Faulty Vandals Crack At Isu Nothing Works Particularly Well In 26-21 Loss To Bengals

One thing’s for certain: The blame for Idaho’s ghastly 26-21 football loss to Idaho State on Saturday can be shared equally among the Vandals.

Simply put, Idaho turned in a Big Bellyflop in its Big Sky Conference opener.

For example:

Idaho’s highly touted offensive line yielded five sacks. Quarterback Brian Brennan was 16 of 36 and was the beneficiary of fortunate breaks on his two touchdown passes. Dwight McKinzie had six catches, but butter-fingered two other passes.

Defensively, the Vandals’ secondary was scorched by hot-handed ISU quarterback Robb Wetta in the first half before a respectable showing in the second half.

On special teams, UI’s Ryan Woolverton was wide right on a 32- yard field goal. Also, the Bengals pinned UI in poor field position with superior kicking/punting and coverage.

And UI coach Chris Tormey pointed out that the Vandals’ biggest misgiving may have happened before they stepped into Holt Arena before a crowd of 11,127.

“You can’t go in and slop around like we did and win,” Tormey said, alluding to UI’s 12 penalties and generally poor execution.

“We haven’t lost to (ISU) in seven years and I don’t think we respected them. If you don’t respect your opponent, if you don’t have the anxiety that he’s gonna kick your butt, then he probably will.

“We learned a tough lesson.”

Indeed. The Vandals sit at 1-2 and head to Montana State next Saturday. ISU is 4-0, its best start since beginning the 1981 season 5-0.

“You’re a wannabe until you beat an Idaho team,” ISU coach Brian McNeely said. “It’s a huge win.”

It started with ISU passing UI dizzy on its opening drive. Six straight passes - five of which were complete - ended when Robb Wetta lobbed a perfect toss to Justin Young in the corner of the end zone.

That same connection clicked from 27 yards in the second quarter as ISU built a 17-7 lead.

In fact, ISU virtually ignored the run in the first half, a surprising move considering the Bengals’ Alfredo Anderson was the league’s No. 1 ground gainer.

“I thought he’d get 8-9 carries the first half, but those first two drives they didn’t run once,” said UI cornerback Jason O’Neil, the defender on both Young TD receptions.

“I’m not a Rhodes Scholar but it makes more sense to throw it,” McNeely said. “Their secondary early in game let us know they were playing man coverage.”

Coverage that was way too soft, Tormey admitted.

Brennan fired a 7-yard TD to Robert Scott as UI pulled within 17-14 at half. It’s a good thing he fired the pass because linebacker Jarmaine Johns whirled just in time to see the ball whiz over his shoulder.

Wetta, 12 of 17 for 165 yards in the first half, capped a 63-yard third- quarter march with a 28-yard scoring toss to Troy Waters, who skipped away from Montrell Williams’ attempted tackle.

A safety boosted ISU’s lead to 26-14 before Wetta finally cooled off in the fourth quarter. He was intercepted by O’Neil to set up a UI scoring drive.

Idaho, after gaining zero yards on its first five possessions of the second half, seemed stalled again. But Scott outjumped an ISU defender on a long pass at the Bengal 25 on a 60-yard scoring play.

That narrowed ISU’s lead to 26-21 and UI got the ball back at its 48 when Ryan Smith sacked Wetta, forcing a fumble that Dave Longoria recovered.

Idaho got one first down on Joel Thomas’ gutty run. But Brennan then overthrew David Griffin on third down and Brennan was pressured on fourth and shoveled a harmless pass into the turf.

“It was supposed to be a 10-, 15-yard crossing pattern to Dwight and he was open, but I couldn’t get the pass off,” Brennan said.

Symbolic of the way the game went, Idaho had one last chance with 2:24 left, but was forced to take over at its 3 after return man Griffin lost a punt in the lights.

On fourth and 1, Idaho went to its short-yardage formation and Thomas was buried by linebacker Josh Brown for a 1-yard loss.

“They hadn’t shown pass at all out of that formation,” ISU defensive coordinator Rob Bolks said. “We took out (safety Mark) EchoHawk - we didn’t need one in that situation - and put in an extra lineman.”

ISU finished with 319 yards, 284 via Wetta’s arm. Idaho had 286 yards, 110 on Thomas’ bulldozing runs.

Idaho St. 26, Idaho 21

Idaho 7 7 0 7 - 21

Idaho St. 10 10 7 2 - 26

ISU-Young 18 pass from Wetta (Ferrell kick)

Idaho-Thomas 2 run (Woolberton kick)

ISU-FG Ferrell 31

ISU-Young 27 pass from Wetta (Ferrell kick)

Idaho-Scott 7 pass from Brennan (Woolberton kick)

ISU-Waters 28 pass from Wetta (Ferrell kick)

ISU-Safety, Breenan tackled in end zone by Toles

Idaho-Scott 60 pass from Brennan (Woolberton kick)

A-11,127.

IDAHO ISU First downs 17 18 Rushes-yards 39-88 29-35 Passing 198 284 Return Yards 64 42 Comp-Att-Int 16-37-0 20-33-1 Punts 7-38 6-47 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 12-102 13-95 Time of Possession 29:50 30:10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHINGIdaho, Thomas 28-110, Kidd 3-7, Griffin 1-0; ISU, Anderson 15-65, Jospeh 5-6, Nkeysen 1-0.

PASSINGIdaho, Brennan 16-36-0-198; ISU, Scott 0-1-0, Wetta 20-33-1-284.

RECEIVINGIdaho, Scott 4-97, McKinzie 6-56, Griffin 3-29; ISU, Giles 6-83, Young 4-63, Anderson 4-39.

, DataTimes