WSU to take on Utah State in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

PULLMAN – Washington State won’t have to travel far for its bowl game.

The Cougars are set to take on Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, which is scheduled for Dec. 22 in Boise, Idaho, according to a Sunday news release.

Kickoff is at 11 a.m. PT, which is noon MT in Boise.

“Washington State is thrilled to accept an invitation to the 2025 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl,” WSU interim athletic director Jon Haarlow said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to compete and represent this wonderful institution on the national stage as we prepare for the new Pac-12 next year. We look forward to a great week in Boise.”

The Cougars (6-6) and Aggies (6-6) are future opponents in the rebuilt Pac-12, which launches next year. The teams also squared off last season in Pullman, where WSU earned a runaway 49-28 win.

It’s the ninth bowl game in the last 10 full seasons for the Cougs, who have never played in the Idaho Potato Bowl, which typically pits a Mountain West team against a MAC opponent. It’s also the sixth all-time meeting between WSU and USU, with the Cougs holding a 3-2 advantage.

WSU’s last bowl win came in the 2018 Alamo Bowl. Since then, the Cougars have taken part in the 2019 Cheez-It Bowl, the 2021 Sun Bowl, the 2022 LA Bowl and the 2024 Holiday Bowl, which is when current QB Zevi Eckhaus earned his first start for the Cougs.

But these Cougars have more pressing matters. After coach Jimmy Rogers decamped for Iowa State on Friday, WSU’s interim head coach is defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit, who is expected to lead the Cougs in the bowl game.

Still, Bobbit’s future remains unclear. While he is WSU’s interim head coach, one program source told The Spokesman-Review that Rogers would not have taken the Iowa State job if he couldn’t bring Bobbit, who was also Rogers’ defensive coordinator for the 2023 and 2024 seasons at South Dakota State.

Under the watch of Rogers, who was at WSU for less than one calendar year, the Cougs earned bowl eligibility with a blowout win over Oregon State in their regular-season finale on Nov. 29. Washington State absorbed one-score losses to College Football Playoff-bound Ole Miss and James Madison, plus a narrow defeat to ACC power Virginia.

Utah State is led by coach Bronco Mendenhall, in his first year with the Aggies, who concluded their regular season with a 25-24 loss to eventual Mountain West champion Boise State.

The Aggies’ quarterback is fifth-year senior Bryson Barnes, who has completed 60% of his passes for 2,686 yards and 18 touchdowns against four interceptions. He’s also registered 733 rushing yards for nine scores on the ground.

The Cougars and Aggies squaring off is also an interesting matchup in this way: WSU president Elizabeth Cantwell’s last job was at Utah State, where she served as president for 18 months. Without a full-time athletic director in place, WSU’s search for its next head coach will be led by Cantwell and Haarlow.

As of Sunday afternoon, three Cougars have made plans to enter the transfer portal, which opens on Jan. 2: Quarterback Jaxon Potter, cornerback Kenny Worthy III and wide receiver Devin Ellison, the last of whom departed the team in mid-November. Potter started the season’s first three games before being benched for Eckhaus. And Worthy played a fine backup cornerback all season.

It’s unclear whether those three – and any Cougars who make plans for the portal – will take part in the bowl game. Last season, after former coach Jake Dickert left for Wake Forest, some of the WSU players who had decided to enter the portal still played in the Holiday Bowl. That was decided by a team vote.