Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

BOISE, Idaho – As cold as it was Thursday in Boise, at least five other college football bowl games have been played in colder weather than the 2016 Idaho Potato Bowl, where Idaho beat CSU 61-50.

And only one of those was played in Boise, where the official temperature at kickoff was 22 degrees. The daytime high was 25.

It was just 12 degrees at the start of the 1958 Bluegrass Bowl in Louisville, Kentucky, where Oklahoma State beat Florida State 15-6; and the 1983 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, where Notre Dame edged Boston College 19-18

It was 14 in New York when Nebraska beat Miami (Florida) 36-34 in the 1962 Gotham Bowl, and only 20 in Dallas for the 1942 Cotton Bowl, where Alabama defeated Texas A&M 36-34.

GAME STORY: CSU has no excuse for Potato Bowl flop

This year’s Potato Bowl marks the 20th anniversary of Boise’s bowl game, and only twice before has the game began with temperatures as cold as this year’s game.

It was 20 degrees at the start of the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl, where Georgia Tech beat Tulsa 52-10; and 22 degrees in the 1999 game, where Boise State beat Louisville 34-31.

The weather clearly affected both teams Thursday, with players slipping and sliding much of the night on the cold blue turf at Boise State’s Albertsons Stadium. There were small ice chunks visible all over the field before kickoff.

“I didn’t think that we handled the elements very well,” Colorado State University coach Mike Bobo said. “… The field was not in great shape, but it’s the same field that they were playing on. I thought it was in their heads a little bit.”

FROM 0 TO 111 IN THREE QUARTERS: The scoreless first quarter was a first in the bowl game’s 20-year history.

And the 111 combined points were the third-most in any college bowl game, ever.

The 84 points the two teams combined to score in the second half were an NCAA record for a bowl game. Idaho scored 41 points in the second half, and CSU scored 43.

STEVENS SETS RECORD: Nick Stevens would have rather had the victory.

But CSU’s junior quarterback set an Idaho Potato Bowl record instead with his 445 passing yards and tied a bowl record with a career-high five touchdown passes. Three of his TD passes came in the fourth quarter, long after the outcome had been determined.

Stevens completed 21 of 36 passes and was intercepted twice.

Bowling Green’s Tyler Sheehan held the previous record for passing yards with 387 in a 2009 loss to Idaho. Fresno State’s Paul Pinegar also threw five touchdown passes in a 2004 game against Virginia that went into overtime. Fresno State won 37-34.

RECEIVERS SHINE: Sophomore Bisi Johnson had a huge game for the Rams with 265 passing yards and two touchdowns on seven catches.

Michael Gallup, a junior-college transfer in his first season at CSU, had his fifth straight 100-yard receiving game with six catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns, matching the bowl record. Gallup also had three touchdown catches in the Rams’ regular-season finale, a 63-31 win at San Diego State.

SLOW START: CSU failed to score on its opening possession for the first time in three games and its seven first-half points were the fewest since its last game on the blue turf in Boise. The Rams trailed Boise State 7-3 at halftime in an Oct. 15 game that CSU lost 28-23.

BIG NUMBERS: Idaho set a Potato Bowl record with its 606 yards of total offense, and CSU posted the second-highest total in the bowl game’s history with 600.

The previous record was 582 by Utah State in 2012, when the Aggies beat Toledo 41-15.

TICKET TALLY: Colorado State University had sold 749 tickets from its allotment of 8,000 for the bowl game as of Thursday afternoon, a school spokesman said. The Rams were given a budget for bowl expenses of $650,400 by the Mountain West, with the expectation that $125,000 of that would come from ticket sales, said Steve Cottingham, the school's executive senior associate athletic director. So, CSU will be reimbursed by the conference, from the pool of money from bowl payouts and the College Football Playoff, for expenses up to $525,400.

Idaho sold between 5,500 and 6,000, a school spokeswoman said at halftime.

Many of the Vandals fans bought tickets directly from the bowl game.

Official attendance was announced as 24,975.

Stephens: CSU football parents make pricey sacrifices

Coldest bowls

Temperature at kickoff

12 degrees – 1958 Bluegrass Bowl, Louisville, Kentucky; Oklahoma State beat Florida State 15-6

12– 1983 Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee; Notre Dame beat Boston College 19-18

14 – 1962 Gotham Bowl, New York; Nebraska beat Miami (Fla.) 36-34

20 – 1942 Cotton Bowl, Dallas; Alabama beat Texas A&M 29-21

20 – 2004 Humanitarian Bowl, Boise, Idaho; Georgia Tech beat Tulsa 52-10

22 – 1999 Humanitarian Bowl, Boise, Idaho; Boise State beat Louisville 34-31

Bowling, tubing keep bowl week fun for CSU