Vandals down Utah State

LOGAN, Utah – Eric Greenwood scored two touchdowns in the first half and Deonte Jackson scored twice in the second half to push Idaho past Utah State 28-6 Saturday. Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle completed 20 of 31 passes for 243 yards and three scores for the Vandals (5-6, 2-4 Western Athletic), who had lost three consecutive lopsided games. Idaho kept its bowl hopes alive with games remaining against Fresno State (Saturday at Fresno, Calif.) and San Jose State (Dec. 4 at the Kibbie Dome). “That was one of the better defensive performances we’ve had,” Idaho senior defensive end Aaron Lavarias said. “We executed our game plan really well.” Idaho gained 355 yards of offense while USU was credited with 242 yards. Derrvin Speight ran for 83 yards to lead the Aggies (4-7, 2-4). USU quarterback Diondre Borel was only 14 of 35 for 103 yards, although several passes were dropped in the second half as rain turned to snow and covered the field in Romney Stadium. Peter Caldwell scored USU’s points on first-half field goals of 44 and 24 yards. Caldwell’s first field goal, with 5:15 left in the first quarter, broke a scoreless tie. Greenwood, who finished with four receptions for 114 yards, scored on first-half touchdown catches of 10 and 28 yards. His first TD catch came with 8 seconds left in the first quarter. The Aggies trimmed the deficit to 7-6 with Caldwell’s other field goal, with 12:52 left in the first half. Idaho’s next drive stalled at the Aggies’ 13-yard-line when Curtis March won a jump ball over Maurice Shaw in the end zone to pick off Enderle. The next jump ball went to Greenwood, who pulled in an Enderle TD pass for a 14-6 advantage with 1:18 left in the half. The scored capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive. The teams played through a scoreless third quarter. Idaho used a 15-play 7-minute drive, which included two fourth-down conversions, to keep the ball out of USU’s hands early in the fourth quarter. Jackson ended the drive on a 4-yard run around the right end with 8:50 to play to give Idaho a 21-6 lead. Jackson scored 3 minutes later on a 10-yard pass from Enderle to put the game away for the Vandals. Jackson caught the ball at the 1, bounced off a defender and walked into the end zone with 5:20 left. Matthew Harvey intercepted Borel late in the game to keep USU out of the end zone. “We have a football team that had a lot of fun playing again,” UI coach Robb Akey said. “It was a good performance for this football team.”