While the College Football Playoff has further pulled attention from the smaller bowl games that still pock the December calendar, the 2024 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl stood out from the bunch on Monday.
The hard-fought contest between the Northern Illinois Huskies and Fresno State Bulldogs (or was it Bulldongs?) ended up going to overtime before the Huskies sealed the 28-20 victory.
After the game, NIU head coach Thomas Hammock was in a very good mood. Not only did he earn a $20,000 bonus and a one-year contract extension, but he also received the requisite french fries dousing that comes with being the winning coach.
Hammock then spoke with reporter Tori Petry, who asked him what it was like to get a bunch of french fries dumped on his head.
“You know, that was the best dump of my career,” said Hammock. “And it was french fries. They were a little bit salty.”
Naturally, social media had a field day with that. But it came back around to ESPN later that night when Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve watched the clip and absolutely lost it for a minute afterward.
“Alrighty then,” said Van Pelt through the laughter and then attempted, poorly, to segue.
The win capped a great year for Northern Illinois, who also upset Notre Dame in South Bend en route to an 8-5 record. Congrats to Coach Hammock and we hope he has many great dumps yet to come.
[ESPN]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.