A royal thumping

Utah State’s Thanksgiving feast came two days late, and while the host Aggies were doing the stuffing, the Idaho Vandal football team served as the turkey in a 45-9 season-ending loss Saturday at Romney Stadium in Logan. 

Spencer farrin | idaho Athletic Depertment
Senior kicker Trey Farquhar connects on a 52-yard field goal Saturday at Utah State. The Vandals lost 45-9 in the final game of the season, but Farquhar was 3-3 with field goals from 38, 46 and 52 yards out.

And what were the Aggies most thankful for?

Claiming their first outright Western Athletic Conference title as a result of their slaughter of the Vandals on Senior Day.

It was the same old story for Idaho, who conclude 1-11 overall and 1-5 in the WAC. The Vandals were turnover-prone, helpless on defense, but the leg of kicker Trey Farquhar was pure gold and the senior accounted for all of Idaho’s points for the second time this season.

More worrisome than Taylor Davis’ three interceptions may have been the scuffle redshirt freshman defensive end Quinton Bradley initiated late in the fourth quarter.

Bradley was ejected following a clearing of both benches, and the Vandals were hit with two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“The end of the game, I am very, very embarrassed and ashamed of how that transpired and what took place. I want to apologize for everybody out there, to the Utah State fans, to the Idaho fans,” Idaho interim coach Jason Gesser said. “It is something that definitely, as everybody knows, needs to be changed and fixed.”

But for the prior three quarters, when discipline wasn’t an issue, it was Idaho’s lackadaisical defense and offense that led to an early build-up of points from Utah State.

Though they were perfectly capable of scoring without the Vandals’ errors, Davis’ two first-quarter picks and early second — quarter interception sped up the process for Utah State.

His third was returned for a 59-yard touchdown, which made it a three-touchdown lead.

“Again, story of our season: shooting ourselves in the foot — turnovers,” Gesser said. “Gary Andersen’s club is a great club. There is a reason why they won 10 ball games this year and why they are WAC Champions. I am proud of our guys.”

Following that interception, Gesser fed running backs Ryan Bass and James Baker, who led the Vandals down field on multiple occasions.

Unable to make the final push, Farquhar’s magic was called upon twice in the second and once in the third. Field goals from 38, 46 and 52 yards out closed the gap, making it a 21-9 game.

With its eye on the prize, Utah State wasn’t about to let the Vandals spoil the Aggies first outright conference championship since 1997.

Chuckie Keeton and the Utah State offense needed just 35 seconds to put the nail in the coffin. The Aggies scored 24 unanswered points to close out the last WAC match-up between the opponents.

Offensively, the Vandals were as stale as they’ve been all season. In Davis’ second season start, the junior was 10 of 23 with 49 passing yards. The Idaho backs had their moments, but moments are all they turned out to be, as James Baker and Ryan Bass hit a wall in the red zone on numerous occasions, despite combining for almost 150 yards.

The Vandals, winners of three games and losers of 21 in their past two seasons, will be under the watch of a new head coach in the near future.

Athletic director Rob Spear has narrowed his search down to five candidates and expects to make a decision shortly following the season’s end.

Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]

About the Author

Theo Lawson Vandal Nation blog manager Sophomore in journalism Can be reached at [email protected]

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