Things to watch: Idaho will need stellar play from QB Joshua Wood to hang with Montana
All week, Idaho has been preparing to play in the University of Montana’s Washington Grizzly Stadium.
The Vandals will show up for the ESPN2 game late Saturday with pulsating heads. At practice, the Kibbie Dome sound system has been assaulting players with an ear-splitting anomalous cacophony with metallic overtones, like the freight train roar of a tornado as it dismantles a corrugated roof factory had been recorded. The goal is to approximate what Idaho expects to hear from Montana’s crowd.
Idaho linebacker and captain Dylan Layne, who didn’t get into the game but traveled with Idaho the last time it played in Missoula in 2023, remembered the stadium noise and the personal invective directed at Vandals players from Grizzly fans who were mere feet from the field.
Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said of the atmosphere “whatever juice they are creating for their team they are creating for us too.”
The battle between the 3-0 Grizzlies, ranked fifth in the Stats Perform poll, and the eighth-ranked 2-2 Vandals is the Big Sky Conference game of the week.
Here are three things to watch in this 122-year-old rivalry.
1. Idaho’s backfield depth will be tested.
The Vandals can probably go five-deep at running back, and they may need to. Season starter Elisha Cummings and Art Williams, who ran for a career high 144 yards in Idaho’s win against Utah Tech, are both out against Montana. Cummings is still recovering from a lingering knee injury, and Williams was injured in the fourth quarter of Idaho’s late-game 31-28 loss to San Jose State a week ago. In their absence, senior Nate Thomas will start. So far this season, he has carried 28 times for 100 yards, for a 3.6 per carry average. Idaho will also be without redshirt freshman defensive back Aaron Kinsey, from Rogers High School, who intercepted a pass against Utah Tech.
2. Can the Vandals control Eli Gilman?
The Big Sky Conference player of the week after running for 198 yards and three touchdowns against Division II Central Washington, has run for 400 yards on 44 carries with six touchdowns for the season for Montana. He will be facing a stingy Vandals defense that has been giving up only 126 yards per game.
3. The weight of producing points will fall on Joshua Wood’s shoulders.
The Vandals’ sophomore and first-year starting quarterback was lured from Fresno State after last season for games like this. Wood is a true dual threat. He has completed 64 of 102 passes for 665 yards with six touchdowns and an interception, and he has run 36 times for 314 yards and three touchdowns, an 8.7 yards per carry average. The running game is a key part of Idaho’s identity. Thomas is a sturdy replacement, but he is a hammer more than backfield lightning.