THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016

In many bowl games these days, the team more excited about playing the game is more often the team that wins.

Idaho coach Paul Petrino said that recently.

Others have said it before him.

Which might be enough for the Idaho Vandals (8-4), a 14-point underdog in their Famous Idaho Potato Bowl matchup vs. Colorado State (7-5) this afternoon at Albertsons Stadium in Boise.

The bowl scuttlebutt in late November and early December — something Idaho fans had little reason to pay attention to in recent years — had the Vandals headed to the Arizona Bowl in Tucson.

But when the wheel of fortune came up “Boise” on Dec. 4, Idaho was even more thrilled.

AS FOR Colorado State, its players may or may not be excited about traveling to Boise for the second time this season, this time to play a bowl game in 20-degree temperatures against a team that, two years from now, won’t even be eligible for a bowl game.

One thing’s for sure — CSU’s fans certainly aren’t thrilled. Not even the prospects of all that thick bacon from JB’s in Meridian was enough to entice more than about 500 or so from making the trek from the Fort Collins area — and that’s to watch a team favored to win the game by two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Idaho has sold more than 5,000 of its allotted tickets — and that’s not counting tickets Vandal fans in the Boise area may have bought through other means.

As for CSU, maybe their 28-23 loss at Boise State on Oct. 15 was enough of a moral victory that fans don’t feel the need to return for what the oddsmakers believe will be an actual one.

Or perhaps Rams fans are just miffed their team wasn’t sent somewhere warmer, like Albuquerque (where New Mexico played) or Las Vegas (San Diego State) or San Diego (Wyoming) or Honolulu (Hawaii) or Phoenix (Boise State) or Tucson (Air Force).

Get over it.

For Idaho, Boise is like Camelot, compared to what the Vandals have been through in recent years.

SINCE 2009, Idaho’s last bowl appearance, the Vandals had not had a winning season — until this year. Idaho fans are painfully aware of that.

Idaho was able to parlay its last bowl appearance into a national TV game the following season on ESPN2 — at home, vs. Boise State. The Broncos won easily, 52-14, and it turned out to be the last time the teams met, as Boise State left the WAC for the Mountain West the following season.

It will be curious to see if the Sun Belt schedules Idaho into one of its midweek TV slots next season — showcasing a team it is kicking out of the league following the 2017 season.

Idaho tied for third in the 11-team Sun Belt this season, and figures to contend for the league title next year.

TV guy at halftime: “So why is it again, Karl, that you don’t need the Vandals in your league?”

YOU FIGURE the FBS vs. FCS storyline will at least be a part of today’s telecast. For their part, Vandal fans are divided between playing at the highest level of college football, as they do now, and returning to the good ol’ days of the Big Sky, where Idaho was one of the better teams in the 1980s and early 1990s.

I remember the news conference where Idaho president Chuck Staben announced the Vandals were dropping down to the Big Sky. While Staben sat at a table and extolled the virtues of a lower level and a more regionally based league, he was flanked by Petrino and athletic director Rob Spear, who looked like a couple of guys headed for the electric chair.

Presidents don’t last forever, but decisions often do.

To their credit, Petrino and Spear have made the best of it so far.

Right now, Idaho is beating a bunch of teams no one has heard of, in a league where most of the teams are far, far away. But the Vandals have done it well enough to qualify for a bowl game, which is big news in Moscow. Last we checked, none of the Vandals are skipping today’s game to prepare for their futures in the NFL.

In a couple of years, Idaho will be back playing the likes of Montana, Eastern Washington, Portland State and Montana State. Perhaps the Montana rivalry, in particular, will be rekindled. That would give the Griz a perhaps unprecedented three rivalry games in one season — vs. Idaho, EWU and of course Montana State.

Maybe Idaho will develop a rivalry with Eastern, a much closer foe.

Maybe it won’t. Just because it happened before doesn’t mean it will happen again.

But that’s an argument for a year or two from now.

Today is about bowls ... and Boise ... and bacon?

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.