Buffalo vs. San Diego State, 2013 Potato Bowl: Aztecs are the POTATO LORDS

Record attendance at Saturday night’s R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Local matters in minor bowls, and two local teams, Tulane and UL Lafayette, filled quite a bit of the Superdome. Those on hand saw an intense, dramatic, not very well-played game -- a 24-21 win for the Cajuns of Lafayette, their third straight New Orleans Bowl win -- but the latter doesn’t necessarily matter if you have enough of the former.

Percentage of San Diego State’s drives that finished in Buffalo territory during a 49-24 Aztec win. SDSU went three-and-out once, in the second quarter. Otherwise, the Aztecs’ 13 drives finished on the other side of the 50.

San Diego State won handily in the Idaho Potato Bowl, giving head coach Rocky Long his third consecutive season of at least eight wins. Buffalo, which enjoyed an eight-win season itself, proved unable to get a ninth.

For his troubles, Long was doused in 25-degree weather:

LET US NEVER FORGET: There is a bowl game between two college teams that rewards them for their regular season performance sponsored by, and named for, potatoes.

Yes, it’s the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the bowl that sounds most like a horrible KFC dish, played on the blue turf of always-beautiful-in-December Boise, Idaho. Once known as the Humanitarian Bowl, the game that currently pits a Mountain West team against a MAC team had been sponsored by such relevant companies as:

Two solid teams who finished one game away from their conference title games will square off on the blue turf, as Buffalo and San Diego State face each other in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

The Aztecs lost their first three games of the season, including a blowout to FCS powerhouse Eastern Illinois and a close loss to Oregon State (who lost to FCS powerhouse Eastern Washington) before winning six of their next seven games. Their most impressive wins came against San Jose State and Boise State, with conference losses to Fresno State and UNLV.

The Dec. 21 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is a litmus test.

It is bowl season at its silliest, pitting two teams from very far away on a blue turf field in a very cold state in mid-December. To the winner goes a trophy bowl of potatoes. It is inane, pointless ... ridiculous, even. If you enjoy this bowl, if you watch it and tweet about it, you are a bowl-lover. If you can’t get past the unnecessary nature of any of this, bowls just aren’t for you.

The Aztecs opened as 2.5-point underdogs, according to early Idaho Potato Bowl odds monitored by OddsShark.com. This is just the second time in Buffalo history that the team has reached a bowl. Both teams would love to add a rare bowl win to their resumes.

Buffalo cooled off a bit down the stretch, with a 1-2 SU and ATS record over its last three games, but the well-balanced squad should get up for just its second bowl appearance ever.