Idaho welcomes feisty Northern Colorado for Homecoming
At the beginning of the season, it looked as if Idaho could not have found a better homecoming opponent to send the alumni home happy than Northern Colorado.
After two years under coach Ed Lamb, the Bears were 1-22.
But with both Idaho and UNC coming off byes to meet in the Vandals’ homecoming Saturday, the teams are remarkably similar. Each is 2-3 but 0-1 in the Big Sky Conference.
The Bears have frustrating losses against Colorado State, 21-17, and South Dakota (currently 23rd in the Stats Perform Football Championship Subdivision poll) 24-17 in overtime.
Idaho let Washington State slip off the hook, 13-10, and lost to San Jose State 31-28.
While the Vandals in their most recent game lost to Montana (4th in the Stats Perform poll) 41-30, Northern Colorado got down early against Idaho State and fell 26-18.
That would be the same Idaho State that a week ago, while the Vandals and Bears were home licking their wounds, terrified the Grizzlies before succumbing 42-38, when Montana scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
“We are excited to have a tough, Big Sky opponent coming in Saturday. They could easily be 3-2 or 4-1,” Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said of Northern Colorado.
The same can be said of the Vandals.
After losing to ISU, Lamb looked ahead to the matchup in Moscow Saturday.
“I have tons of respect for Idaho and everything they are doing … We will have our chances,” he said.
Ford said after the loss to Montana that the Vandals attacked their bye week.
“We got the taste,” of the loss “out of our mouth as soon as possible,’ he said, noting
the team reacted in the best way.
Idaho used the time “to get back to competing,” said Ford. “Guys who hadn’t gotten many reps got more reps.”
UNC and Idaho are philosophically aligned in wanting to control games with a strong running attack, according to Ford, who added the Vandals will have to limit the Bears’ explosive plays.
“They definitely like to take vertical shots,” he said.
Against Idaho State, Bears quarterback Eric Gibson completed 26 of 39 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception.
Despite that prolific passing attack, Lamb said, “we are just not able to get our running game going well enough to create balance in our offense.
“We have got to run the football. We have to show up in the trenches.”
Idaho’s own effort to run should get a boost this week because Elisha Cummings is expected to return. The senior starting tailback has been battling lingering injuries since the first game against WSU. He was out against Montana and has just 25 rushing attempts for 94 yards for the season. However, Ford said Cummings looked sharp in practice during the bye week.
The Bears have two Big Sky Conference players of the week so far this season, both on defense. Defensive lineman Ezra Ekuban had nine tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble against Colorado State. The next week, linebacker Hudson Voggesser had 16 tackles against South Dakota.
“Our defense strains and tries incredibly hard to keep us in games,” Lamb said.
The Bears play multiple defensive fronts, although Lamb was displeased at the inability of their three-man front to handle ISU’s running, and Ford says UNC plays “a lot of man coverage. We have got to win those.”
The Vandals have the people to do it. Against Montana, Joshua Wood completed 14 of 28 passes for 262 yards. Ryan Jezioro and Daveon Superales had breakout games against the Grizzlies. Each caught four passes, Jezioro for 102 yards, and Superales for 98.
Lamb has some experience with the Vandals. He was Idaho’s defensive coordinator in 2002-03 on head coach Tom Cable’s staff. Those were not good years for the Vandals, however. Playing in the Football Bowl Subdivision in the Sun Belt Conference, Idaho went 2-10 in 2002 and 3-9 a year later.