Bo's Blog: At Least 25 Fun Facts about the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
By Bo Carter
Boise State is 447-168-2 (.726 winning percentage) over 51 seasons as a four-year college football program. BSU played community college football from 1933-67. The Broncos are No. 3 all-time in NCAA FBS winning percentage behind Notre Dame (.731) and Michigan (.729) in all-time victory rates.
The Broncos are 12-6 (.667) in 18 bowl appearances – all since the 1998 season (19 in the last 21 years). BSU also is playing its first game in 51 seasons of four-year college football at Cotton Bowl Stadium. The Broncos are the 99th different college team to play in Cotton Bowl Stadium, and SMU has the most appearances at the facility with 184 (80-99-5) since its first encounter on the CBS turf Oct. 25, 1930, with a 27-0 win over Indiana.
Boise State is third nationally in third down conversion rate behind Army (57 percent) and Alabama (52.8 percent) at 52.5 percent (106-of-202) prior to the bowl. The Broncos also are second in NCAA FBS with 202 third down conversion attempts behind Wake Forest with 229.
The Mountain West Conference in its 2018 configuration is 4-10-1 in 15 stadium clashes. The first current MWC team to play at the iconic facility was Air Force in a 9-7 loss to SMU in 1961.
The Broncos and Eagles have some heady stadium team and records to shoot for in the Dec. 26 tussle with a number of notable numbers since venerable Cotton Bowl Stadium opened in 1930 (it was Fair Park Stadium, razed after the 1929 season) at the same site from 1921-29. The first college game played at Cotton Bowl Stadium was a 19-9 Tulane victory over Texas A&M on Oct. 11, 1930 – one week before Oklahoma and Texas began a 89-year rivalry at the Dallas football structure.
Some of the more notable team marks for single games at the stadium are:
Most Rushing Attempts
80, SMU vs. Rice, 1973 (315 yards)
80, Baylor vs. SMU, 1956 (269 yards)
80, Texas vs. SMU, 1969 (611 yards)
Most Yards Rushing
611, Texas vs. SMU, 1969
Most Pass Attempts
69, Houston vs. Penn State, 2012 (45 completions) - SPFRB
Most Pass Completions
45, Houston vs. Penn State, 2012 – SPFRB
43, Texas Tech vs. Northwestern, 2011 – SPFRB
Most Passing Yards
618, Grambling State vs. Prairie View A&M, 2005
532, Houston vs. Penn State, 2012 - SPFRB
Most Yards Total Offense
677, Oklahoma vs. Texas, 2012
672, Oklahoma vs. Texas, 2016
Notable individual records for college games at Cotton Bowl Stadium are:
Most Rushing Yards
342, Roosevelt Leaks, Texas vs. SMU (37 attempts), 1973
Average Per Carry (Min. 10 Rushing Attempts)
24.1, Dicky Maegle, Rice vs. Alabama, 1954 (11 for 265 yards, 3 TD)
Passing Attempts
69, Case Keenum, Houston vs. Penn State, 2012 – SPFRB
Pass Completions
45, Case Keenum, Houston vs. Penn State, 2012 – SPFRB
43, Taylor Potts, Texas Tech vs. Northwestern, 2011 – SPFRB
Passing Yards
532, Case Keenum, Houston vs. Penn State (45-69-3 TD), 2012 – SPFRB
Most Total Offense Yards
542, Case Keenum, Houston vs. Penn State (532 P, 10 R), 2012 – SPFRB
Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin enters the game as a college head coach at 59-20-0 (six seasons) overall and 52-15 (five years) at BSU. He is 3-1 (.750) in four previous bowl games.
Boston College leads the series against Boise State 1-0-0 with 27-21 verdict in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl Dec. 28, 2005, at Albertsons Stadium in Boise.
BSU has played two bowls, including Wednesday, in Texas with a 34-18 win over host TCU in the inaugural Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl at Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Stadium.
Boston College has competed in Texas bowls three times, including the SPFRB, and all three have been contested at Cotton Bowl Stadium. The Eagles played their first-ever postseason contest in 1940 against Rice in the Cotton Bowl Classic at Cotton Bowl Stadium as Clemson edged BC 6-3. Forty-five years later, NFF College and Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Doug Flutie passed the Eagles over Houston 45-28 in the CBC.
BC is 1-1-0 in its two previous Cotton Bowl Stadium showings – both in postseason.
The Eagles are the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to play in the SPFRB. Boston College previously was a major college independent for the both 1940 and 1985 Cotton Bowl Classics.
Boston College won its 500th game in 84 seasons of varsity football against Virginia Tech 31-21 on Nov. 3.
Current teams from the ACC are 12-11 in 23 skirmishes played at Cotton Bowl Stadium. The first 2018 ACC member to play in the historic structure was Clemson (then a member of the Southern Conference) in its 6-3 win over Boston College in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic.
BC head coach Steve Addazio is 51-49-0 (eight seasons) overall, 38-38 with five bowl appearances with the Eagles, and 2-3 in bowls (1-3 at BC). He was 13-11 with a 1-0 bowl record in 2011 and ’12 at Temple.
The Eagles are 14-12-0 in 26 bowls and have played in five in the last six seasons after playing in 12 bowls in succession from 1999-2010
Fourteen different BC players have at least one carry while 15 players have receptions for the Eagles balanced offensive attack in ’18.
In each of the first seven SERVPRO First Responder Bowls and their predecessors at historic Cotton Bowl Stadium, at least 44 points were scored. The best defensive “struggles” to date have been a pair of 30-14 wins by Houston over Penn State in 2012 and by Utah over West Virginia in 2017. The highest-composite-scoring game in SPFRB annals remains the inaugural contest in 2011 with 83 points behind offense-minded Texas Tech (45) and Big Ten Conference power Northwestern (38).
Any field goal of 26 or more yards Wednesday will rank among the Top 10 by distance in the history of the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. Last year’s Utah-WVU featured three of the 10-longest three-pointers, and the three-longest field goals remain as 43 yards by Illinois’ David Reisner in 2014, 42 yards by Oklahoma State’s Quinn Sharp in 2013 and 38 yards by Houston’s Matt Hogan in 2012.
