Idaho's bye week produced more drama than some of the Vandals' game weeks have. But during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, coach Paul Petrino did his best to snuff it out, refusing to address reports that quarterback Chad Chalich (above, in a photo from…
This was the flip side of those storybook Senior Day memories. Idaho hoped to send 19 seniors out on an uptick in their final Kibbie Dome appearance Saturday afternoon. Instead, it was all banana peels and pratfalls for the Vandals, who fell to Troy 34-17…
Mike Marboe is a throwback, maybe in every sports sense of the word. He's the epitome of a durable grinder you simply can't get out of the lineup -- he's started all of the 45 games for which he's suited up as an Idaho Vandal…
The emotions that will run through this Senior Day at the University of Idaho couldn't be more ambiguous. These occasions are always a mixture of wistfulness and amped-up aggression anyway, and that will certainly be true for the 19 seniors who will make their final…
Tied at halftime. Down a touchdown to start the fourth quarter. Driving. Inside the opponent's 10-yard line. Poised once again for a possible breakthrough victory against something other than a fellow college football bottom-feeder, the Idaho Vandals instead lost their poise -- surrendering the ball…
Ah, the November out-of-conference game, college football's favorite non-sequitur. Nothing quite gets the blood running hot like facing what should have been a September opponent two months later. The Idaho Vandals (1-7) step out of the Sun Belt Conference this Saturday but stay very much…
Now where have we heard this before? After a bye week that gave them extra time to savor their first victory of the 2014 football season, the Idaho Vandals are deep into prep mode for a run at two in a row when they host…
Nuke LaLoosh, the bumpkin philosopher of "Bull Durham," said it all: "I love winning, man. It's like, better than losing." If they weren't clear on the concept before, the Idaho Vandals certainly were by Saturday night. RIding plays like Josh McCain's 49-yard touchdown catch of…
Tom Hennessey is a Vandal legacy, in that his father -- also named Tom -- was a standout linebacker for Idaho during its stretch as a Big Sky Conference power, specifically in the mid-1980s. But he'll leave a legacy, too. Though he's played during one…
The obvious bad news for Idaho last weekend was the 47-24 thumping from Sun Belt Conference leader Georgia Southern. The kicker was that back East, Massachusetts went on the road and blasted Kent State 40-17 to end a 12-game losing streak -- leaving the Vandals…
Slow start? Check. Surrendering big plays? Check. Resilience? Check. Inspired comeback? Check. Killing interception? Check, and mate. The Idaho Vandals followed a familiar scenario Saturday, and once again came up short in a bid for their first victory of the season. Georgia Southern solidified its…
Idaho and Georgia Southern are both in their first seasons in the Sun Belt Conference -- well, in the Vandals' case, it's their first season back after a decade away. But that's a long enough absence to qualify Idaho as a newbie, given that no…
They had the ball for 41 of the game's 60 minutes. They forced four turnovers. The quarterback had another 300-yard passing effort, and the running game was located for the first time since the season opener. And once again, the Idaho Vandals come home with…
While he continues to exhort his Vandals to keep grinding and do the little things that should, in time, allow them to pull the program out of its losing spiral, Idaho coach Paul Petrino also has to develop some game-changers. He's found one in Austin…
Idaho's defense didn't get all its problems solved Saturday, or even most of them. But the 27 points it surrendered, in the eyes of Paul Petrino, should have put the Vandals in a position to win their Dad's Day game against South Alabama. Only the…
Among the unlikeliest of breakout stars of the young football season, Josh McCain has become one of quarterback Matt Linehan's go-to targets at Idaho -- and a lesson in patience and flexibility in a college athletics culture where often the first reaction of an athlete…
The improvements are there to be seen on the field, though most are incremental. But Idaho coach Paul Petrino and his Vandals are starting to get a little desperate to see the real payoff: in the win column. Now 0-3 -- and 1-14 under Petrino…
What had the early makings of another step backward for the Idaho Vandals turned into something else altogether. What it didn't turn into was a victory. Big plays by a pair of freshmen allowed Ohio University to hold off the Vandals 36-24 on Saturday in…
It's one of those back-to-the-drawing board weeks for the Idaho Vandals. Confident they had something to build on when they came home from their season opener at Louisiana-Monroe, the Vandals instead find themselves picking up the pieces after a nasty lesson delivered by Western Michigan…
So if a football team gives up touchdown plays of 61, 31, 57 and 39 yards it's possible that it could still survive, if the damage was limited to a few big plays. And if it surrenders 210 yards to a rugged running back, well,…
It was 30 years ago that Scott Linehan ascended to the starting quarterback's job at the University of Idaho, after an apprenticeship under Vandals legend Ken Hobart. Now he's the passing game coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys after several coaching stops in the college and…
After his first collegiate start, redshirt freshman Matt Linehan -- the son of another former Vandals quarterback, Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Scott Linehan -- shares his thoughts on his performance and other matters.
After losing 11 games by an average of 31 points in his first season as head coach, don't think that Idaho's Paul Petrino didn't see the silver lining in Saturday's 38-31 setback at Louisiana-Monroe. It's just that he's not in the silver lining business. Still,…
For a while Saturday night, the Idaho Vandals were college football's Team Deja Vu. After seeing their season opener at Florida delayed, suspended and finally canceled after massive lightning strikes and rain, the Vandals nearly had it happen again at Round 2, their Sun Belt…
They couldn't get the game played on Saturday night, which immediately raised questions whether it will get played at all. But an announcement on whether Idaho and Florida will reschedule the 2014 season opener that was first declared "terminated" and then simply "suspended" due to…
Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.
