After experiencing their best win of the season a week ago, Vandal football follows up with their worst loss of the season on Saturday.
Idaho continues its struggles on the road after a late game collapse to Northern Colorado to drop the Big Sky season opener in a 24-27 loss.
In a game that seemed to be in Idaho’s favor early, quickly became another opportunity for Idaho to find a way to beat themselves.
The Vandals beat Idaho: With a 17-7 lead going into halftime, it seemed that the Vandals were going to be able to hold off Northern Colorado to claim their first road victory in two seasons.
But quickly, Idaho started to shoot themselves in the foot.
Throughout Saturday’s contest, Idaho committed 13 penalties for 130 yards, with the culmination ending in back to back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Idaho Head Coach Paul Petrino and senior quarterback Mason Petrino.
Petrino’s day was another troubling site, with the senior quarterback throwing three interceptions against the Bears.
The Bears were able to build momentum in the fourth quarter, leaving the Vandals speechless throughout the final minutes.
Fourth quarter magic: Northern Colorado hung with the Vandals all game before finally breaking free in the fourth quarter.
The Idaho offense only saw the offense for nearly four minutes while only converting one first down compared to the Bears seven first downs.
Five of the 13 Idaho penalties were committed in the fourth quarter, further helping Northern Colorado win the game.
The roller-coaster continues: Ultimately, the Vandals found a way to beat themselves.
A week ago, everything seemed to go perfect, and now one week later everything came crashing down in the fourth quarter.
One of the few bright spots was Idaho freshman running back Nick Romano finishing with 132 yards rushing. This adds further depth to an already talented running back core, with every week being a surprise as to which running back breaks out next.
Last season finding consistency was the Vandals one main problem, and as the Big Sky schedule gets under way its seems that the same problems still plague Idaho.
The talent is there and the expectations will continue to be high for this team, especially after pulling off a tremendous win against Eastern Washington. But will it be considered a fluke win by season’s end?
If the Vandals want to be taken seriously, they need to start finding consistency and win games on the road.
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @chris_DEREMER