Vandals hurt by big deficits
It’s starting to sound like a broken record: The Idaho football team gets way down and then battles back, only to come up short.
Should the young Vandals be discouraged with a 1-6 record or encouraged that they make most of their games competitive?
“Both,” freshman running back Deonte Jackson said. “It’s frustrating that you fight so hard and you still keep coming up short … but basically we’re stopping ourselves. Each and every game we have the ability to fight out of holes and almost come out victorious.
“If we can find that one thing, one play … find what’s missing and get this thing hitting on all cylinders it will be high sailing from here on out.”
Vandals coach Robb Akey suggested this week that he should put a scoreboard in the locker room that shows the Vandals down 21-0 before the game starts.
Why not?
Idaho, with losses to USC and Washington State of the Pac-10 and high-flying Hawaii in the Western Athletic Conference opener, has been outscored 279-177 – despite outscoring opponents 76-47 in the fourth quarter.
The bugaboo is the second quarter, when the Vandals have been torched 124-29.
“That’s something we’re paying attention to right now – or are trying to,” Akey said. “It’s not just a shovelful – it’s a Grand Canyon hole we have to climb out of. We have to be able to make a positive play happen after we have something negative happen. It’s a little bad mojo right now.”
As the Vandals search for second-quarter answers, don’t expect them to lie down in the fourth quarter.
“We’re going to keep battling and stay positive that’s all you can do,” senior linebacker David Vobora said. “It’s going to make you a better football player and it’s going to make you a better man for it.”
Learning curve
Vandals starting quarterback Nathan Enderle, who has missed the last two games with a hand injury, isn’t wasting his time.
The redshirt freshman has watched the last two games from the sidelines and the press box with offensive coordinator Steve Axman.
“He’s got an opportunity to see things at a little bit different speed,” Akey said. “That can certainly help the learning process.”
Enderle took almost every snap in the first five games and Akey said he will be the starter when he returns, but the adjustments the Vandals have made may change things for Enderle.
Brian Nooy replaced Enderle but was spelled when true freshman Quin Ashley ran a spread option attack.
“If that can be part of what we do when we get Nate back, well, that’s great,” Akey said. “And if it doesn’t need to be, then that can be great, too.”
OT support
Despite losing a heart-breaking, WAC-record four overtime game to Boise State Sunday night, Nevada coach Chris Ault remains one of the biggest fans of overtime.
“I think it adds a great deal of interest to the game,” he said. “I think it makes the strategy very interesting. I think it’s made college football what it is today.”
The Wolf Pack played the first overtime game, a I-AA playoff showdown with Eastern Kentucky in 1979. Back then the teams started the extra session on the 15-yard line. Ault lobbied to start OT at the 25 to make field goals longer if the defense held.
Division I didn’t add overtime until the bowl season of 1995 and it was Ault and Nevada involved in the first OT game, a 40-37 loss to Toledo in the ‘95 Las Vegas Bowl.
By the way, BSU’s 69-67 win, secured when the Wolf Pack were stopped on a two-point conversion, was a record for most points scored in NCAA history. The 67 points for Nevada were the most by a losing team. The previous record of 134 points was set in Arkansas’ 71-63 win over Kentucky in seven overtimes in 2003. The most points in regulation were San Jose’s 70-63 win over Rice in 2004.
Quick kicks
Idaho right guard Marcis Fennell could play at New Mexico State after missing the last two games with a knee injury. Questionable for the Vandals are wide receiver Steve Brown and linebacker Adam Shamion, who suffered high ankle sprains last week. … Deonte Jackson is 19th in the nation with 786 yards rushing, the most for a Vandal since the 2004 season. … Louisiana Tech, which didn’t have a crowd of 20,000 last season and averaged less than 12,000 in November, has averaged 20,195 fans in the first three home games with first-year coach Derek Dooley. … Dooley has emphasized defense as the Bulldogs, 119th in the nation last year, have shaved about 100 yards a game off that and improved to 62nd, despite playing Hawaii and California. … Early this season people were wondering what the problem is with Ian Johnson, Boise State’s star running back, but suddenly he is on pace to surpass 2,000 yards rushing and receiving. … Johnson leads the WAC at 115.5 yards a game on the ground. … Hawaii QB Colt Brennan, with 113 TD passes, is eight shy of tying BYU’s Ty Detmer for the NCAA record. He is two behind Louisiana Tech’s Tim Rattay for third and four from former Hawaii QB Timmy Chang, who is second. Brennan already has the NCAA record for touchdowns responsible for in a three-year period with 126 – he has rushed for 13.