Early look at Idaho-CSU matchup

On the first weekend of October last year, Idaho rallied past Colorado State in a 31-29 thriller. Since then, the Rams have yet to bag a victory — they’ve lost 12 straight overall. The Vandals, of course, have taken a much different course.

The two programs meet again Saturday at Fort Collins, Colo, in what is, remarkably, the Rams’ first true home game of the season. We’ve got comments from UI’s Robb Akey and CSU’s Steve Fairchild below, as well as a few notes.

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• As we mentioned earlier in the day, Akey said the Vandals should be healthier Saturday than they were last week against UNLV. Starting offensive guard Tevita Halaholo (stinger) didn’t practice at all last week and sat out, but he’s expected back. And starting defensive tackle Jonah Sataraka, who also sat out with an illness, should practice Tuesday, Akey said.
• The Vandals are 7.5-point favorites at CSU, which is 0-3 and just last week scored its first touchdown of the season. “It’s a step, let’s say that,” said Fairchild, CSU’s coach. “We had spurts here or there where we would get a couple of first downs; we would start moving the ball, and would look like half a team out there. But playing sometimes and doing well sometimes is not going to win any games. It is a step. We’ve had our chances. We just have to keep playing. And as our line develops and as our quarterback (freshman Pete Thomas) develops I think we’ll play our way into being a pretty good offense. Again, I’m not the least bit shy about saying I think we have a very talented group of offensive linemen and a very talented quarterback; we are just awfully inexperienced.”
• Fairchild called this a “winnable” game. But he also had lots of praise for the Vandals’ defense. “This will probably be as good a defensive team as we have played.  From a personnel standpoint and a production standpoint, this will be the best defense in our first four games.  They fly around, they play extremely hard, they pursue the ball, they tackle well. So we’re going to have our work cut out for us, particularly with the state of our offense.”
• Last year the Vandals struggled often with slow starts. But that wasn’t the case against UNLV. They jumped out to a 24-0 lead before halftime. “We really felt like it was important to come out and get off to a fast start,” Akey said. “Of course, you want to do that in every ballgame. But that really helped us make a difference.”
• The Rams are 119th out of 120 FBS teams in rushing offense. They’ve netted just 128 yards in three games. The Vandals, while looking much better on defense, rank 97th in the nation against the run.
• Idaho has nine sacks in its first three games. Last year, it had 15 sacks in 13 games.
• CSU will honor the late Keli McGregor before Saturday’s game. The former walk-on became an All-America with the Rams before a brief stint in the NFL. He eventually took over as president of the Colorado Rockies. He died in April at the age of 48 of a viral heart infection.