Huckleberries Online

Gamblin’ Vandals set their own rules

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 31, 2009 8:30 a.m. • 11 comments

Vandals receiver Preston Davis evades Bowling Green’s secondary during first-half play Wednesday at Bronco Stadium in Boise. Idaho Press-Tribune

BOISE – If it wasn’t completely true before, it became true Wednesday: Idaho football turned the corner.

And ran smack into 1998.

You know what this means, don’t you? Every Vandals football coach – caught in the klieg lights on the biggest of stages, weighing the merits of all-or-nothing against the safety of a tie or the conservative call – will have no real choice but to push all his chips into the pot.

Because now it’s tradition.

As the yearly bowlapalooza continues to expand like Tiger Woods’ little black book, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl is one of those snarkily cited by college football’s snob elite as being, well, irrelevant and unnecessary and not worthy of their attention.

Folks, not if Idaho shows up. More game analysis here.

Still basking in the post-game glow?

11 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

moscow_minidoka on December 31 at 9:23 a.m.
Yes! :)
eclafitz on December 31 at 9:32 a.m.
Jealous naysayers already talking about Akey jumping ship obviously haven’t heard the man speak. Pay the assistant coaches and lock him in, and we could be on to something extremely special! Moscow is in a fine mood this ‘morn! Go Mighty Vandals, and Coach was right I’ve never seen that field look as nice as it did yesterday!
idawa on December 31 at 9:41 a.m.
It’s possible that Akey would leave if a great job came up, but I don’t see him pulling a “Tormey” and taking a lateral move and end up ten years later in coaching obscurity. He seems smarter than that. I think he’ll stay through his contract (that fact that the buyout clause is still in place helps) and I imagine Idaho can squeeze some more dollars (if BJCC can pay millions of dollars to their coach, we can at least pay 500k …) out of her alumni for the for assistants/etc.
inlandempiregirl on December 31 at 11:19 a.m.
Yes… I am still still enjoying the after-game glow. I also loved seeing the Idaho colors in the bleachers of the BSU stadium. I just wish they could have changed the blue turf for the day!!Go IDAHO!
HonestGeorge on December 31 at 11:50 a.m.
Yes - but the real glow didn’t come until about 1:15am after the game. The wife and I left for dinner after Bowling Green made their last touchdown - I was sure that it was all over. The 11 o’clock newscast said otherwise. So we re-watched the game on ESPN - which ended about 1:15am. It was still exciting even though it was canned. This game is why college football is so great - it’s often unpredictable, always hard fought and full of real heart.
OfCoffee on December 31 at 2:55 p.m.
I was at the game - and I didn’t really need the airplane to fly home…
80% of the folks on the plane had their Vandals clothing on. Everyone was in a great mood, even for the early flight. President Nellis was on the plane with Ruthie, as well as one of my old professors. It was, and is, great.
USMCVandal on January 01 at 1:12 p.m.
I have been wanting to make this following statement fo some time. It was approximately two years ago that I wrote some opinions on this forum defending my schools existence on the Div1 football field; when the majority of everyone else was screaming to go back to the Div1AA, and demanding that both Spears and Akey be fired immediately. Where are those naysayers and non-hackers, now? As I said then and will say again, “Have patience my Vandal brothers and sisters, I have a feeling we are in for some fun times. It takes guts for Spears and Akey to fix an abysmal program such as Idaho Football, and they need our support”. The future still looks bright.

GO VANDALS beat bjc
GO NAVY beat ARMY
Happy New Year, and Semper Fi
jazzyvandal on January 01 at 2:04 p.m.
Preach on USMCVandal! I’ve been saying the same thing for years now. The benefits of being in the WAC far outweigh being in the Big Sky. There are FCS (formerly 1-AA) programs dropping football. Idaho State Athletics is having all kinds of money problems. Some ISU fans want the school to drop football or drop down to Division II. Montana is a rare case in FCS and I think they will benefit more being in the WAC, JMHO.

The Vandal win gave the UI tons of exposure, which is priceless! Did anyone watch nighttime Sportscenter? Idaho was the TOP story on ESPN, the Corner Club was mentioned, and Robb Akey was getting all kinds of love! You just can’t beat that kind of marketing for the program and the university.

It makes me wonder with the result of the H-Bowl, if the Vandals will get a game on ESPN next season?
lovethevandals on January 01 at 2:12 p.m.
As a season ticket holder and a contributer to the VSF, I will now be taking the next step and contribute dollars to raise the salaries of all our coaches. I hope that all my fellow Vandals will do the same. We need to keep this momentum going.
IdahoDad on January 01 at 2:34 p.m.
Yes USMCVandal! I’ve heard my fair share of derisive comments over the years as I stuck with my Vandals through the dark times of Cable-Holt-Erickson. I’ve patiently explained the virtues of being in Division 1, or FBS as it’s now called. And I always said, “Just wait, Idaho will turn it around, Spear and Akey know what they’re doing.”

Like Jazzy said, this is the ultimate marketing for the University. Academic donations and enrollment will both go up over the next year. Amazing how that works. The key now is to keep Akey and his assistants, and to build on this kind of success. I think Idaho will do it. We finally have both an AD and a President who understand how it all works.
deepee on January 02 at 12:47 a.m.
Not intimate with the workings of Vandals (or any collegiate) football. Suffice to say that was the most exciting final minute or two of football I have ever watched. Will have to re-think my viewing habits; nothing like that ever happened in a pro game we’ve watched. How can you not love a Texas hedge (that touchback run)?
DF, if you’re watching the Seahawks on Sunday, we’ll be waving from the 50 yard line. Would rather have been in Boise the other day on the blue turf.

« Back to Huckleberries Online

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.