Vandals do just enough
MOSCOW, Idaho – What the Idaho Vandals lacked in execution they made up for with perseverance.
Idaho made enough big plays on both sides of the football Saturday afternoon to turn back the stubborn Cal Poly Mustangs and pull out a 20-13 win in their home opener before 9,820 fans in the Kibbie Dome.
“I’m happy with the win – every win is a good win,” Robb Akey said after his first win as a head coach. “I felt like we took a step forward today. But we’re nowhere near where we need to be and where we can be.”
After opening the game with a 10-point surge, the Idaho offense struggled until finishing with a flourish, led by running back Deonte Jackson, who had the first 200-yard game by a Vandals freshman.
Jackson had the 12th 200-yard game in school history, the first since Joel Thomas went for 273 in 1996, and landed ninth on the all-time list.
“My big guys pushed it up front all day long,” the 5-foot-8, 181-pounder from Warren, Ark., said. “That’s a good defense. We just had a week to prepare. That’s who had the yards today, that’s not my 200 yards. Without them I couldn’t get one step past the line. They did a great job.”
Jackson had 13 carries for 87 yards in the fourth quarter, including a highlight-reel 11-yarder for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 8:31 to play.
The defense, on the field for a large majority of the first half, allowed 192 yards but only three points. It forced three turnovers in the second half to secure the win, although matters got a little dicey. After a fourth-down stop was negated deep in Cal Poly territory by an inadvertent facemask penalty, Jonathan Dally and Tredale Tolver hooked up for a 69-yard touchdown pass, but the Mustangs never got the ball back.
“I applaud these guys because they executed well,” UI safety Shiloh Keo said after another standout game. “They didn’t have a lot in their package, but they executed well. We got off to a slow start. They were moving the ball at will, but we buckled down and played a great game.”
As Akey said, there was a lot to like but plenty of room to get better, especially with Washington State next on the schedule Saturday night in Pullman.
The offense finished with 336 yards, but freshman quarterback Nathan Enderle hit just 7 of 22 passes for 101 yards. The second quarter was a washout, with the Vandals getting just one first down and holding the ball for all of 3 minutes, 21 seconds.
“It’s always frustrating when you have so much success and then you have a little setback, but that’s something you just have to deal with in football,” Enderle said. “There’s always going to be adversity, you just have to fight through and win at the end.”
Enderle started the game by moving the Vandals 75 yards in seven plays. He converted a third down by sidestepping a lineman on the sixth play to find Lee Smith for 20 yards, and then hit Max Komar in stride down the middle for a 36-yard touchdown.
The defense did little to stop Cal Poly in the first half, but the Mustangs did. They responded to Idaho’s touchdown by marching from their 26 to the Vandals’ 8, only to have Dally make a bad pitch that Taylor Rust recovered on the 28.
After the Vandals got a career-best, 51-yard field goal from Tino Amancio, Cal Poly went from the 20 to 3 before settling for a field goal. Another bad pitch on third down stalled the next drive, which produced nothing when a bad snap foiled an attempt at a 42-yard field goal.
“In the first half we were able to help the defense because we were able to control the ball,” Cal Poly coach Rich Ellerson said. “We need to come away with points on those drives.”
The Mustangs finished with 346 yards but just 154 in the second half and 85 without the long touchdown.
“Their triple option is something if you’re not perfect on your responsibilities it can be dangerous,” linebacker David Vobora said after his 13-tackle performance. “We knew we would probably have to adjust some stuff on the run. At halftime we were understanding what the coaches were saying, we really got a feel for it. We came out, we tackled well, we got the ball out – which was a big thing.”
In the second half the defense set up another field goal when Chris Smith recovered a fumble on the Cal Poly nine one play after Jayson Bird lost a fumble for the Vandals.