The only thing that had Saturday’s Battle of the Palouse feeling like a rivalry were the choice words the two head coaches had for each other in the post-game handshake.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Idaho cornerback Jayshawn Jordan tackles wide receiver Dom Williams during Saturday’s game against Washington State. The Vandals lost the Battle of the Palouse 42-0 in Pullman.
Paul Petrino and Mike Leach got after it for a few seconds after a brief handshake, following Washington State’s 42-0 dominant performance Saturday night at Martin Stadium in Pullman. Video footage suggested that Petrino instigated the confrontation with Leach firing back in response.
Neither coach cared to share the words exchanged during the handshake.
“That’s between me and him,” Petrino said.
The source of Petrino’s frustration could be any number of things: Idaho’s offensive line getting thrown around the line of scrimmage, Idaho failing to convert on fourth-and-goal from the one during the final minute of the game, or the overall physical dominance Washington State had over Idaho’s thin secondary.
“They just kicked our butt. They beat us, you have to give them credit. We didn’t do a good job, that’s what it came down to,” Petrino said.
Washington State looked every bit the superior team on the night, but Idaho turnovers in the first half expedited the blowout process. After the two teams traded punts on their opening possessions, Idaho backup quarterback Josh McCain threw across his body while rolling out to the right for the easy interception by Washington State’s Deone Bucannon.
It took Washington State three plays to find the hole in Idaho’s secondary and make it 7-0 early in the first quarter. The flood gates opened further late in the second quarter when Idaho running back Kris Olugbode had the ball punched out from behind on Idaho’s 20-yard line. One play and eight seconds later, it was 21-0 Washington State.
Idaho’s defense hung tough, forcing Washington State to two punts and grabbing an interception in the first quarter. But the defense couldn’t do much about Idaho’s offense failing to get past Washington State’s 45-yard line. The defense forced four turnovers but was at the mercy of Cougar quarterback Connor Halliday when he found a rhythm.
“They were doing the same things we saw on film, it’s just we have to go execute, credit to them, they did a good job of executing what they had to do,” defensive end Maxx Forde said. “They scored 42 points, but we have to do better than that.”
Poor offensive line play from the second half of last week’s loss to Northern Illinois carried over the border to Pullman. Washington State was physical in the trenches racking up 14 tackles for loss and five sacks. This upped Idaho’s sacks allowed total to 26 on the season through
four games.
“They were beating us up front, really. When you can’t move people up front, you can’t move the ball,” center Mike Marboe said. “That’s on us and we have to fix that. We knew what to do, we know how to fix that and we just weren’t
getting it done.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Chalich was a bright spot for the Idaho offense. Chalich finished the night with 167 yards on 17-of-23 passing, and 39 yards rushing on nine non-sack rushes. Chalich orchestrated Idaho’s closest chance at the end zone late in the fourth quarter when he led Idaho on a 16-play, 82-yard drive that came inches short of a touchdown on a turnover
on downs.
Still, Petrino said he was hesitant to praise his quarterback until he can watch the film.
“I don’t know if you can say anybody played real well when you lose by that much, I’ll watch it on tape and see,” Petrino said.
Josh McCain had his toughest game as a Vandal, throwing the first Vandal interception of the year and getting nothing going in the passing game. But it seems like Petrino wants to stick with him in the two-quarterback system, putting him back in the game for a couple of plays in the second half.
“We were just trying to get him some more reps,” Petrino said. “It was kind of a situation where the game was out of hand as it was, so just trying to get him some more work.”
Idaho may have a better opportunity for the first win of the Petrino era on Saturday when it hosts winless Temple for homecoming. Temple is coming off a bye week, trying to recover from its home loss to FCS Fordham.
“You got to take it as a learning experience, definitely don’t want to start the season this way, but you have to learn from it, get back on the right track next week,” Forde said.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]