PROVO, Utah — BYU gave the thousands of fans who braved bitter cold weather Saturday night good reason to head home early — an insurmountable first-half lead.

Cody Hoffman caught three first-half touchdown passes and freshman running back Jamaal Williams rushed for 104 yards and two TDs, all in the first half, to lead BYU to a 52-13 rout of Idaho.

BYU (6-4) put 28 points on the board in the first quarter and scored on five of its first six possessions en route to a 42-7 lead at the half.

Hoffman finished with nine catches for 108 yards. Riley Nelson was 19-of-31 passing for 236 yards and three TDs for BYU before departing early in the second half.

“It kind of takes the other team’s wind away when you can score on them right off the bat, so that was our plan going in,” Nelson said.

Idaho (1-9) entered the game allowing 42 points and almost 500 yards per game. BYU had 367 yards at the half and finished with 539.

“We definitely need to clean up a lot of things,” Idaho interim coach Jason Gesser said. “We need to get better in a lot of areas, just sheer fundamentals. You know it’s glaring out there.”

The Cougars held the Vandals to 61 rushing yards on 23 carries and 273 total yards. BYU is allowing less than 95 rushing yards per game.

“We’ve been pretty good this year at stopping teams from running, and that’s kind of forcing teams to try to go downfield more,” BYU linebacker Brandon Ogletree said.

With the win, BYU becomes bowl eligible and will face a team from the Mountain West Conference in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 20 in San Diego. It will mark BYU’s eighth straight bowl appearance.

While compiling 252 yards on the ground and 285 through the air, BYU took advantage of excellent field position and three Idaho turnovers. Of the Cougars’ first seven possessions, their worst starting field position was their own 36.

The game was Idaho’s second since the firing of head coach Robb Akey and the dismissal of quarterback Dominique Blackman and linebacker Conrad Scheidt. The Cougars were without senior safety Joe Sampson and sophomore linebacker Zac Stout, who were suspended for the season early in the week after a brawl at a Provo restaurant.