BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Eastern Michigan took down San Jose State 41-27 to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
It's Eastern's first bowl win since 1987, and head coach Chris Creighton reflected on the squad's victory, noting that while Eastern didn't win the MAC, they still accomplished a lot.
"Our ultimate goal is to be the best that we can be," Creighton said. "And we believe that winning is a byproduct of that. So underneath that, we do have goals. We want to win a MAC championship and so we failed our primary goal, while at the same time, we did some things this year that haven't been done in a long time."
To open the game, San Jose State, who also hadn't won a bowl since 2015, came out strong. The Spartans scored two touchdowns to jump out to a 13-0 lead.
But it was the Spartans second PAT that turned out to be a momentum changer.
The PAT was blocked, with Eastern scooping it and running the distance of the field to score 2 points. While it was just 2, the momentum started to roll and roll.
"It definitely impacted the game," SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said. "I don't think there's any doubt about that. The frustrating part was that we just didn't respond for a quarter."
Eastern scored four straight touchdowns to go up 30-13.
Coming out of the half, San Jose State had a few rallies but stalling drives and turnovers doomed the Spartans to a 41-27 defeat.
"We had chances to score, and get first downs and we didn't do it," SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro said. "That's what I said, we hurt ourselves. Just give props to them. They played a good game and they're a great team."
For Eastern Michigan's quarterback, Taylor Powell, it was an emotional victory. He gave his utmost gratitude to the coach after the win.
"But there's one head coach in this country that is -- if I could be half a man, I'd want to be him," Powell said. It's hard to talk about him. His belief in me is unwavering, and you know I love him."
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the Spartans. Cordeiro announced his intentions to return next season with coach Brennan saying "Amen to that."
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