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MOSCOW, Idaho – At 4-5, with three games remaining, all of them were do-or-die as Idaho sought to qualify for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the fourth straight year. Facing 11th-ranked University of California Davis, the Vandals made it clear they understood the magnitude of the stakes. They gambled throughout like they had found a pot of house money.

For the second straight week, Idaho is facing a make-or-break game against a ranked opponent.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho and UC Davis football teams started the season ranked in the top 10 of FCS polls. But they are coming down to the final few games uncomfortably perched on the bubble as they seek to qualify for the FCS playoffs.

MOSCOW, Idaho – Having gone through its own purgatory of a four-game losing streak, Idaho finds itself entertaining the 11th-ranked UC Davis Saturday bolstered by the momentum of a two-game win streak.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – It was an unusual yet wildly entertaining game on Halloween night between two Big Sky Conference teams hoping to stay relevant in the postseason picture.

MOSCOW, Idaho – When they meet Friday in Flagstaff in a nationally televised ESPN2 game, Idaho is a hurdle to clear for Northern Arizona in what has been a largely successful season marred only by a pair of recent losses. For the Vandals, the Lumberjacks are a rung to climb on a ladder leading out of a stretch of games that flirted perilously close to disaster.

MOSCOW, Idaho – If resurrection is too strong a word, it doesn’t miss by much.

With starting quarterback Joshua Wood returning from a knee injury that slowed him in the second half in a loss against Montana and kept him out of the next two games, also losses, everything changed for the Idaho Vandals, who had last won a game Sept. 14, against Utah Tech.

At 2-5, without a Big Sky Conference win in three tries, Idaho clings to hopes of making the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the fourth straight year. Now, though, every game is fraught with peril. The Vandals need to win their final five games, including picking up victories against Northern Arizona (ranked 20th in the Stats Perform poll and 22nd in the AFCA poll) in an ESPN2 game on Halloween and the University of California Davis (ranked sixth in both polls) Nov. 8.

Who needs a win more when they meet Saturday in the Kibbie Dome? Portland State is 0-7. Idaho (2-5, 0-3 Big Sky Conference) is riding a four-game losing streak after being ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision top 10 to start the season.

All 12 Big Sky football teams have completed their bye weeks, and with everyone yet to play five games in the regular season, the paths toward the postseason are coming into focus.