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 University of Idaho strong safety Jeromy Jones and defensive end Taylor Rust double-team Boise State University wide receiver Austin Pettis during the football game in the Kibbie Dome Saturday. Jake Barber/Argonaut
The University of Idaho Vandals football team tried to play the role of spoiler in its final home game of the season against rival and No. 9 ranked Boise State University Saturday.
The Kibbie Dome was packed with fans eager to witness an upset victory, and for the first half the Vandals appeared to have the game within reach. The end result, though, was a 45-10 loss at the hands of the Broncos. The Vandals haven’t beat BSU since 1998. A skirmish occurred before the game started in which a BSU player took a hammer to mid-field and slammed it on the Idaho “I.”
“There is going to be some emotion going on in this game,” Idaho coach Robb Akey said. “It’s a rival game. I wanted to make sure we did things the right way. We don’t need any of that Mickey Mouse nonsense.”
The Vandals responded with a play not many expected.
On the first play from scrimmage, UI quarterback Nathan Enderle threw a pass to wide receiver Daniel Hardy. The play appeared to be over after about a 12-yard gain, but Hardy rolled over the defender and sprinted down the sideline for an 81-yard touchdown.
“From my view I thought he was getting power-bombed,” Enderle said. “And then he got up and ran.”
The play was good enough to make No. 3 on ESPN’s top plays for Saturday.
“Basically, I scanned the field before the snap and I saw defenders on that side,” Hardy said. “Once I saw daylight, I ran like dogs were chasing me. It was really a blessing.”
BSU tried a bit of trickery running a fake field goal which the Vandals stopped.
After two missed field goal attempts by Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman in the second quarter and a made field goal attempt by Idaho kicker Tino Amancio, the score was a manageable 17-10 at half.
“Those are some of the things I was happy about in the first half,” Akey said. “There were about three goal line type stands that resulted in missed field goals or that type situation. It was keeping it to the type of ballgame we wanted it to be.”
The game took a turn for the worse in the second half. A situation Vandal fans saw often in the first half of the season, but the Vandals had been better about in recent weeks.
“(I am) disappointed, and I wanted to see us step up a little more,” Akey said. “We didn’t play well enough in the second half. That momentum we talked about last week they got it going in the second half. It was a damn avalanche that took place in the second half.”
The Vandals gave up a total of 315 yards and four touchdowns to Boise State on the ground.
At 12:41 in the third quarter, Boise State running back Jeremy Avery burst through a hole for a 57-yard touchdown run. The play was a huge momentum shift in
the game.
“We just didn’t fill where we were supposed to,” defensive end Jared Allen said. “We had two weeks to prepare for this team and should have known our assignments better than we did. Big plays gave them all the momentum and we didn’t stop them.”
A fumble by Enderle was recovered and ran in for a touchdown pushing the score to 31-10 and BSU running back Vinny Perretta scored on a 16-yard touchdown run before the end of the third quarter.
“It was a bad look for a play,” Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle said. “ I saw a guy out there and thought about pitching it, but it didn’t turn out like I wanted it to.”
The Vandals did move the ball well putting, up a total of 329 yards.
The team also lost its starting tight end Eddie Williams who went down with an apparent knee injury. Williams will get an MRI to determine the extent of the damage.
The Vandals will travel to Hawai’i in their final game of the season
next week.
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