldogs. The Huskies were making noise on defensive downs, celebrating every play made by their teammates, and following the enthusiastic lead of Matukewicz. Northern Illinois was loose, confident and dominant, while Fresno State just couldn’t make plays.
Chandler Harnish, an extension of Matukewicz’s spirit, did little wrong for the Huskies. He had one of the best all-around games ever by a quarterback in the H-Bowl, throwing for 300 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 72 yards and two more scores. Matukewicz was loving every minute of it. His halftime interview on ESPN was as good as Idaho coach Robb Akey’s was the previous year as the Vandals pulled off a heart-stopping win over Bowling Green. Matukewicz said he was going to use all his timeouts in the second half to enjoy the final minutes of the game. He didn’t, but he was having too much fun as it was.
Matukewicz had been an assistant under Kill at Emporia State and Southern Illinois before joining him as linebackers coach at NIU. “Coach Tuke” continued as ‘backers coach in 2011 before spending two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Toledo (he was back on the Blue when the Rockets faced Utah State in 2012). In 2014, Matukewicz became head coach at Southeast Missouri State, where he just completed his 12th season.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to the 2011 edition of Boise’s bowl. The Idaho Potato Commission emerged with a commitment as a long-term sponsor, giving the bowl its new identity, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Hear the name, and you know exactly what it is and where it is. And next Monday’s game between USU and Washington State marks the 15th year of the Idaho Potato Commission’s sponsorship.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
