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This Day In Sports…January 3, 2004:

What is now the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl gets a one-time-only opportunity—a spot on ESPN’s schedule all by itself, midday on a Saturday in January. Furthermore, it was sandwiched in between the BCS bowls. Not many fans traveled from afar by Humanitarian Bowl standards of two decades ago. There was virtually nobody from Tulsa, although the 2,000 that came to support Georgia Tech would be impressive today. The community came out—attendance was 23,118 at Bronco Stadium. (Bowl games are sure different these days.)

As for the game, it was a blowout. The Yellowjackets were favored by 7½ points, but they turned P.J. Daniels loose on the Golden Hurricane, and his performance was an all-timer. Daniels, a 5-10, 214-pound sophomore running back, rushed for 307 yards, then the most ever in a bowl game and second-most in Georgia Tech history, in a 52-10 rout. That brought his season total to 1,447 yards, which would be his career-high.

Daniels’ record has been broken twice, first by Appalachian State’s Camerun Peoples, who ran for 317 in the 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl against North Texas. The current mark of 329 yards was set by Frank Gore Jr. of Southern Miss, son of 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Frank Gore, in the 2022 LendingTree Bowl against Rice. Gore did his damage on just 21 carries. Daniels played two more seasons at Georgia Tech and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft.  

The Georgia Tech defense was no small factor in the H-Bowl, sacking Tulsa quarterbacks seven times and holding the Golden Hurricane to minus-56 yards rushing. That was the source of considerable frustration for Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe, a respected offensive mind. Kragthorpe, the son of former Idaho State coach Dave Kragthorpe, graduated from Highland High in Pocatello. He would lead Tulsa through the 2006 season before coaching Louisville from 2007-09. Steve Kragthorpe died in 2024 of Parkinson’s disease at the age of 59.

Former Dallas Cowboys coach Chan Gailey was in his second season as coach at Georgia Tech. Gailey led the Yellowjackets from 2002-07, compiling winning seasons each year. But Gailey’s teams never beat rival Georgia, never won an ACC title and never went to a BCS bowl. He was fired in November, 2007, but was allowed to coach his final game in a return to the Humanitarian Bowl, where Tech lost 40-28 to Fresno State.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)

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