The LA Bowl picks up comical sponsorship; former Boise State DE transfers to FCS program

Ron Counts
·3 min read
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The Mountain West’s newest bowl game has a sponsor, and it’s a first for college football.

The likely destination for the conference champion will officially be known as the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, organizers of the game announced Wednesday. It’s the first time in the storied history of college bowl games that one will be sponsored by a late-night talk show host and comedian — or any other human.

“On Dec. 18, my dream of being forever enshrined alongside orange, rose, cotton and peach comes true,” Kimmel told CBS Sports.

Kimmel made the announcement live on his show Wednesday night and pointed out that Papa John doesn’t count as another human who has been the namesake of a bowl game because “he’s barely human.”

“There are few American traditions more exciting than a college football bowl game,” he said during the broadcast.

The LA Bowl was scheduled to make its debut last year, but it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. It will be played Dec. 18 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. MT.

The game will pit the Mountain West champion against an opponent from the Pac-12, and it will be the first college football game played at SoFi Stadium, which is also home to the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.

The LA Bowl replaces the Las Vegas Bowl as the destination for the Mountain West’s top team that doesn’t earn a College Football Playoff or New Year’s Six bid. Boise State appeared in the game five times between 2010 and 2019 and went 4-1.

The Broncos last appeared in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2019 and fell to Washington, 38-7, in former Boise State head coach Chris Petersen’s final game with the Huskies.

Cooper commits to EWU

Former Boise State defensive end Robert Cooper wasn’t in the transfer portal long.

The former three-star recruit announced last Friday that he was transferring. On Wednesday, he announced on Twitter that he’s verbally committed to Eastern Washington.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound native of Spanaway, Washington, is heading closer to home. Eastern Washington’s campus in Cheney is about a 4.5-hour drive from his hometown.

The Eagles finished last season ranked in the top 10 in the FCS ranks, and they fell to North Dakota State in the first round of the playoffs. Eastern Washington has appeared in the FCS playoffs 14 years in a row and won a national championship in 2010.

Cooper was the third member of Boise State’s 2020 recruiting class to transfer this summer, following offensive tackle Brandon Hernandez and cornerback Donovan Clark.