Vandals’ football schedule announced

Idaho’s 2011 football schedule features trips to Texas A&M, Virginia and BYU and home dates with Bowling Green and North Dakota. The Vandals released their full schedule this afternoon, and you can see it below. The season starts with a rematch of the Humanitarian Bowl with Bowling Green on Sept. 1 at the Kibbie Dome. Game times have yet to be announced.

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Here’s the release from UI. The Vandals will get $850,000 for the Texas A&M game in College Station. In 2012, they play at LSU — a game that will fetch them $950,000.

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The University of Idaho football team opens the 2011 season with back-to-back games in Moscow for the first time since 1991 and only the sixth time since 1930 when the Vandals take on Bowling Green State University on Sept. 1 and the University of North Dakota on Sept.10.

“We’re opening with a rematch of the most exciting bowl game in bowl-game history,” coach Robb Akey said of the Sept. 1 rematch of the Vandals vs. Falcons 2009 Humanitarian Bowl game. “That will be great.”

That’s not all Akey likes about the 2011 season. The opportunity to open Western Athletic Conference play at home against Fresno State (Sept. 24) is a positive, he says, as are byes before Hawai`i comes to Moscow Oct. 29 and before the Vandals travel to Nevada to close the regular season Dec. 3.

In between are non-conference trips to Texas A&M (Sept. 17), the University of Virginia (Oct. 1) and Brigham Young University (Nov. 12) along with the remainder of the WAC schedule – at New Mexico State and San Jose State with home contests against Louisiana Tech and Utah State.

“To have two byes is a positive,” Akey said. “I’m looking forward to the day we get started but I’m looking more forward to getting spring ball started Thursday (March 24).”

Date        Opponent                   2010 record            2010 conference (record)
9/1           Bowling Green                  2-10                    Mid-American (1-7)
9/10         North Dakota                      3-8                     Great West (0-4)
9/17         at Texas A&M                     9-4                     Big 12 (6-2)
9/24         Fresno State                       8-5                     Western Athletic (5-3)
10/1         at Virginia                             4-8                     Atlantic Coast (1-7)
10/8         Louisiana Tech                    5-7                     Western Athletic (4-4)
10/15       at New Mexico State     2-10                    Western Athletic (1-7)
10/22       bye
10/29       Hawai`i                                 10-4                    Western Athletic (7-1)
11/5         at San Jose State              1-12                    Western Athletic (0-8)
11/12       at Brigham Young              7-6                     Mountain West (5-3)
11/19       Utah State                           4-8                     Western Athletic (2-6)
11/26       bye
12/3         at Nevada                           13-1                    Western Athletic (7-1)