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Jul. 22—Nineteen-and-a-half-pounds of lacquered Douglas fir shaped like a giant spud and resting atop a wood base dominated the University of Idaho’s table at the Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff media day.
“What the heck is that?” immediately leaps to mind.
The Potato State Trophy. To be contested with Idaho State University.
It joins a pantheon of quirky Vandals’ awards.
The former Governor’s Cup awarded to the winner of the Idaho-Eastern Washington University game during Idaho’s first tour in the Big Sky Conference before the Vandals embarked on a two-decade venture into the Football Bowl Subdivision was dug out of storage a couple of seasons ago. It was rechristened the Che Scow Cup, with its new name printed in black ink on a strip of white athletic tape.
Idaho’s oldest rivalry, with Montana, is memorialized by the Little Brown Stein. The teams first met in 1903. The rivalry was reinvigorated when Idaho beat Montana two years ago for the first time since 2000.
Finally, there is a daily award, a fearsome looking battle ax commemorating the player who had the day’s best practice.
All of it sets a tone. College football should be more than a humorless pursuit of alignments and keys, leverage and want to. The Vandals have been a playoff team in coach Jason Eck’s first two seasons. Last year, they reached the quarter-finals. They are close enough to it to realistically entertain making a national championship run. Serious business. But frivolous fun along the way widens perspective and eases pressure.
“You have got to have trophy games,” says Eck.
Last year, the Vandals and Bengals battled for a Mr. Potato Head atop a trophy base.
“I saw that potato head, and I laughed,” said Keyshawn James-Newby. The All-Big Sky honorable mention edge rusher last year is a key member of what Eck says could be the most dominant…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/meet-potato-idaho-ready-back-020300073.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-07-23 02:03:00
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