The 2016 Idaho Vandals football team represented the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

in the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

during the

2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 26, 2016, and ended on De ...

. Led by fourth-year head coach

Paul Petrino Paul Vincent Petrino (born May 25, 1967) is an American college football coach. He is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of South Alabama, positions he has held since 2025. He was previously the head coach at ...

, the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

played their home games on campus at the

Kibbie Dome The P1FCU Kibbie Dome, known simply as the Kibbie Dome and formerly named the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center, is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. It is the home of the Idaho Van ...

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city and the county seat of Latah County, Idaho. Located in the North Central Idaho, North Central region of the state along the border with Washington (state), Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 United States ...

. A football-only member of the Sun Belt, Idaho finished the regular season at 8–4 (6–2 in Sun Belt, third). The Vandals were invited to the

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, previously the Humanitarian Bowl (1997–2003, 2007–2010) and the MPC Computers Bowl (2004–2006), is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 1997 at Albertson ...

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

and defeated

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

61–50 to finish at 9–4. It was the program's final bowl game as an FBS team and last winning season for six years.

Preseason

Sun Belt coaches poll

The Sun Belt coaches preseason prediction poll was released on July 21, 2016. The Vandals were predicted to finish eighth in the conference.

Schedule

Idaho announced their 2016 football schedule on March 3, with five of the twelve games at home.

Personnel

Game summaries

Montana State

At No. 8 Washington

At Washington State

At UNLV

Troy

At Louisiana–Monroe

New Mexico State

At Appalachian State

At Louisiana–Lafayette

At Texas State

South Alabama

Georgia State

Vs. Colorado State (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl)

After a scoreless first quarter, the Vandals would jump out to a 41–14 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Both offenses would go off in the final quarter, scoring a combined 56 points for a final score of 61–50 in favor of Idaho, breaking the record for the most points scored in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, with the previous record being set in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, which also featured the Vandals. The two teams scored a combined 84 points in the second half, breaking the bowl record for most points scored in a half, with the previous record being 76 in the first half of the 2015 Independence Bowl. Idaho quarterback Matt Linehan would be named the game's MVP; Linehan finished the game throwing for 381 yards and 4 touchdowns and had one rushing touchdown.

References

{{Idaho Vandals football navbox

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

Idaho Vandals football seasons Famous Idaho Potato Bowl champion seasons

Idaho Vandals football The Idaho Vandals are the college football team that represents the University of Idaho and plays its home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho. Idaho is a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Cham ...