1998 Humanitarian Bowl
| 1998 Humanitarian Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 30, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Bronco Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Boise, Idaho | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 19,667 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$750,000 per team [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1998 Humanitarian Bowl was the second edition of the bowl game. It featured the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Idaho Vandals, the champions of the Big West Conference. Idaho upset Southern Miss 42-35, after entering as a 17-point underdog.
Southern Miss scored first on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Lee Roberts to Sharrod Gideon, helping USM take a 7-0 lead. Idaho's Jerome Thomas took the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown tying the game at 7. USM's Derrick Nix scored touchdown runs of 8 and 1 yards as Southern Miss took a 21-7 lead. Idaho answered with three touchdown passes from quarterback John Welsh in the second quarter, as Idaho surged to a 28-21 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, running back Joel Thomas's 1-yard touchdown run gave Idaho a 35-21 lead. In the fourth quarter, Southern Miss got an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gideon to Roberts cutting the lead to 35-28. Derrick Nix's 15-yard touchdown run tied the game at 35. The Vandals scored the winning points on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Welsh to Ryan Prestimonico to win 42-35. With under two minutes left and a first down on Southern Miss's 19-yard line, Idaho Head Coach Chris Tormey directed his offense to run out the clock, rather than try to run up the score in a show of sportsmanship. Idaho had been 21-point underdogs in Las Vegas betting.