FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State football team has accepted its invitation to play in the 2024 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The Bulldogs (6-6, 4-3 MW) will face Northern Illinois (7-5, 4-4 MAC). The game will be played Monday, December 23 at 11:30 a.m. PT at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Fresno State will participate in its fourth bowl game in the past four seasons, and its 33rd bowl game in program history. It is the first time since the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons that Fresno State appeared in a bowl game in four-straight seasons.
Fresno State is 17-15 all-time in bowl games and has won its last five dating back to 2017. Fresno State has an active bowl game winning streak that is third in the nation behind Georgia and Minnesota with seven each.
The Bulldogs will be led in the bowl game by interim head coach Tim Skipper. Skipper also coached the Bulldogs in the 2023 New Mexico Bowl as the acting head coach for the game. He was made interim in July 2024.
The bowl game meeting will be the sixth in the series with NIU. It is the first since the Bulldogs' last trip to Boise for a bowl game, in the then-Humanitarian Bowl. NIU defeated Fresno State 40-17 in the 2010 version of the bowl. Fresno State's last victory over NIU came in a 55-7 home victory on Sept. 7, 1991. NIU leads the all-time series, 3-2.
Fresno State will play its fourth bowl game in Boise, and first since the 2010 matchup with NIU. The Bulldogs are 2-1 in the Boise bowl matchups with games played in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is the longest-running cold weather bowl game in college football. It has hosted 28 different universities and has seen 21 first-round NFL Draft picks come through. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is a celebration of the spirit of winter in the beautiful Idaho mountains. More information on the bowl and its history can be found here.