MOSCOW — The Idaho Vandals had one of those days that will last for a long time in their memories – the offense was on fire, the defense was suffocating, and they all were resilient when things didn’t go quite right at the start of the game.

“Today we were rolling on all 11,” coach Paul Petrino said after the Vandals improved to 4-3 overall, 2-1 in the Sun Belt with the 55-23 victory Saturday before 10,278 at the Kibbie Dome. “It was fun. It was fun calling plays today.”

No doubt. With the exception of an interception that ended the Vandals’ first drive, almost everything quarterback Matt Linehan tried went right. He finished the night with the fourth-most passing yards (476) in school history by completing 29 of 36 throws. For the first time since 2010, Idaho had three receivers (Deon Watson for a career-high 129, Alfonso Onunwor for 117 and Jordan Frysinger for 102) with 100-yard-plus games as the Vandals had their highest point total since a 58-point outing in 2003.

The way the Vandals responded after the first-drive interception, was what Petrino and his staff have been preaching to them all along.

“They have some skills,” Petrino said of the Aggies. “They’re going to make some big plays on us. When they do, we just can’t blink.”

The players took the message to heart.

“We believe. We all believe. We all bought in,” defensive tackle Tueni Lupemanu said. “Don’t flinch when something bad happens.”

“We were staying confident in ourselves,” Linehan said. “It was confidence in every phase of the game. O-line has done a really good job the last two weeks of keeping me upright. The receivers just made plays today.”

Linehan’s yards and TD passes were both career highs. Linehan, a junior who came in with four touchdown passes this season, moved past his dad (and current offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys), Scott Linehan, into sixth on the school’s career passing yards list with 7,101.

It was the first time since Oct. 16, 2010 that three Vandals had at least 100 yards receiving in the same game.

New Mexico State (2-4, 1-2) led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, but Idaho scored 20 in the second — including field goals of 33 and 37 yards by Austin Rehkow — and took a 27-16 lead into halftime. Rehkow has made a school-record 62 career field goals.

Idaho had 651 yards total offense with a balanced running attack to complement the passing game.

Defensively, the Vandals had five sacks among their nine tackles for loss. Jayshawn Jordan and Kaden Elliss had eight tackles each.

New Mex. St. 13 3 0 7 — 23

Idaho 7 20 21 7 — 55

First Quarter

NMS—Lottie 68 pass from Rogers (kick failed), 10:06

IDA—Deo.Watson 8 pass from Ma.Linehan (Rehkow kick), 4:56

NMS—Granch 10 pass from Rogers (Davidson kick), 2:43

Second Quarter

IDA—Brantley 4 run (Rehkow kick), 14:55

IDA—FG Rehkow 33, 10:37

IDA—Onunwor 7 pass from Ma.Linehan (Rehkow kick), 4:30

IDA—FG Rehkow 37, 1:08

NMS—FG Davidson 35, :00

Third Quarter

IDA—Duckworth 19 pass from Ma.Linehan (Rehkow kick), 10:36

IDA—Frysinger 78 pass from Ma.Linehan (Rehkow kick), 8:02

IDA—Saunders 1 run (Rehkow kick), 1:08

Fourth Quarter

IDA—Ma.Linehan 10 run (Rehkow kick), 12:19

NMS—Scott 45 pass from Jeanty (Davidson kick), 1:12

A—10,278.

NMS IDA

First downs 17 34

Rushes-yards 29-62 42-169

Passing 366 482

Comp-Att-Int 23-36-0 31-39-1

Return Yards 46 46

Punts-Avg. 6-38.33 1-36.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-Yards 6-63 5-40

Time of Possession 21:03 38:57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—New Mexico St., Huntley 5-32, L.Rose 11-32, X.Hall 1-6, Jeanty 2-5, Rogers 10-(minus 13). Idaho, Saunders 12-59, Duckworth 14-45, Ma.Linehan 4-28, Petrino 4-22, Brantley 5-17, Coman 2-2, Amos 1-(minus 4).

PASSING—New Mexico St., Jeanty 4-6-0-64, Rogers 19-29-0-302, (Team) 0-1-0-0. Idaho, Petrino 1-1-0-2, Amos 1-2-0-4, Ma.Linehan 29-36-1-476.

RECEIVING—New Mexico St., Taylor 4-110, Lottie 4-95, O.Clark 4-28, L.Rose 4-17, Scott 2-54, Aganon 2-14, Hogan 1-23, Boone 1-15, Granch 1-10. Idaho, Onunwor 9-117, Deo.Watson 6-129, Frysinger 4-102, Cowan 4-64, Mwehla 4-29, Duckworth 3-37, Garner 1-4.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.