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Vandals head to Cowboy country looking for first win

Sep. 7—Two teams will look for their first victories of the season when No. 7 Idaho travels to Laramie, Wyo., to take on Wyoming of the Football Bowl Subdivision at 12:30 p.m. today on TruTV and streaming on Max.

“They’re very good at home, so it’s gonna be a challenge,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “I think we gotta build off of last week’s performance and play better, really, on all sides. But especially offense and special teams, defense can’t rest on their laurels.”

The Vandals pushed then-No. 3 Oregon a lot harder than the Ducks were expecting in a 24-14 loss last week. The Cowboys threw a pick-6 on the second play of the game and were steamrolled by Arizona State 48-7 in their contest.

Idaho has played against one other Mountain West Conference team under Eck — a 33-6 win against Nevada last season.

Wyoming has a first-year head coach in Jay Sawvel, who was previously the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator.

Jack Layne replaced by a Jack and a Layne

The Vandals will be without starting quarterback Jack Layne, who broke his collarbone against the Ducks and will miss several weeks. In his place is Jack Wagner. The redshirt-freshman saw limited action against Oregon and tossed an interception late in the game.

Wagner has the physical ability to take over the job in Layne’s absence, but how will he be able to handle the tough War Memorial Stadium environment?

“He’s had a great week. He’s really prepared well, and I expect him to play very well,” Eck said. “We have a lot of confidence in Jack (Wagner).”

Linebacker Dylan Layne, Jack Layne’s twin brother, returns for Idaho after missing the season opener. Dylan Layne will add depth to a position that was led by Eck’s son, Jaxton Eck, with a team-high 14 tackles in the Oregon game.

Two offenses looking to bounce back

Idaho had to get a little tricky to come up with chunk plays…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/vandals-head-cowboy-country-looking-121600028.html

Author : Lewiston Tribune, Idaho

Publish date : 2024-09-07 12:16:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

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