Imagine, in the jubilation following Idaho’s 61-50 thrashing of Colorado State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last month in Boise, an NCAA suit came up to Gatorade-soaked Vandals coach Paul Petrino.

“Congrats, coach. You play at Alabama next week.”

Now, seeing the confidence Petrino and the Vandals displayed during this season, one of their best in their 31 seasons in the FBS, Idaho likely would have replied, “bring ’em on.” But their glorious season would have ended in a loss.

The Washington Huskies, meanwhile, had one of the best seasons in school history. They won the Pac-12 and advanced to the College Football Playoff, where the high-scoring Huskies managed just seven points against an Alabama defense that was clearly bigger, stronger, faster. If the two teams had kept playing past last Saturday, the U-Dub probably still wouldn’t have matched the 24 points ’Bama totaled on that day. The Tide was that dominant.

The cool thing about the bowl games is that 40 teams, like the Vandals, get to end their season on a winning note, rather than just one team.

Would the Huskies have felt better at the end of the season had they lost to Colorado in the Pac-12 title game, then laid a whoopin’ on somebody in their bowl game?

Probably not.

As time passes, you would think the Huskies will remember more and more the 12 games they won in what U-Dub fans hope is a sign of things to come, rather than the frustrating finale in the national semifinal.

One thing’s for sure — the Vandals and Huskies certainly felt better at the end of their seasons than did Washington State and Boise State.

• For a few days, Washington State fans were wondering if the University of Minnesota was going to show up for its Holiday Bowl matchup with the Cougs in San Diego.

Turns out it was WSU that didn’t show up, in a 17-12 loss to Gopher team that decided to play after all, after 10 players were suspended.

The shorthanded Gophers outplayed the Cougars, who finished with three straight losses after winning eight straight following an 0-2 start.

It was a head scratching finish for WSU, but this team did win eight games, and go to a bowl for the third time in four years. In past years, just getting to a bowl game was a victory for the Cougars, who played in just 10 bowl games total from 1916 to 2003.

• For the past decade, Boise State fans have been clamoring for their football team to be taken seriously, regarded among the nation’s elite.

Well congrats, Broncos, you just checked off one the boxes necessary to become a big-time program.

You finally phoned in a bowl game.

Boise State’s 31-12 loss to Baylor in the Cactus Bowl in Phoenix was as shocking as it was disappointing. It’s hard to go into a bowl game on a six-game losing streak, but Baylor managed to do just that.

The Bears’ head coach was fired during the past offseason, and they played the 2016 season for an interim coach, and played the bowl game for said interim coach while the new coach hired to take over in 2017 looked on.

But their athleticism was too much for Boise State, and they were talented enough to overcome kicking off from the 20 yard-line after seemingly every touchdown was punctuated by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Back to Boise. Getting whipped in a bowl game has never happened before to the Broncos, who usually save their best for bowl season. Yes, BSU lost 38-23 to Oregon State in the Hawaii Bowl in 2013, but that was right after coach Chris Petersen left for the University of Washington.

Aside from the Baylor and OSU losses, Boise State has won 11 of its other 15 bowl games, with its four losses by a combined 14 points.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.