Freshmen abounded for Vandals in setback

Late in the third quarter last Saturday, University of Idaho football coach Nick Holt surveyed his defense and seven of the 11 players were true freshmen.

A total of 13 true freshmen saw time in the 65-7 loss to Boise State and several are already pushing for more minutes.

“I thought our freshmen for the most part played really well,” Holt said. “There were a couple of times in the second half when a couple of offensive linemen didn’t give as much effort as they needed to, and they understand that.”

Holt said he hopes to get freshmen receivers Desmond Belton and Christian Populis into the game in the first half against Utah State on Saturday. They played in the second half against Boise State.

Running backs Jayson Bird and Rolly Lumbala were productive. Bird had a 71-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Lumbala had 20 yards on five attempts. Starter Cliff Mason carried six times for 3 yards and senior Justin Wall had 34 yards on 11 carries.

“A couple of those guys earned a lot more minutes,” Holt said. “Cliff did OK; it wasn’t all his doing with the lack of a running game. I think we need to get those young kids into the game a lot sooner and see what they can do.”

Two true freshmen started. Safety Dan Dykes had a team-high 11 tackles and Desmond Clark started at right tackle. Middle linebacker Ben Alexander played more than half the game.

“Ben played well, considering it was his first game,” Holt said. “It might be that we’re shifting guys around. We might keep Cole (Snyder) on the field and move Ben to weakside linebacker, but that’s a lot for a young player. Sooner of later, we have to find our best three linebackers.”

Sun Belted

The Sun Belt was 2-6 on opening weekend. Troy scored a 17-15 win over Marshall and Louisiana-Lafayette held off I-AA Northwestern State 14-7. The rest of the conference did its impression of a doormat, losing by an average of 44.5 points.

Preseason favorite North Texas took the hardest fall against perhaps the best opponent. Texas thundered the Mean Green 65-0.

“In order to win those games you have to do almost everything right,” said Utah State coach Mick Dennehy, whose team lost to Alabama 48-17. “I haven’t noticed it as much that you get beat down physically, but just in how much losing a game wears on you mentally.”

Notes

The Middle Tennessee-Florida game last Saturday was postponed because of Hurricane Frances. The game will be made up Oct. 16, which eliminates the Blue Raiders’ bye week before the Idaho game on Oct. 23. … New Mexico State starting running back Tony Joseph and starting defensive end Chris Sneed have been suspended indefinitely after being indicted on forgery charges. It’s alleged that the two used counterfeit $20 bills in Las Cruces, N.M., last spring. … Three-year starting quarterback Elliot Jacobs quit the Arkansas State team in early August. Nick Noce was 19 of 26 for 240 yards and two TDs in ASU’s loss to Missouri.