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Reading the tea leaves in recruiting is always a fun but frequently frustrating endeavor. In looking for subtle tells about how the University of Idaho did, however, there is this: the Vandals had a class of 20 signed up by noon. These new Vandals want to be Vandals.

Following a standout season when he led the league in interceptions, Eastern Washington safety Jaylon Jenkins was named a first-team All-Big Sky selection on Wednesday, when the league announced its season accolades.

Matt Linehan is no longer the offensive coordinator of the Idaho football team.

A dispirited, disjointed and increasingly desperate Idaho team found itself at the mercy of Idaho State, which took consistent advantage of a short passing attack plus several long plays and limited the Vandals to a pedestrian 259 yards of offense for the game while amassing 404 of its own. The Bengals put Idaho in a virtually bottomless hole in the first half.

For a pair of teams that have not reached the playoffs and know their season is ending, Idaho’s game against Idaho State looks both forward to a better future and back to a year that might have been.

MOSCOW, Idaho – So, it comes down to this: Idaho and Idaho State will conclude the football season playing for an 18-pound slab of Douglas fir chain-sawed into the shape of a potato by UI assistant athletics director Jerek Wolcott

Idaho fans did not wait for the dust to settle. Within hours of the Big Sky Conference announcing a $2,500 fine against University of Idaho head football coach Thomas Ford Jr., “Tubs at the Club,” a podcast that covers Vandal athletics, organized a GoFundMe page to cover Ford’s penalty. The page surged past its goal in a matter of hours, turning a moment of frustration into an online rallying point for a fanbase fed up with Big Sky officiating and eager to stand behind its first-year coach.

Ask anyone who has been there.

SACRAMENTO – Idaho was seeking a late building block for first-year coach Thomas Ford Jr., an encouraging finish for a team that won’t be going to the playoffs. Sacramento State needed a win to stay in the Football Championship Subdivision playoff picture.

With two games remaining, after seeing its playoff hopes dashed, Idaho (4-6, 2-4 Big Sky Conference) has to recalibrate the remainder of its season. The Vandals’ efforts to go out on a winning streak and a .500 record begin with a road trip to Sacramento State. Here are three things to watch as the Vandals face the Hornets (6-4, 4-2).

MOSCOW, Idaho – Shut out of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time after a three-year run that included back-to-back trips to the quarterfinals, Idaho (4-6, 2-4 in the Big Sky Conference) is looking to make the best of a disappointing year in which the Vandals failed to live up to preseason predictions as a top 10 FCS team.