Since the season-opening loss to the Bowling Green State Falcons, University of Idaho football coach Robb Akey said his team was one step away from “clicking.”
Six weeks and five losses later Akey’s message remains the same, but with his team now standing at a 1-6 record going into a bye week. The Vandals are past the point of finding a magical click and need to make some tough decisions regarding the future of the program.
Any team who ends the year at .500 or even worse, a losing season, always points to one play that didn’t go its way, or a game where maybe all the moving parts just didn’t line up. In the case of Idaho football, the embarrassment of this season stems from something much bigger, a lack of coaching and control.
Students and fans alike are quick to point a finger at senior quarterback, Brian Reader, who despite throwing for nine touchdowns on the season has made countless poor decisions on the field, leading to a lack of confidence in himself — which he has admitted. Granted, Reader is the one making the throws and calling the signals, but it is up to his coaches to realize he is no longer fit to run this offense. He looks frazzled during play and frustrated on the sidelines, yet drive after drive Akey and offensive coordinator, Steve Axman, call his name and expect him to take the offense to the glory land.
Reader may have been the best chance to win games in spring and fall camps, but he is broken now, and after last week’s loss at New Mexico State has become the target of his own teammate’s public criticism on Twitter and Facebook. Instead of individual players, blame needs to start falling on the Vandals’ coaching staff for not being able to make difficult decisions.
As much as the team and coaches may not like it, this season has turned into a “re-building” year, and with the new WAC coming into form next year, Akey and Idaho need to realize that they do not have the right pieces in place to achieve the level of success needed to make it anywhere but the losing end.
It is time to take Reader out of the line of fire and let him cool off on the bench. It’s time Akey starts telling fans what he will do to turn this team around in the future, because after weeks of knob turning and fiddling with switches, everyone but those who work in the Kibbie Dome sees that this team can’t “click.”
— MM