Idaho’s FBS parting gifts include the happiest bowl of potatoes in the world

Colorado State kicked off the Potato Bowl with hopes of sealing a resilient 2016 with an eighth win. The Rams were one of the best mid-majors over the second half of the year, winning four of their last five games and throwing a major scare into Boise State in Boise on Oct. 15.

They had averaged 47 points per game over their last five contests and finished the regular season by hanging 63 on the same San Diego State that so frustrated Houston in Saturday’s Las Vegas Bowl.

You don’t know for sure that you’re not ready for a game until it’s too late to do anything about it. Everybody always thinks they’re ready, and CSU was probably no different.

But it was 17 degrees. And the Boise blue field was slick and frustrating. And Idaho was fired up.

As it turned out, Colorado State was not even slightly ready to be punched in the mouth.

It took a little while for the offenses to warm up. The teams combined for six punts (five three-and-outs), a turnover, and a turnover on downs in the game’s first 14 minutes. But after CSU opened the second quarter with a 52-yard touchdown pass, the Rams appeared to relax a bit.

Long runs, short runs, long passes, short passes, one-handed catches. Over 10 possessions in the game’s final three quarters, the Vandals gained 569 yards in just 60 plays and scored nine touchdowns. After their only non-TD drive in this span, CSU muffed a punt, and Idaho scored three plays later.

To be fair, CSU did eventually score 50 points and gain 600 yards. The offense did enough to win, and the defense bore most of the blame. But the Rams also scored just once on their first 10 possessions; giving up a 41-0 run reflects well on nobody. And now the Rams enter 2017 with a bitter taste in their mouth.

A majority of the 24,975 in attendance were Vandal fans, and while things got clumsy at the end — CSU scored five fourth-quarter touchdowns, two in the final 67 seconds, to cut a 61-28 deficit to 61-50 — this was as cathartic a bowl experience as we’ve seen in a while.

It probably doesn’t change the future, though. Despite posting their best record since 1998 and fielding their best team since the 1940s, Paul Petrino’s Vandals are still scheduled to move down to FCS following the 2017 season. Awkward geography and a moribund recent history doomed them to this fate, and while Idaho is doing what it can to rectify the latter, the former will always be unavoidable.

The only FBS conference that makes geographic sense for a last-second, “We have our act together now!” bailout would be the Mountain West, but a) short-term success isn’t long-term success, and b) Boise State would probably have to sign off. Call me crazy, but that is probably not going to happen.

That’s unfortunate, as Petrino is pulling off an impressive turnaround. He inherited a program that had gone just 4-32 from 2011-13, and he went 1-10 in his opening campaign. Leaning on JUCO transfers, he raised Idaho to 4-8 in 2015, then 9-4 this fall.

After Thursday night, the Vandals will likely crack the S&P+ top 90 for the first time since 2009. And despite the JUCO lean, the Vandal two-deep isn’t inordinately senior-heavy. Quarterback Matt Linehan is a junior, as are both leading rushers and seven of the top 11 tacklers.

The receiving corps will face a rebuild, as will a majority-senior offensive line, but this could be a pretty good Idaho next year, too. And the Vandals could end up moving down to FCS after winning 16-18 games in two years. Odd. But you can’t change geography.

After a scoreless first quarter, these teams combined for 27 points in the second period, 28 in the third ... and 56 in the fourth. After Idaho scored to go up 41-7 with 3:16 left in the third quarter,

The teams combined for 106 yards in the first quarter and 491 in the fourth. Unique things happen on the blue field.