There’s a long list of good to elite-level quarterbacks the Idaho defense has had to face in 2013.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Josh McCain holds off defenders during Saturday’s game against Old Dominion on Senior Day at the Kibbie Dome. The Vandals acquired 31 points before halftime, but couldn’t hold the Monarchs off in the second half, losing 59-38.
Derek Carr, Jordan Lynch, Brett Smith and Bo Wallace — not to mention a trip to see Heisman-contender Jameis Winston in two weeks.
The name that may have flown under the radar was that of Taylor Heinicke, who became a household name to Vandal fans on Saturday when he threw for 533 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 59-point performance. Old Dominion downed Idaho 59-38 in Idaho’s final home game of the season.
Heinicke made it look easy on the depleted Idaho secondary, averaging 9.5 yards per pass and finding 10 different receivers in the process. Not only was it one of the most dominant performances against Idaho’s defense in 2013, he was 26 passing yards away from having the best passing day anybody has ever had against Idaho.
“They just beat us today in every aspect of the game,” defensive end Maxx Forde said. “We just have to keep working, try to get better.”
It started off well enough for the Idaho defense, forcing Heinicke into a three-and-out on the first possession, allowing Idaho to jump out to a 14-0 lead.
It was all downhill from there.
Old Dominion scored on five of its next six possessions behind the arm of Heinicke. He started to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, and went on to find all the holes he needed with his four-wide receiver sets.
“He’s a good quarterback, he’s football smart, got a high football IQ, he was checking a lot of stuff,” Forde said.
Heinicke’s prolific performance meant that 17 Vandal seniors would see their Kibbie Dome finales end in a loss. One defensive lineman walked off the field in tears after the defeat.
Offensively, Idaho hasn’t seen a better day under Paul Petrino. Idaho had a season-high 38 points, 505 yards and 27 first downs. Under the direction of third-string quarterback Taylor Davis, nonetheless.
Here’s the problem: Only seven of those points came after halftime. Idaho’s last four meaningful possessions of the second half resulted in only 46 yards.
The sails were taken out from under Idaho in the second half when Old Dominion started to take control of the game, though Idaho’s skill players only have themselves to blame. At least eight catchable balls bounced off the hands of Idaho receivers, killing drives, momentum and opportunities that Idaho dearly needed to keep up with the Monarchs’ brutal passing game.
Junior wide receiver Dezmon Epps was a main offender, despite his outstanding nine-catch, 175-yard performance.
“The ones I dropped was lack of focus, thinking I had the ball already,” Epps said. “It’s something we have to work on in practice, the contested balls, we had a lot of dropped balls. We aren’t supposed to do that.”
The most crippling drop came in the third quarter. Old Dominion had taken its first lead of the second half at 38-31 and Idaho needed to respond. Petrino called a play-action bootleg for his senior quarterback, which was executed perfectly. The defense collapsed on James Baker, leaving the right side of the field wide open for Taylor Davis who elected to dump it off to tight end Taylor Elmo instead of taking it himself.
The ball clanked off of Elmo’s hands and Idaho never recovered. Davis was sacked on the next play and the Vandals eventually punted. Old Dominion took the commanding 45-31 lead on the next possession.
“If you eliminate the drops we probably have 700 yards. You can’t drop the ball,” Petrino said.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]