A lightning strike warning caused a delay in the action on Saturday afternoon, but it was the Wyoming Cowboys who caused a delay in Paul Petrino’s rebuilding plan. Idaho hit the road to Laramie, Wyo., falling to the Cowboys 42-10, with many of the same mistakes that plagued Idaho the week before in a 40-6 loss at North Texas.
Ilya Pinchuk | Courtesy
Freshman running back Richard Montgomery slips away from Wyoming’s Tim Hayes during Idaho’s loss Saturday at Laramie. The Vandals will be playing their home opener on Military Appreciation Day, Saturday, at 2 p.m. against Northern Illinois University.
Idaho hung tough with Wyoming, going back and forth defensively with the Cowboys to the tune of a scoreless first quarter, but quarterback Brett Smith proved to be too much. Smith accounted for 359 total yards of offense to go along with his four touchdowns.
Austin Rehkow punted nine times and Idaho was held scoreless until late in the fourth quarter, coming close to scoring on offense many times but not being able to.
Wyoming was stifled into punts by the Idaho defense, Wyoming’s first four possessions going back-and-forth with Idaho for a scoreless first quarter. But Idaho quarterback Chad Chalich couldn’t take advantage of the defensive performance, losing a fumble near the end of the first quarter that led to Wyoming’s first touchdown early in the second quarter.
“I think our defense played really well in the first quarter and the offense let them down,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “Offensively we had some opportunities to move the ball and give the defense a chance and we let them down.”
Chalich’s fumble was crippling for Idaho, coming during the offense’s most promising drive of the first quarter. The game still scoreless, a 17-yard scramble by Chalich set the Vandals up near midfield. Then a wild snap from center Mike Marboe had Chalich rolling out to avoid the pressure where he tried to throw the ball away, instead putting it on the ground. Four plays later, the Cowboys punched it in the end zone to take the lead on a deflated Idaho defense.
From that point on, Smith was too much for Idaho having 42 points on the board by the end of the third quarter for the Cowboys.
“I feel like our energy was up (in the first quarter),” Idaho linebacker Eric Tuipulotu said. “We had a lot of passion and energy coming out of the locker room. As the game went on it drifted away.”
More offensive opportunities presented themselves for Idaho as the Vandals won time of possession and held the ball for just over 36 minutes. But self-inflicted mistakes and big plays from the Wyoming front seven kept Idaho off the board until the fourth quarter.
Back-up quarterback Josh McCain, who Petrino will put in games to make plays with his feet, moved the ball into Wyoming territory later in the second quarter before the Cowboys stopped a Chalich fourth down pass short of the first-down line inside the Wyoming 30 yard line. In the third quarter, McCain drove Idaho 40 yards and inside Wyoming territory before fumbling the ball on a scramble.
Rehkow also missed a 41-yard field goal attempt at the end of the first half.
“The stage that we’re at right now and the type of team we are, we better play a perfect game to give ourselves a chance to win and if we’re turning the ball over we’re not going to have that chance,” Petrino said.
The next chance for Idaho to try and put together a perfect game will come at home against defending MAC champion and Orange Bowl runner-up Northern Illinois this Saturday.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]