Back to winning ways, ‘best football is still ahead’ for Idaho Vandals

Oct. 27—MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho Vandals looked in a mirror Saturday. Staring back was the team that had played the current Football Bowl Subdivision leader nearly to a draw.

After hanging within 10 points of Oregon, 24-14, in their opener, however, the reflection had grown murky. Borne down by injuries, the Vandals scuffled to a 5-3 record while managing to preserve a Football Championship Subdivision top 15 ranking. There was a disappointing loss to UC Davis, 28-26, and a 38-7 bad beat at the hands of second-ranked Montana State. Idaho struggled to defeat a couple of Big Sky Conference second-tier teams, Northern Arizona, 23-17, and Cal Poly, 34-29.

But in the third quarter Saturday against another hard luck league opponent, Eastern Washington University, a team Vandals coach Jason Eck said has outperformed its 2-6, 1-3 record, the image came back into sharp focus. In that third quarter, holding a marginal 17-13 lead, Idaho faced the Eagles at its goal line. On second down, EWU quarterback Kekoa Visperas, carried six yards to the two-yard line. On third down, running back Tuna Altahir managed only a yard before being stopped by Vandals safety Dwayne McDougle and linebacker Zach Johnson. On fourth down, EWU’s premier receiver, Efton Chism took a short pass at the two-yard line. But the 200-pound Chism could not force his way past 205-pound McDougle.

The defensive prowess that had been the Vandals’ hallmark in the early season had returned. Characterizing the renewed confidence in themselves, senior safety Tommy McCormick, who led the Vandals with 18 tackles, said “fourth and one is a tough place for offenses to be against us.”

After taking possession following the goal line stand, Idaho’s own offense went 98 yards in seven plays as redshirt freshman running back Deshaun Buchanan in three successive plays: a…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/back-winning-ways-best-football-020100304.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-10-28 02:01:00

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