Idaho QB Matt Linehan after bowl win: 'We belong in FBS'

After the 2017 season ends, Idaho football is dropping down to the FCS level.

The decision, which was made in April after the program lost its football-only membership to the Sun Belt Conference, hasn’t exactly been a popular one. And after the Vandals knocked off Colorado State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Thursday night, Idaho quarterback Matt Linehan made it clear he believes UI belongs at the highest level of college football.

“We belong in FBS, period. That’s what I believe, that’s what everyone believes,” Linehan told ESPN Radio in the moments after the 61-50 victory. “We know we can compete, we belong here. No matter what anyone thinks, even our tone-deaf president (Chuck Staben). Maybe he doesn’t think we belong here, but I think we belong here.”

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Linehan, a junior, backed down from his comments and apologized to Staben in the post-game press conference. He said he was caught up in the moment of the post-game celebration.

When announcing the decision to drop the program down to the Big Sky Conference (the home of Vandals football from 1963-1995 and the current conference of the school’s other teams), Staben said the move was “the best possible course for our athletics program and university.” Idaho could have continued on as an FBS independent program like New Mexico State, the other school booted its status as a football-only member of the Sun Belt, but opted for what it called the more stable option.

“We have carefully weighed our options and concluded that competing as an independent with an extremely uncertain future conference affiliation would be irresponsible when we have the alternative of joining one of the most stable FCS conferences,” Staben said.

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The decision to drop down a level was certainly understandable given Idaho’s (lack of) geographical fit for the Sun Belt and the on-field product. Idaho was a combined 6-19 from 2013 to 2015 (4-12 in its two years of Sun Belt conference play) before breaking out with a 9-4 record and bowl win this season — Paul Petrino’s fourth as head coach.

Going the independent route presents its own challenges, especially scheduling. It wouldn’t have been easy to get teams to make the journey to Moscow, Idaho. The lack of television revenue conference affiliation provides would have been another obstacle.

So the Vandals will have one more season of FBS play before re-joining the Big Sky unless, as Petrino noted after the game, the program can land a spot in another league it had some success against this season.

“We were 2-0 (wins over UNLV and CSU) against the Mountain West this year,” Petrino said per the Idaho Statesman. “We’d look pretty good in that conference. But again, I only control what I control. And that’s to be as good a coach as I can and to make sure they all graduate.”

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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