Idaho State thumps Idaho 37-16 to end disappointing season

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.

The second half merely amplified what a disappointing final game and season it was for the Vandals, who opened the year with a top-10 ranking and ended it with a 37-16 loss. It leaves them 4-8, 2-6 in the Big Sky Conference. ISU evened its record at 6-6 and finishes 5-3 in the league.

Idaho was compromised by the loss of its most potent threat on offense, quarterback Joshua Wood. He came into the game having thrown for 1,825 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he was Idaho’s leading rusher with 560 yards and had seven more touchdowns.

But Wood injured his throwing shoulder late in the first half. He tried unsuccessfully to return before the third quarter but gave way to freshman Sawyer Teeney. Wood had just 73 yards passing and 29 rushing. His stat line was skewed by the fact the Vandals were looking at long conversion attempts the entire game, according to Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. Idaho converted only two of 11 third downs and one of four fourth downs.

“When you are third-and-17, there are not a lot of good plays,” he said.

In his two quarters of action, Teeney did complete 8 of 12 passes for 53 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown to Nolan McWilliams with just under two minutes to play. He also passed to Carlos Matheney for the two-point conversion.

In a season-ending news conference, Ford expressed disappointment for the way things unfolded for a senior class that had reached the quarterfinals the past two years and the playoffs for three straight years. He noted he was an assistant coach at Idaho for two of those years before becoming head coach this season.

“These guys are very special to me,” he said. Looking ahead, “you are not going to see a coach in America work harder than me,” Ford said.

“We are going to honor those guys,” he said of the seniors whose past success established a template for young players. In the future, when the seniors are alums and “they turn on the TV or come to the Kibbie dome, they know the Vandals are going to win.”

ISU took a 10-0 first-quarter lead on Trajan Sinatra’s 39-yard field goal and Ian Duarte’s touchdown reception on a 14-yard pass from Jordan Cooke. Things got out of hand for Idaho in the second period. Cooke capped a 57-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. He completed a 30-yard scoring pass to Tsion Nunnally, and Sinatra kicked a 33-yard field goal to make it 27-0 at the half.

ISU’s Dason Brooks was the game’s leading rusher with 103 yards. Ford, though, pointed to Cooke as the Bengals’ key. Cooke completed 20 of 33 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 73 yards, including a second touchdown on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter.

While discounting moral victories, Ford did point out that after being so badly handled in the first half, Idaho did come out in the second half and outscore ISU 16-10. Nate Thomas got the Vandals on the board in the third quarter with a 16-yard touchdown run, and Rocco Koch ran for the two-point conversion.

Thomas, a senior, had himself a day. He was Idaho’s leading rusher with 66 yards, getting 63 of them in the second half, and he returned a pair of kickoffs, including one for 44 yards.

“In the second half, we wanted to establish the run,” said Ford. “We wanted to put it on (Thomas’) back a little bit, especially with a freshman quarterback.”

As Idaho looks ahead to recruiting for next season, Ford said the Vandals will welcome a 2026 freshman class of 18, 16 of whom are three-star players.

“That group is where it starts. It could be the top recruiting class in the history of the school,” he said.

For immediate help, “we need about 10 guys,” Ford said of transfers, including “a couple of running backs, a couple of defensive ends, a safety, a corner and a wide receiver.”

When he took over the Idaho team following last season, it had been depleted by an exodus to the transfer portal.

“We needed like 30 guys last year,” Ford said in comparing that to Idaho’s relatively good roster situation now.

He also laid down a marker for the Vandals’ game against the Bengals next year.

“I am a petty person,” Ford said of the season-ending loss. “These are the type of things that will stick with me until we play them again.”