BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Matt Linehan threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a another score to help Idaho beat Colorado State 61-50 on Thursday night in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in the third-highest scoring game in bowl history.
Idaho (9-4) matched its highest victory total since moving to FBS in 1996, but the victory will do nothing to quell the debate concerning the school's decision to move back down to FCS play. In April, the Sun Belt informed the school it was dropping Idaho after the 2017 season.
Colorado State (7-6) finished with a bowl loss for the second straight year.
After a scoreless first quarter, it appeared both teams had dug in for a defensive battle. But that quickly dissipated as the teams started rolling up points.
The bowl record for points is 125 in Marshall's 64-61, double-overtime victory against East Carolina in the 2001 GMAC Bowl. Idaho and Colorado State broke the Potato Bowl scoring record set in 2009 in Idaho's 43-42 victory against Bowling Green.
The 84 points in the second half are the most combined in a half in any bowl game, breaking the record of 76 set by Tulsa and Virginia Tech last year in the first half of the Independence Bowl.
Linehan, the game's MVP, tied the bowl record for touchdowns accounted for with five, also matched by Colorado State counterpart Nick Stevens. Linehan, whose father Scott Linehan is the offensive coordinators for the Dallas Cowboys, was 21-of-31 with no interceptions.
Isaiah Saunders led the Vandals on the ground with 147 yards and set another bowl record in the process with 33 carries.
Colorado State wasted a bowl record-setting performance from Stevens. He tied two records - touchdowns accounted for with five, touchdown passes with five - and set the passing yards records with 445. He finished 21-of-36 with two interceptions.
Sophomore Olabisi Johnson paced the Rams' receiving corps with 265 yards - also a bowl record - on seven catches with a pair of touchdowns. The Rams were led on the ground by Dalyn Dawkins with 118 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown.
Coming into the game, Colorado State coach Mike Bobo said a major factor for his team's defensive success was limiting the big plays. But the Rams were dismal against Idaho, yielding nine plays of 25 yards or more.
The Rams also staked much of their success this season on winning the turnover battle.
However, Idaho - which entered the game 13th in the country in turnover margin - won that category as well. The Rams turned the ball over three times, while the Vandals were turnover free.
Williams leads BYU
to Poinsettia Bowl win
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Senior Jamaal Williams gained 210 yards on 26 carries and Tanner Mangum ran for a touchdown and threw for another to lead BYU to a 24-21 victory against Wyoming in the Poinsettia Bowl on a rainy Wednesday night.
It was the sixth 100-yard game for Williams this year and the second time he gained more than 200. He ran for a career-best 286 against Toledo.
With BYU (9-4) leading 17-7, Williams gave the Cougars some breathing room when he broke a 36-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. That TD was set up by Dayan Lake's interception of Josh Allen. The interception came one play after BYU's Micah Hannemann was ejected for targeting after a helmet-to-helmet hit on the sliding Allen.
Williams is BYU's career leader with 3,901 yards rushing. He fell short of the Poinsettia Bowl record of 228 yards by San Diego State's Ronnie Hillman in 2010.
Wyoming, which lost to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference championship game Dec. 3, finished 8-6.
Wyoming's Josh Allen brought the Cowboys back with touchdown passes of 9 and 23 yards to Tanner Gentry in the span of 31/2 minutes late in the game. The 23-yard scoring pass came with 2:11 and pulled the Cowboys to 24-21.
Wyoming got the ball back one final time, but Allen tried a pass across his body into double coverage and it was intercepted by Kai Nacua, his sixth pick of the season.
Mangum ran for a 3-yard score late in the first quarter and then threw a crazy 5-yard touchdown pass that bounced off two Wyoming defenders before Tanner Balderree grabbed it to give BYU a 17-7 lead.
Brian Hill scored on a 4-yard run for Wyoming in the third quarter.