Fresno State (6-6, 4-3 MW) vs Northern Illinois (7-5, 4-4 MAC)
Monday, December 23, 2024 | 11:30 a.m. PT | ESPN | Albertsons Stadium (36,363) | Boise, Idaho
Fresno State Bowl Guide
NIU Game Notes
TICKETS - BUY NOW
MEDIA COVERAGE
TV - ESPN
Play-by-Play - Lowell Galindo
Analyst - Fozzy Whittaker
Sideline - Tori Petry
Radio - Bulldog Sports Network
Play-by-Play - Paul Loeffler
Analyst - Pat Hill
Sideline - Cam Worrell
Radio - Bowl Season Radio
Play-by-Play - Scott Garrard
Analyst - Hans Olsen
Sideline - Tim Murray
Social Media: Twitter: @FresnoStateFB | Instagram:@fresno_state_football | Facebook: FresnoStateFootball | YouTube: FresnoStateAthletics
Live Stats: BulldogsLive.com
QUICK LOOK
Fresno State looks for its sixth straight bowl win at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Fresno State makes its return to Boise for a bowl game for the first time since 2010, also against NIU.
With a win in the bowl game, Fresno State will have its fourth-straight winning season, its longest since a four-season streak from 2007-10 (excluding the 3-3 COVID season).
With the setting of the Idaho Potato Bowl being the blue turf at the home of Boise State, Fresno State is no stranger to playing on The Blue. The Bulldogs have won two of their last four trips to The Blue, both Mountain West Championship wins over Boise State.
Although his first trip to Boise as a Bulldog, senior safety Dean Clark has played in the Idaho Potato Bowl having appeared in the 2021 game when he was at Kent State. Clark had a career-best 13 tackles against Wyoming in that game.
Fresno State had 11 players earn All-Mountain West honors this season with three first team honorees in WR Mac Dalena, CB Cam Lockridge and LB Tuasivi Nomura.
For the fourth time since 2020, Fresno State has a new head coach leading its football program. On December 4, 2024, Matt Entz was named the 23rd head coach in Bulldog football history. Entz is the program's fourth head coach in the last five years, and third in the last six months.
Although Entz was hired as head coach before the bowl game, interim head coach Tim Skipper and the staff from the 2024 season will coach the Bulldogs in the bowl game.
As of Friday, December 13, Fresno State has had 15 players enter the transfer portal including seven starters.
Due to starting QB Mikey Keene entering the portal, the Bulldogs are left with five quarterbacks on the roster with a combined eight career pass attempts between Joshua Wood and Jayden Mandal. No quarterback currently with the Bulldog program has started a game at the collegiate level.
At this point in the season, Fresno State has had 13 different players earn their first career start. With several starters hitting the portal, there are expected to be new first-time starters in different positions in the bowl game.
This season, the Bulldogs have had 35 different players start at one point on the year.
Fresno State did not lose starters at the following positions: running back, tight end, safety, defensive end, linebacker, kicker and punter.
Seniors Mac Dalena (WR) and Malachi Langley (LB) have appeared in 58 consecutive games as Bulldogs. That is the fifth-longest streak of games played by players at one school in the FBS. For Dalena, that is every game of his collegiate career.
Fresno State has three players who have played in four games this season to utilize a redshirt, but can play in the game without forefitting that redshirt eligibility. Those players are WR Chedon James, OL Jacob Spomer and DL Ezra Christensen.
Fresno State has had seven one-score games in 2024, and is 2-5 in those games. Seven one-score games are the third most from around the FBS, and the second most in the Mountain West behind Nevada with eight.
True freshman running back Bryson Donelson has been one to keep an eye on in the offense as the season has gone on. Donelson has 62 carries for 380 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first freshman RB to have a 100-yard performance for the Bulldogs since 2017. He was the MW Freshman of the Week on Nov. 25.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
Fresno State and NIU will meet for the sixth time in program history.
It is the second time these teams will meet in a bowl game, with the last meeting between the schools being in the 2010 Humanitarian Bowl in Boise. NIU defeated Fresno State 40-17 in the last meeting.
NIU leads the all-time series with Fresno State 3-2.
In addition to the 2010 bowl game victory for NIU, the Huskies won at Fresno State in 1973 (24-15) and defeated the 24th-ranked Bulldogs 73-18 on Oct. 6, 1990, in DeKalb.
FS claimed victories over NIU in 1991 (55-7) and won the first game ever played between the teams, 9-6, in 1972.
In the last meeting between the teams, current Fresno State interim head coach Tim Skipper in his fifth season as the Bulldogs' linebackers coach during his first tenure on staff.
Current New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr was a sophomore on that 2010 team.
Current Fresno State team doctor Zak Hill was a junior defensive back on the 2010 team.
Fresno State was coached by Pat Hill in its last game against NIU. Hill is now Fresno State's analyst for the football radio broadcasts.