Tomorrow the Utah State Aggies and Washington State Cougars will meet on the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium for the 29th edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The two sides converge not only as opponents but as future conference mates as USU will join WSU in the new Pac-12 in July.
That yet-to-be connection adds a little bit of flavor to this edition of the series that has seen several recent entries. The Aggies and Cougars met last year because of the scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and Mountain West (which is now the subject of a lawsuit) and met in 2021, a game that kicked off USU’s eventual conference-title-winning season.
Game Info:
- Kickoff: 12:00 p.m. (Mountain Time)
- Location: Albertsons Stadium (Boise, ID)
- TV Broadcast/Stream: ESPN
- Radio: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM), kvnutalk.com, KVNU mobile app
KVNU Aggie Gameday pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: Begins at 10:00
KVNU Aggie Call Postgame: Will begin immediately following Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s postgame comments
- Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and reactions for the game.
Both teams arrived in Boise on Thursday and have spent the last few days enjoying their time with activities organized by the bowl hosts. That included some charity work, packing meals for the local community and a sledding trip which produced an image of Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall bombing down a hill with his shirt off, which apparently took little convincing to get the normally stoic coach to do.
that’s OUR head ball coach! @USUFootball x @IDPotatoBowl pic.twitter.com/BQGJtK5u0j
— Utah State Athletics (@USUAthletics) December 19, 2025
“I already knew the outcome,” Mendenhall said with a smile. “Once there was a hint of the head coach’s name being called, you have to get ahead of that as fast as possible. That decision was easy.”
There may come a concern over whether teams spend too much time playing and not enough time preparing to try and get a win come Monday. But Mendenhall is confident in the preperation his team has done and the ability of his squad to flip the switch when the ball is teed up.
“We came to prepare first and foremost. We came to play the game and to win. That’s why we’re here,” Mendenhall said. “But every second that I can be with our team and to show my appreciation, just be with them, we’re going to do that. The best teams I’ve coached through bowl games, they can toggle back and forth. Here’s the preparation, here is the unity and fun. This team has done a nice job this week of managing both.”
Washington State Interim Head Coach Jesse Bobbit has been juggling things for the last copule of weeks, not just since Thursday. On Dec. 5 Jimmy Rogers, the now-former head coach of the Cougars, bolted from Pullman at the end of his first season coaching the team in favor of taking the job at Iowa State. That left Bobbit, the team’s defensive coordinator to balance many things. First of all, the job of adjusting to heading not just the defense, but the whole team. Then there’s been recruiting, the transfer portal and gameplanning as a whole.
“Yeah, it’s been stressful. But at the end of the day, it’s helped me grow a ton,” Bobbit said. “My biggest message with that is to be where your feet are, enjoy the moment. I’ve used the phrase ‘make adversity your partner in growth’, and find joy. You can find joy in anything. Even in this crazy time of change, the chaos a little bit for these guys, you can still find joy in it. That’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Washington State and Utah State share some of the same adversity that they are working to overcome. Namely the transfer portal. Although the official NCAA transfer portal will not officially open until January, it has already had its impact on both teams. Players may not be able to officially put their names in as transfers but no one is or can stop them from announcing that intention and essentially withdrawing from the team.
Around 20 players from both USU and WSU have already opted to do that, at least six from the Aggies and 14 for the Cougars. One of the most notable is Utah State wide receiver Braden Pegan who caught 60 passes for 926 yards and five touchdowns this year. And while he may be the most productive player to opt out of this game, Washington State has had more impact players leave the team early. The team’s leading rusher, running back Kirby Vorhees (138 attempt, 576 yards, five TDs), second-leading receiver Tony Freeman (51 catches, 557 yards, three TDs) and a key rotation linebacker Anthony Palano (63 tackles) are each going portalling.
Notable portal entries for Utah State and Washington State that have been publicly reported/announced, so far as I’ve been able to find.- Braden Pegan (USU, WR): 60 rec, 926 yards, 5 TD- Kirby Vorhees (WSU, RB): 138 rush, 576 yds, 5 TD- Tony Freeman (WSU, WR): 51 rec, 557…
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) December 21, 2025
The players that remain will feature in what should be an exciting game. Mendenhall said expects “a tough, physical game” between “very evenly matched teams.”
On the one hand, you have a Utah State team that has played up and down throughout the year, but appears to be on an upswing on some levels. For Washington State, you have a team that has played an impressively difficult schedule, going up against playoff or near-playoff caliber teams like Ole Miss, James Madison, North Texas and Virginia. Though the Cougars are dealing with the loss of their head coach, which has created a tough off-the-field challenge.
By most metrics and analysis, this should be a low-scoring game. For one, only two teams that Washington State has played have managed to score more than 24 points against the Cougars. North Texas and Washington each hung 59 on WSU’s defense, though the Mean Green were literally the highest-scoring team in the nation with the Huskies ranking 18th in points per game. Even playoff teams like Ole Miss and James Madison were held in the mid-20s (both scored eactly 24).
Combine that caliber of defense with the Aggies’ loss of their top pass-catcher, Pegan, and it creates quite the challenge. And without that help, a disproportionate amount of pressure will likely be placed on the shoulders of USU quarterback Bryson Barnes. The last three games, even with Pegan available, have seen Barnes put the offense on his back and try to power through opponents. The senior has averaged 33.0 pass attempts and 21.0 rush attempts per game across USU’s last three contests, as opposed to 26.2 passes and 12.6 rushes in the first nine games of the season.
But that’s a load Barnes is 100 percent willing to take on if it means hoisting the trophy after the game.
“Regardless of how many carries, regardless of how many times I throw the football, whatever we got to do to win, I’m going to go out there and do it. That’s kind of why I play the game,” Barnes said. “If that means I have to carry it 25 times up the middle to win the football game, that’s what I’m going to have to do. If it means throwing it for 50, that’s what I’ll do. The increased load, I’m excited for it. I’m ready for more. Yeah, just got to do whatever you got to do to win.”
Just as much as Utah State may struggle against a very capable Washington State defense, the Aggies’ defense may find great success against a floundering Cougars’ offense. Even with a fully healthy and available roster, Washington State has struggled to score points, ranking 77th in FEI offensive efficiency and 112th in points scored per game (21.6). Take that lackluster production and remove the leading rusher and a top pass-catcher, Vorhees and Freeman, and it could be a struggle.
Similar to Barnes, it’s possible that Washington State quarterback Zevi Eckhaus could have an outsized number of touches. The senior QB took over the starting job in late September and in nine starts he has thrown for 187.6 yards per game while averaging 10.8 carries for 37.1 rushing yards per contest. In total, Eckhaus has accounted for more than 2,000 all-purpose yards and 20 touchdowns responsible for.
