The 2009 Humanitarian Bowl was the thirteenth edition of the

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, and was played at Bronco Stadium in

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, on the campus of

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

. The game started at 2:30 pm MST on Wednesday, December 30,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and was telecasted on

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defeated

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43–42. As of this game, the Humanitarian Bowl was the longest continuously running cold weather bowl. The 2009 game was Idaho's first bowl game in more than a decade, when they defeated Southern Mississippi in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl. Bowling Green, in its debut at the Humanitarian Bowl, filled a spot usually reserved for the

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; however, the MWC champion

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was selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl and the conference did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill out its usual bowl commitments. Bowling Green played in the GMAC Bowl the previous season, where it lost 63–7 to

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. The game also marked the first time the two schools had met in competition. Both teams entered the game with 7-5 records in the regular season: Idaho began the

season at 6–1, but lost four of its last five. Meanwhile, Bowling Green was 1–4 early in the season, but won six of its last seven games.

Game summary

Idaho wore their home black jerseys with gold pants. Bowling Green wore their away white jerseys with white pants. A bowl game that promised much offense certainly delivered, with just one turnover and a blocked field goal, both in Idaho's favor. The teams traded touchdowns all day and Idaho won its first bowl game in 11 years in one of the most exciting bowl games of the season. Tied in the final minute and with 3rd down and 11 at their own 49, the Falcons took a 42-35 lead with 32 seconds left on a 51-yard pass from Tyler Sheehan to Freddie Barnes, who easily slipped behind the Idaho secondary for his 17th catch of the game and number 155 in his record-setting season. After the ensuing kickoff, the Vandals had 24 seconds to work with and completed an incredible 46-yard pass for a first down at the BGSU 16-yard line. After an incomplete pass stopped the clock with 8 seconds remaining,

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Max Komar cradled a sliding 16-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

catch with 4 seconds left to put the Vandals within a point. Head coach Robb Akey decided to go for the win and forego overtime; QB Nathan Enderle found Preston Davis alone in the back of the

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for the two-point conversion to seal the comeback victory. De'Maundray Woolridge carried Idaho with 126 yards on 22 rushes and two third-quarter touchdowns. Enderle finished the game completing 15 of his 28 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns, after starting the game 1 of 6. Sheehan was 33 of 47 for 387 yards and four touchdowns for Bowling Green, but it was the 14th consecutive bowl loss for the Mid-American Conference. For their efforts on offense, Woolridge and Barnes were named MVP's for the game.

Scoring summary

References

{{Idaho Vandals bowl game navbox Humanitarian Bowl Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Bowling Green Falcons football bowl games Idaho Vandals football bowl games December 2009 sports events in the United States 2009 in sports in Idaho