Foster Farms Bowl History

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Written By T.J. Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers will take on the Utah Utes in the Foster Farms Bowl on December 28 in Santa Clara, California. While this PAC-12 versus Big Ten battle certainly doesn’t measure up to the Rose Bowl, it’s still a bowl game with a solid tradition and many storied programs have competed in it since its inception in 2002. The game has been in the Bay Area for the entirety of its existence but it has not always been known as the “Foster Farms Bowl”. Below are the monikers this bowl game has gone by:

 

Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl (2002-2003)
Emerald Bowl (2004-2009)
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (2010-2012)
Fight Hunger Bowl (2013)
Foster Farms Bowl (2014-present)

The game is now owned and operated by the San Francisco 49ers and it is played in the 49ers Levi Stadium. I can’t pretend that this article required Masters level research but I scoured the internet to find some facts and figures from the history of this bowl game.

Power Programs: Seven former national champions have played in this game: UCLA, Miami, USC, Florida State, Washington, BYU and Nebraska

Largest Crowd: 42,268 people packed inside of AT&T Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) in 2008 to see California knock off the Miami Hurricanes.

Biggest Blowout: In 2012, the Arizona State Sun Devils blew sunk the Navy Midshipmen 62-28. The 34-point margin is the largest in the bowl’s history.

Closest Contest: There have been a number of very competitive games but the closest game (in terms of scoring margin) occurred in 2011 when Illinois knocked off UCLA 20-14. 

Former Luminaries: Having so many high-level programs play in this game means there have been a whole bunch of high-level players to have played in this contest. Some of the most well-known guys from the history of this game include: Eric Weddle (Utah), Tony Carter (Florida State), Jahvid Best (California), Damian Williams (USC), Matt Barkley (USC), Luke Kuechly (Boston College), Marion Grice (Arizona State), Bishop Sankey (Washington), Kevin Hogan (Stanford), Tommy Armstrong (Nebraska)

Standout Performances

  • Yards:  648 yards by Arizona State in 2012
  • Rushing Yards: 380 yards by Arizona State in 2012
  • Passing Yards: 381 yards by Utah in 2005

This is the second appearance in a bowl game in San Francisco for the Utah Utes. They appeared in the 2005 Emerald Bowl and blasted the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 38-10. As a conference, the PAC-12 is 6-3 all-time while the Big Ten is 2-1 (wins by Illinois and Nebraska and a loss by Maryland).