Idaho football suffered a brutal 53-point loss Saturday to one of the top FBS teams in the country.
The Vandals endured their seventh loss of the season, losing 63-10 to the 13th ranked Florida Gators.
“Obviously, we got our butts kicked,” Idaho head coach Paul Petrino said after the game. “There were guys that gave great effort today, guys I think that will go back and watch the tape and be proud of themselves.”
On the first play of the game, Idaho junior quarterback Mason Petrino threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown to give the Gators an early 7-0 lead in the opening seconds.
By the end of the first quarter, Florida held a 28-0 lead, then by halftime Idaho found themselves down 49-0, the largest halftime deficit under coach Petrino.
“As a team, their team played a lot better than our team did,” Petrino said. “I feel like our guys made some tough mistakes, but I also think there were guys that played their hearts out. That’s all you can do.”
The Gator defense picked off Mason Petrino twice throughout the game, both being ran back into the endzone for a touchdown. The Florida defense scored 12 points off of Idaho turnovers, more than Idaho could score throughout the entire game.
The season ending loss makes Idaho winless on the road this season, the first time since the 2014 season.
It has certainly been a chaotic season for the Vandals, with everything coming crashing down in the final two weeks of play. Idaho has been outscored 109-37 during these final two games of the season, leaving fans uncertain on what to expect during the offseason and beyond.
“It’s just too bad how the season ended up. We didn’t want this,” Mason Petrino said after the game. “We just have to bring it next year. We know what’s expected of us.”
The Idaho junior quarterback lead the Vandals with a career-high 87 rushing yards on the day, while also throwing for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Despite the loss, Mason said he loved having the opportunity to play in such an iconic stadium and atmosphere on Saturday.
“There’s only one Swamp… it kind of just shows you SEC football,” Mason said. “It was a really cool atmosphere. Not a lot of people get to say they’ve played in The Swamp, so I’ll probably remember all of this.”
This marked the final game for the Idaho seniors, including senior linebacker Kaden Elliss who finished the game with 10 total tackles. Elliss finishes his career with 289 tackles, 13th in program history. Elliss is the first Vandal to reach inside the top 15 since 2010.
“I tried to go out and run around and play as hard as I can,” Elliss said. “The last game with my little brother, the last game with all my brothers. I was just trying to go out and enjoy one more.”
With the 2018 season brought to a close for Idaho, all eyes are on what’s next for the program. With a young group entering next season, many questions are left lingering going into next season.
“I think we’re going to be good. I think we’re young. We played a bunch of young guys this year,” Paul said. “All those guys that got all kinds of reps this year should be way better players next year.”
If anything is for certain in what is to come in the future for Idaho football, it is to always expect the unexpected.
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Cderemer_VN