After two quarterbacks played against Hawaii, two quarterbacks led the Idaho offense during this week’s practice, and the one that will start in California has yet to be determined.
Idaho travels to the Bay Area to face the San Jose State Spartans at 1 p.m. Saturday in Spartan Stadium, and offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Steven Axman said the starting quarterback position has not been given to Brian Reader or Taylor Davis.
“We’re just kinda having them split and compete all week long, and competition brings out the best in everybody,” Axman said. “I think both quarterbacks have performed very, very well during the week and we’re just going to kinda take it from there.”
Davis started against Hawaii, but was benched in favor of Reader near the beginning of the fourth quarter. Davis agreed with his coach that the two quarterbacks competed all week.
“Both me and Reader are fighting for the job and right now it’s just … it’s just all a big competition,” Davis said.
Axman said the Spartan defense is sound and adjusts to what is necessary for itself, not always based on the offense it faces.
“They have an excellent coordinator in coach (Kent) Baer and he’s a guy who’s been around a long time and he knows how to make adjustments,” Axman said. “I think we have a pretty good idea of what they’re gonna do and pretty good game plan.”
Davis said the key to the offense is to maintain production from the Idaho running game and simply catch the ball.
“Receptions,” Davis said. “We need to get a lot better at throwing the ball and that’s on me and Reader. So we need to step it up.”
Axman said the play-action pass offense Idaho employs is where it can be successful against theSpartans.
“I think the biggest thing is to first start getting balance,” Axman said. “So that we can throw to a greater degree so that a defense can’t key just on our running game.”
Helping carry the load this weekend along with running back Princeton McCarty, should be Ryan Bass who is recovering from injury. Running back Troy Vital is said to be “day-to-day” by Axman.
“Ryan (Bass) is getting a lot better. He’s starting to feel a lot better,” Axman said. “He’s cutting a lot more powerfully and hitting the holes a lot more. … We’re real pleased to see that.”
While the Idaho offense has struggled putting points on the board, the Idaho defense fired on all cylinders against Hawaii, forcing four turnovers. San Jose State has already coughed up the ball 21 times this season, which is good enough for No. 11 in the country. Defensive end Benson Mayowa attributes the defensive efficiencyto changing schemes and team cohesion.
“We’re gelling more as a defense and we’re dialing up some good blitzes with coverage as well,” Mayowa said. “So we’re just mixing it up — disguising.”
Mayowa said the Spartans are much more 50-50 when it comes to offensive play calling. He said the run must be stifled in order to be successful.
“Stop the run,” Mayowa said. “Hit the quarterback hard. Stop the run.”
Of 120 FBS football teams, San Jose State’s running offense ranks No. 103. The Idaho running defense ranks No. 44 — something the Vandals should be able to take advantage of.
Axman believes even though the offense is injury-ridden, especially at the receiver position, the Vandals have players that are capable of stepping up to the task at hand in California.
“We’ve got some pretty good people I feel can fill some holes for us,” Axman said. “But the core of our offense is all-together and we feel pretty good about being able to do a good job when we get to San Jose this weekend.”
Receiver Armauni Johnson suffered a likely season-ending injury against Hawaii with a broken arm and teammate Justin Veltung was in a knee-high boot at practice Wednesday with a toe injury, Akey said.
Davis said whether he or Reader gets the start, the receiving core is ready to step up.
“You know we still have a lot of receivers,” Davis said. “(Daniel) Micheletti is stepping up. (Mike) Scott is always stepping up, but our receiving core is all there still. We’re good.”
Idaho will attempt to salvage the rest of its season at Spartan Stadium, going for its first FBS and conference win of the season.