The 2009 Humanitarian Bowl was the thirteenth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho, on the campus of Boise State University. The game started at 2:30 pm MST on Wednesday, December 30, 2009, and was telecast on ESPN. Idaho defeated Bowling Green 43–42.

As of this game, the Humanitarian Bowl was the longest continuously running cold weather bowl. The 2009 game was Idaho's first bowl game in more than a decade, when they defeated Southern Mississippi in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl. Bowling Green, in its debut at the Humanitarian Bowl, filled a spot usually reserved for the Mountain West Conference: however, the MWC champion TCU was selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl and the conference did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill out its usual bowl commitments. Bowling Green played in the GMAC Bowl the previous season, where it lost 63–7 to Tulsa. The game also marked the first time the two schools had met in competition.

Both teams entered the game with 7-5 records in the regular season: Idaho began the 2009 season at 6–1, but lost four of its last five. Meanwhile, Bowling Green was 1–4 early in the season, but won six of its last seven games.

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