Risks and Rewards for punting:

(1) Best Case Scenario (BCS) - Successful punt and BSU starts at the 50
(2) Worse Case Scenario (WCS) Blocked Punt - BSU gets a touchdown
(3) 2nd WCS - Linehan is tackled Safety
(3) Tackled - Blocked Punt and BSU gets a touchback giving the ball at their own 20

Best case scenario is BSU starts at their 50.

Risks and Rewards for Fake Punt:
(1) BCS: Boise was caught off guard and Linehan (a rugby player) breaks the one tackle and gets tons of yards.
(2) What actually happened: Linehan tackled at the 1, and then a penalty gives the D more room and are able to hold BSU off from actually scoring.
(3) Linehan tackled at the 1 for no gain, and next play BSU scores a TD.
(4) Linehan is tackled in the endzone for a Safety
(5) WCS: Linehan fumbles and it is recovered for a BSU TD

I think choosing for Linehan wasn't that dumb of a move because he's not the typical punter. He's used to taking a hit or two from when he played rugby. All he needed to do was break the first tackle and then he'd have a deep open field in front of him. If he really had the ball in his hand, WSC is that he was tackled for a safety, but then BYU gives the ball back to BSU but with much better field position. It's better to give up 2 points than to give up 3 or 5 which would likely have happened if they punted and BSU started the drive at the 50.