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 A Vandal football player kneels on the sideline during practice the week before Thanksgiving break. Although the season ended with a disappointing 2-10 record, three Vandals, Adam Korby, Eddie Williams and T.J. Conley, earned first-team all-WAC honors and two Vandals, Mike Iupati and Tino Amancio, earned second-team all WAC honors. Junior offensive lineman, Mike Iupati, will lead the team into offseason workouts and spring practice looking forward to a better fall for the Vandals. Nick Groff/Argonaut
Idaho coach Robb Akey and the Vandals completed round two of the rebuilding process, earning twice as many wins as last year with a record of 2-10.
For the mathematically-impaired like myself, that means the Vandals finished the season with just one more win than the season prior, the first being against an FCS opponent and the second Idaho’s first conference win in two years against New Mexico State.
You’re probably thinking so what? For one game they finally competed at the level they’re expected to be at, but for a team that started its season with a 70-0 loss, a second win against a conference opponent was equivalent to what Akey described as a 750,000 pound gorilla.
Week after week and interview after interview I heard the same words from Akey, the assistant coaches and even the players,“We’re getting there, we see improvement, it’s going to happen.”
But up until the New Mexico State win, it was impossible to see the improvement the team was talking about. They did start with a difficult schedule, first getting stomped by Arizona and then welcoming Western Michigan to the Kibbie Dome where they gave up seven touchdowns.
The team traveled for two weeks facing Utah State and San Diego State, matchups both the players and coaches expected to compete in. They lost 42-17 and 45-17. It was hard for even the die-hard fan to see hope for the remainder of the season.
Then New Mexico State arrived in Moscow. We all know how exciting it was to watch them leave the Dome with their tails between their legs — most of the fans were on the field to help them out the door — and it was something fans and players had longed for ever since Dennis Erickson’s short tenure in Moscow.
The excitement the win brought to the Vandals couldn’t carry them longer than a week, losing the remainder of the games including the 49-17 loss to Hawai’i in the last game of the season. Doesn’t that score look familiar?
It’s nice to finally see a conference win on the stat sheet, but even in that game, the Vandals only scored two touchdowns. On average, the Vandals gave up 42 points per game and scored just 19.
The Vandals are in a rebuilding process which may take some time, and not even a Bronco should kick them while they’re down.
So let’s look past the win-loss column and look at the stats over Akey’s two-years as a Vandal.
Offense
The Vandals 19 points-per-game average is a decrease from last year’s 21 points, and last year’s offense managed to pick up 234 first downs compared to this year’s 212.
That’s not a good start, but it gets better.
Quarterback Nathan Enderle has improved greatly from last year’s 93.6 efficiency and just 10 touchdowns.
He passed for 20 touchdowns this season, increased his efficiency to 115.1. He also completed more passes this season bettering his completion percentage by 10 percent.
Enderle has been criticized for holding onto the ball too long, and although last-year Enderle came out at times this season, we saw him get rid of the ball more, throw quicker passes and even him use his legs more to get out of pressure.
The team lacks quarterback competition, but this season Enderle showed he can improve, and the signs of the leadership needed in a quarterback.
Idaho’s running game saw some setbacks this season with star running back Deonte’ Jackson fighting a back injury throughout the season.
Jackson averaged just 58 yards a game compared to last year’s 97 and rushed for just 3 touchdowns all season.
Jackson shared the ball with redshirt freshman Princeton McCarty who also carried for three touchdowns and averaged 40 yards per game.
Overall the running game was not as impressive as last year, but fans saw four freshman running backs carry the ball, and Jackson still has two more years with the Vandals.
With the young roster the running game looks promising for the upcoming years.
This off season the offense will look to replace senior Tight End Eddie Williams who we saw run over the defense many times this season. Williams led the team averaging 62 yards a game receiving and carried in six touchdowns.
Williams led the team and played hard every game.
Defense
Idaho’s defense has been criticized the last two seasons for missing tackles, but when New Mexico State came to town a completely new defense appeared. They set the bar high and now fans know what they can do, and that’s something they’ll work to exploit in the off season.
The Vandals still struggled to stop their opponents running game, giving up eight more touchdowns on the ground than last year and allowed almost 600 more yards rushing.
They also gave up more yards passing, but managed to make more tackles holding their opponents average yards per catch to just 11 yards.
The Vandals lost defensive captain Shiloh Keo early in the season, but as a result players stepped in and made up for the loss.
Junior safety Virdell Larkins will be the Vandals defensive go-to-man next year. He led the team with 70 solo tackles and picked off two passes this season.
Unfortunately, the team will lose defensive end Josh Shaw who picked up three sacks and ten tackles for a loss. Shaw stepped in as a team leader and will be missed next year.
Overall, The Vandals saw a season without much visible improvement, and to make it worse, they lost a lot of valuable seniors.
But where it counts, and what the team can look at next season is the improvement of their quarterback, the depth of the running game, and the leadership on defense. Keo and Larkins will be leaders next year, and will be hungry to dissolve the poor reputation they have for tackling.
The stats don’t show it, but I’m with Akey when he says “Hang on ya’ll, it’s going to happen.”
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