Vandals falter on homecoming

MOSCOW, Idaho – Well, the Idaho football team did it again.

The Vandals gave it the ol’ college try on homecoming, but too many miscues and not enough big plays allowed Fresno State to pound out a 37-24 victory before 14,205 fans in the Kibbie Dome Saturday afternoon.

“We still have faith out there,” UI senior cornerback Stanley Franks said. “We’ve come back before, but it hurts more and more every week.”

Two short fields on each side of halftime led to touchdowns that put the Vandals in a 24-7 hole that was enough for the Bulldogs (4-3, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference).

The Vandals had trouble finding consistency. Brian Flowers and Deonte Jackson combined to gain 179 yards, but 50 came on a freak play. Quarterback Brian Nooy was 9 of 22 for 144 yards, but 54 came on one highlight play. When freshman Quin Ashley went in to run the spread option the Vandals earned 102 yards on 23 plays, but three of his five series netted just 1 yard.

Now the Vandals (1-6, 0-3) hit the road for games at New Mexico State and Nevada with five consecutive losses.

“We’re a work in progress, I’ve got to continue to realize that,” Vandals coach Robb Akey said. “This team is fighting hard, this team is competing. They’re doing those things.

“We’ve got to play better football … plain and simple, that’s where it’s at. It’s not OK to keep being in a hole. We’ve got to perform better. It’s time to make that happen.”

Fresno State had a balanced attack with 238 yards rushing, 108 for Lonyae Miller and 86 for Ryan Mathews, and Tom Brandstater hitting 17 of 22 passes for 178 yards.

“They ran the ball on us very well,” Akey said. “They’re good at what they do. They got some cutbacks on us, unfortunately we didn’t get it all fit together like we need to do. They have three very good backs. They keep slamming at you pretty hard.”

The Vandals didn’t give up a big play against a team that had five touchdowns, including three runs, on plays of at least 40 yards last week.

“They’re Fresno State, they’re physical,” said linebacker David Vobora, who led the Vandals with 15 tackles. “That’s what they want to do, get between the tackles and pound the football. At times we got them out of the groove a little bit … I felt like besides one or two drives we held their running game in check pretty well.”

The Vandals lost a golden opportunity when Fresno State fumbled the ball at midfield on its first possession, but on the next play Flowers fumbled it back.

The Bulldogs didn’t cash in because of a missed field goal, but they soon put together their only sustained drive, going 80 yards.

It was 10-0 when Idaho came up with a big play. Nooy threw the ball deep down the middle and cornerback-turned-retriever – Akey’s word – Stanley Franks angled in from the right sideline. The ball barely beat safety Marvin Haynes and cornerback Damon Jenkins, who attempted a tackle with Franks in the middle. But while the defenders fell, Franks kept his feet and coasted the final 15 yards for a 56-yard touchdown.

“We worked on it a little bit earlier in the week,” Franks said of his first reception. “We thought we’d mix it up a little bit, show something different. Nooy put it on the money.”

Unfortunately for Idaho, just before the half Nooy fumbled at the Vandals 46 and Fresno scored to make it 17-7 with 36 seconds left.

Fresno pushed the lead to 24-7 when Mathews’ second TD capped a 58-yard drive following a 15-yard punt by T.J. Conley on the first series of the third quarter.

After Idaho’s Tino Amancio bounced a 52-yard field-goal attempt off the crossbar, the Bulldogs marched 65 yards with Miller getting his second TD.

Just when it appeared the game was going to be a total blowout, the Vandals scored their strangest TD of the season.

Facing a third-and-9 at the 50, Nooy scrambled and was popped by linebacker Marcus Riley. The ball flew about 10 feet in the air and 7 yards backward. Jackson gathered the ball in at the 47 and raced around right end 53 yards for a touchdown to make it 31-14.

“Other than a few plays we did pretty well,” Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. “The immaculate reception play threw us out of our rhythm.”

Stitser had two more field goals in the fourth quarter with Amancio’s 42-yarder in between, and then Nooy capped an 80-yard drive with a 9-yard strike to tight end Peter Bjorvik.

All that meant is that the Vandals, who have been outscored 279-177 this year, have outscored opponents 76-37 in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been talking about one or two plays for the last few weeks and if we can just find something to get over the hump,” Vobora said. “We’re going to have to focus on that.

“This team believes, this team is strong, a mature team even though we have some young guys. Guys aren’t going to quit. Guys believe what is going on. We just have to make those plays. We can’t have those spots where things go the other way.”

Fresno St. 37, Idaho 24

Fre—Miller 5 run (Stitser kick)

Fre—FG Stitser 44

Id—Franks 54 pass from Nooy (Amancio kick)

Fre—Mathews 5 run (Stitser kick)

Fre—Mathews 5 run (Stitser kick)

Fre—Miller 18 run (Stitser kick)

Id—Jackson 53 run (Amancio kick)

Fre—FG Stitser 20

Id—FG Amancio 42

Fre—FG Stitser 44

Id—Bjorvik 9 pass from Nooy (Amancio kick)

A—14,205.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Fresno St., Miller 18-108, Mathews 17-67, C.Smith 5-42, Lang 3-23, A.Harding 1-1, Brandstater 3-(minus 3). Idaho, Jackson 11-111, Flowers 19-71, Ashley 11-62, E.Williams 1-35, Komar 1-2, Nooy 2-(minus 2).

PASSING—Fresno St., Brandstater 17-22-0-178. Idaho, Nooy 9-22-0-144, Ashley 0-4-0-0.

RECEIVING—Fresno St., B.Pascoe 6-69, Crawley 5-41, C.Smith 3-38, Ajirotutu 2-27, A.Harding 1-3. Idaho, M.Shaw 6-70, Franks 1-54, Brown 1-11, Bjorvik 1-9.