MOSCOW, Idaho -   A snowball the Idaho Vandals might have been able to handle. An avalanche was too much and it was a first-quarter avalanche by No. 4 Boise State that led the Broncos to the 52-14 victory before a nationally televised audience and a packed house at the Kibbie Dome.

"We got off to a terrible start," said coach Robb Akey after the Vandals dropped to 4-6, 1-4 with three games remaining to reach the magical bowl-eligible number of seven.

Idaho's offense started with a three-out series, which led to Bobby Cowan booming a 58-yard punt to the Bronco 24. BSU's response - a 76-yard TD return by Chris Potter for a 7-0 Bronco lead with  just 41 seconds off the clock.

Boise State had another chance a few minutes later when Brandyn Thompson intercepted Nate Enderle at the Bronco 39 and returned it to the Idaho 41. Nine plays later, the Broncos were up 14-0 on Doug Martin's eight-yard run with 8:58 left in the first.

Enderle was intercepted again on the Vandals' next possession but Idaho escaped that one by forcing a punt. It was the next punt that was trouble when Idaho, too, stalled and Cowan's punt was blocked and recovered by BSU at the Idaho 14. Four plays later it was 21-0 on Jeremy Avery's one-yard run with 4:01 left in the opening period.

"The success team that has is built off of momentum," Akey said. "We dug ourselves a hole early in the ballgame. We didn't get the plays we needed to and it got to be too much of a hole. .. We have to respond to adversity better. You have to make plays happen when other plays happen to you.

"At the same time, that's a good football team we played. They're No. 1, No. 4 - whatever, for a reason."

The Broncos tacked on another 10 in the second quarter to stretch their lead to 38-0 at the half. They ultimately went up 45-0 before Idaho scored on Eric Greenwood's 17-yard reception of an Enderle pass with 10:38 left in the third. BSU scored once more in the third and Idaho wrapped up the scoring when senior defense end Aaron Lavarias scored the first points of his organized football career (dating to his junior high days) when he recovered a punt in the end zone with 9:26 to play.

Idaho's offense hiccupped throughout with a good play followed by one not so good.

"They're a sound defense. They play their role and they work hard on every play," Enderle said. "You need to execute and be very efficient in what you do and we did that only in sporadic times during the game."

Junior running back Kama Bailey led the way on the ground but it was through special teams plays with fake punt runs of 54 and 39 yards en route to a total 92 on seven carries. Eric Greenwood led all receivers with six catches for 50 yards in a passing effort that netted 215 yards (118 by Enderle and 97 by backup Brian Reader).

Junior linebacker Tre'Shawn Robinson had his second double-digit effort with 10 - a number matched by fellow junior linebacker Robert Siavii.