Idaho loses third straight game, falls to Ohio
The Idaho football team erased a 17- point deficit to draw within five points, and had an opportunity to take the lead in the fourth quarter Saturday against Ohio.
Freshman quarterback Matt Linehan threw two of his three interceptions in the fourth quarter and Ohio edged Idaho 36-24.
“We just have to get it done,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “But we’re right there and we’re improving and we’re growing. We’re coming closer together, we’re fighting harder for each other, so I was proud of that.”
With the loss, Idaho falls to 0-3. The Vandals host South Alabama next week for their first Sun Belt Conference home game. Idaho is now 0-17 in its last 17 road games.
“We made some execution mistakes, but when you give it all you have and you give it effort and you fight, there’s no reason to hang your heads,” Petrino said. “We need to keep our heads up, and we need to shower and get out of here and go win next week.”
The defense continued to allow big plays. Ohio gashed Idaho for eight plays of 25 or more yards.
Two of those big gains came from freshman running back A.J. Ouellette. He finished with 132 yards and two touch- downs on 27 carries. The Vandal defense has now allowed 623 rushing yards in its first three games.
Despite the big plays, Petrino said the team has improved. He said the defense forced Ohio to settle for field goals, instead of allowing touchdowns, which was a goal at practice last week. The Bobcats attempted four field goals on the day.
“I think the defense played better, I think offensively we still did a lot of good things, but you’ve got to get touchdowns when you’re down there,” Petrino said. “It’s still a growing progress with where we want to be, but there’s no question that we’re a way better football team right now and we keep getting better.”
At the end of the first half, Petrino rolled the dice, and instead of kicking a field goal, the offense failed to convert fourth down near the goal line. Petrino said he would do it again if the opportunity arose. The offense was less than a yard away from the end zone, he said he was confident they could get the score.
The offense had 15-play and 17-play drives that resulted in no points.
“We can’t have that throughout the course of the game,” Petrino said. “I think that hurt us … but there were times in the first half where we drove the ball well, we just didn’t come away with points.”
Linehan finished 33-of-56 for 353 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. The freshman has now started his career with three straight games in which he eclipsed 300 passing yards.
“There’s no reason to hang your head when you fight as hard as you can,” Petrino said. “We made some execution mistakes, but when you give it all you have and you give it effort and you fight, there’s no reason to hang your heads. We need to keep our heads up, and we need to shower and get out of here and go win next week.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]