One thing Paul Petrino recalls about the Kibbie Dome is the winning streak.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Idaho quarterback Chad Chalich sets up for a pass during practice Wednesday in the Kibbie Dome. Chalich will start his first home game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Northern Illinois University.
During his time as an assistant from 1992-94 the Vandals were 17-2 at home, including the playoffs. When Petrino left to follow then coach John L. Smith to Utah State in 1995 the Vandals were riding a nine game home winning streak.
He remembers a dome that was packed, noise vibrating off of the roof and fans going crazy.
He remembers the thunder sticks.
“They all had the things that bang together and make the noise, everyone was going crazy,” Petrino said. “I’ll be honest, I don’t think I coached a game in the Dome when I was an assistant that wasn’t completely packed. It was packed, it was loud, they were crazy. We were really good.”
Idaho will open its 2013 home schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Kibbie Dome when it hosts Northern Illinois for Military Appreciation Day. In recent years the Kibbie Dome hasn’t been quite the way Petrino remembers it, but Saturday will be his first chance to turn around the 2-9 home record Idaho has put together over the last two seasons.
“Any great program wins at home,” Petrino said. “… anytime you have a great program that’s what you’ve got to do. We’re going to get fired up we’re going to get excited and we will have a great winning streak at some point in this dome, no doubt in my mind.”
To start that winning streak, and to try to have the first winning record at home since 2010, Idaho will have to knock off a team that went 12-2 last season, won the Mid-American Conference and were runners-up in the last edition of the Orange Bowl.
The Huskies of Northern Illinois also bring an outside-Heisman trophy contender to town in Jordan Lynch. Despite his 6-foot, 220 pound frame Lynch seeks out contact, as evidenced by his 1,815 yards rushing last season.
“Their whole team is built around him in my opinion because he’s a great leader and they rally around him and he plays hard and he’s tough. Those are the kind of guys you like to rally around,” Petrino said.
On top of his ability on the ground, he torched opponents for 3,138 yards in the air. He operates a read-option attack for the Huskies meaning he’ll run up the middle on designed runs as well as trying to get out of the pocket on pass plays.
“You don’t want to play to his strengths, you want to play to his weaknesses,” defensive end Quinton Bradley said. “If he wants to get out of the pocket, then keep him in, push the tackles back to where he has to back up. He’s a north and south runner, we need to plug the A-gap so he can’t run.”
Idaho’s best chance to pull the upset may be going toe-to-toe with the Huskies offensively, a challenge for a Vandal offense with only two touchdowns on the season and a struggling offensive line.
“Challenge wise (for us) it’s just playing with great technique, playing with great pad level, something we work on every day out here,” offensive line coach Jon Carvin said. “… that’s the focus right now, it’s the low man wins, that’s really what it comes down to in the game of football, especially in the trenches so that’s really what we’re working on right now and we’re getting way better.”
It’s expected Idaho will expand its dual-quarterback system, Chad Chalich starting and Josh McCain coming off the bench to make plays with his legs. McCain started two drives at Wyoming, running the ball 10 times for 49 yards and completing a pass for 23 yards.
“Chad and Josh they both have the same type of ability,” wide receiver Dezmon Epps said. “Sometimes I forget who’s at quarterback when I go off and run routes, I’m just focused on the ground.”
For Epps, both quarterbacks and many other contributors for Idaho it will be their first game at action at the Kibbie Dome.
“I heard certain things about the Kibbie Dome, like they said, the main thing, if anything…we must protect this house,” Epps said. “I just want to not lose at the Kibbie Dome. That’s my main thing … making an impact for our fans so every home game could be big.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]