2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl The 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a post - season American college football bowl game held on December 15 , 2012 at Bronco Stadium in Boise , Idaho in the United States . The sixteenth edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl began at 2 : 30 p . m . MST and aired on ESPN . It featured the Toledo Rockets from the Mid - American Conference against the Western Athletic Conference champion Utah State Aggies , and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams . The Rockets accepted their invitation after earning a 9 - 2 record in the regular season , while the Aggies accepted theirs after earning a 10 - 2 record . Utah State won the game 41 - 15 . Teams . Since 2001 , the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has given an automatic bid to a team from the Western Athletic Conference . However , this was the final year of the bid , as the WAC ceased sponsorship of football following the season . Coincidentally , the WAC ' s bid was given after the Big West Conference ( whose champion had the automatic bid ) ceased sponsoring football following the 2000 game . The Mid - American Conference has held their automatic bid since 2010 , following the Toronto - based International Bowl ceasing operations . This was the first meeting between these two teams . Toledo . In one of the more successful seasons in the conference ' s history , the Rockets were one of the MAC ' s more successful teams , finishing with a 6 - 2 conference record , good for a tie for second place in the West Division ( though losing the tiebreaker to the Ball State Cardinals ) . After the season , the Rockets accepted their invitation to the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl . This will be the Rockets ' first Famous Idaho Potato Bowl . Utah State . The Aggies are coming off one of their most successful seasons in school history , finishing 6 - 0 in WAC play and winning the conference ' s final outright championship . In fact , the Aggies ' only two losses of the season would not come by a margin of any more than three points ( to the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 16 - 14 and their Old Wagon Wheel rivals the BYU Cougars by a score of 6 - 3 ) . After defeating the Idaho Vandals to finish their regular season record at 10 - 2 ( winning ten games for the first time in school history ) , the Aggies accepted the fourth invitation of the 2012 – 13 NCAA Bowl season to the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl . This will be the Aggies ' third Famous Idaho Potato Bowl , following the inaugural 1997 game against the Cincinnati Bearcats as well as the 2011 game against the Ohio Bobcats , both of which the Aggies lost . It will also be the Aggies ' final game as a member of the WAC before they move to the Mountain West Conference in 2013 . Toledo got the ball to start the game and executed a 5 - play , 49 - yard drive that resulted in a 37 yard field goal by Jeremiah Detmer for the first points of the game . On the ensuing Utah State drive , the Aggies managed one first down prior to punting away after two plays for losses of yardage as well as an illegal substitution penalty . Later in the quarter , Utah State got the ball back and executed a drive that culminated with a 62 yard rushing touchdown by Chuckie Keeton . That would be the last score of the quarter . The second quarter began with a 9 - play , 50 - yard drive for Toledo that was capped off with a 37 yard field goal by Detmer , his second of the game from that distance . After exchanging punts , Utah State executed an 86 - yard drive in the final 1 : 39 that resulted in a successful 27 yard field goal by Nick Diaz . Since Toledo got the ball at the start of the game , Utah State got possession at the beginning of the second half . Like Toledo did on the first drive of the first half , Utah State marched down the field but settled for a field goal after an 8 - play , 45 yard drive . The ensuing Toledo drive ended with an interception , but Utah State failed to capitalize and ended up punting it back to Toledo . Heading into the fourth quarter , the score remained 13 - 6 Utah State . Toledo began the quarter by putting together a 14 - play , 74 - yard drive . Since they were down by seven points , however , they decided to go for it on fourth and one at the Utah State nine yard line , but were stopped short by the Utah State defense . After a Utah State fumble on their ensuing possession , Toledo was able to score on a 29 yard field goal by Detmer . The next three drives for Utah State all ended the same way , a Kerwynn Williams touchdown run . In the course of three minutes , Williams ran for three touchdowns to put Utah State on top 41 - 15 , which would end up being the final score .