The 2025 Idaho football season began with an unavoidable reality. The Vandals were no longer the program that had reached the postseason in each of the previous three years under head coach Jason Eck. Eck’s departure to New Mexico last winter, along with the transfer exodus that followed him to Albuquerque, left Idaho with a roster that had to be built almost entirely from scratch. The Vandals finished 4-8 under first-year head coach Thomas Ford Jr., winning only two conference games.
Idaho entered the year with a new head coach, a new quarterback, almost an entirely new defense and a locker room filled with players whose college experience ranged from minimal to none. The Vandals returned only a single defensive starter from the 2024 postseason team, senior linebacker Isiah King. They were also one of the youngest offensive teams in the conference, relying on underclassmen and in nearly every position group.
The challenge of assembling a competitive roster under such circumstances was no easy feat for Ford. Ford arrived in Moscow with the reputation of a strong recruiter, but even for him, the task was daunting. Ford’s mission was straight forward in concept, but was, as he put it, “maybe a little premature.” He needed to build an entirely new playoff-caliber roster in just a few months.
The season offered glimpses of what Idaho might become under Ford, but it also revealed the costliness of the team’s lack of experience. Idaho lost four games by a single possession.
Ford acknowledged that the expectations surrounding the program after three straight postseason appearances were not easy to manage, especially with such an inexperienced roster.
“Whenever you take over a program that has very high expectations coming off of a ten win season, you want to have those same expectations,” Ford said. “We did a great job at least setting up the building blocks for what this thing needs to look like moving forward.”
The season began less than ten miles from campus across the border in Pullman against Washington State. Despite the defensive inexperience, Idaho played one of its best games of the year on that side of the ball, allowing only three rushing yards and controlling the line of scrimmage for most of the evening. The Vandals fell 13-10 after a last-minute field goal, the first of several late heartbreaks.
Ford got his first win as a Division 1 head coach in the team’s home-opener against St. Thomas. Idaho’s defense held strong early but faded late due to fatigue, still managing enough stops to secure the 37-30 win. A week later, Idaho handled Utah Tech in the Fightin’ Taters game with a 20-6 victory. Idaho was now 2-1, and looked poised to grow.
What followed was the harshest stretch of the year. Idaho held a 14-point lead on the road against San Jose State, but allowed 420 yards of total offense and lost again on a last second field goal. That game began a four-game skid.
Quarterback Joshua Wood suffered an injury during the next game at Montana, a 41-30 defeat, and Idaho felt that absence deeply over the next two weeks. The Vandals lost 49-33 to Northern Colorado in itsfirst home loss in nearly two years. They then fell 21-14 at Eastern Washington in a game they were expected to win.
Wood’s breakout season was one of the bright spots of this rebuilding period for Idaho. He transferred from Fresno State late in the offseason and quickly rose to the starting role. Before and after the injury, Wood proved himself to be one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the conference. He finished with 1,898 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns and only five interceptions. He added 589 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. Despite missing two full games, Wood was the only player in the Big Sky to finish in the top ten in both passing yards and rushing yards.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Marquawn McCraney saw Wood’s commitment and competitiveness firsthand and made a point to develop chemistry with him early, especially because they both grew up in the Seattle area.
“We were not too concerned with who was back there because we have faith in our guys,” McCraney said. “We just need to focus on doing our job to the best of our ability so that people can be successful.”
McCraney returned to the team after missing fall camp and the entire summer due to a surgery to repair a torn meniscus. McCraney believes the program left many potential wins on the table and credited the 4-8 record to the team’s struggle to play complementary football.
“If we want to be a great team that is going to win, we have to come up with points when we are in the red zone,” McCraney said. “We have to make sure that we stay ahead of the chains. There are little thingsthat can be cleaned up in those close games where if the ball got flipped the other way it is our game. It is just a matter of correcting those mistakes.”
He added that the offense showed a glimpse of what it could be in the 45-6 win over Portland State, Wood’s first game back from injury.
“Our offense has never been seen at full power,” McCraney said. “What would that look like if we had every single guy on offense healthy? Portland State was a game when you saw our offense firing on all cylinders.”
Idaho’s best performance of the year came on Halloween night in Flagstaff. The Vandals built a 26-7 lead against a ranked Northern Arizona team and then watched it disappear. The Lumberjacks led 29-26 late in the fourth quarter before Owen Adams drilled a 42-yard field goal as time expired. Idaho fell behind by three in overtime but answered instantly. Elisha Cummings broke free on a 24-yard run on the offense’s first play, and Hayden Kincheloe punched in the game winning score from the one-yard line.
That moment kept Idaho’s postseason hopes alive briefly, but a 28-14 loss to UC Davis ended the team’s playoff chances. The following week, Idaho fell 23-20 at Sacramento State in the most controversial finish of the season. A disputed officiating decision aided the Hornets in the closing moments. Ford’s animated response to the call later earned him a sportsmanship fine from the conference.
Idaho closed the year with a rivalry loss at Idaho State, a 37-16 outcome that stung deeply within a program accustomed to dominating that rivalry matchup.
Despite the roller coaster, Idaho ended the year with several standout performances. Senior offensive lineman Nate Azzopardi and senior linebacker Isiah King earned first-team All-Big Sky honors. Freshman cornerback Caleb Ricks was named a Freshman All-American by FCS Football Central. Specialist Brayden Rice earned second-team all-conference honors, and linebackers Dylan Layne and Matyus McClain received honorable mentions. Layne led the team with 88 tackles and combined with King and Cruz Hepburn for 238 total tackles.
The Vandals also produced one of the best rushing defenses in the Big Sky. Their run defense grade from Pro Football Focus finished at 92.9, the highest mark in the conference.
Offensively, Nate Thomas, Elisha Cummings, Art Williams and Rocco Koch combined for 1,290 rushing yards. Five different players recorded at least 19 catches, and four posted at least 278 receiving yards.
Even with the accomplishments, Idaho finished in the bottom tier of the conference statistically in total offense and scoring offense, and near the bottom in yards allowed and touchdowns allowed.
“Having lost so many guys from last year’s team sets you back from an experience standpoint,” Ford said. “We had playoff expectations but not a ton of guys with playoff experience. We need to work on being consistent”
Ford said the team’s young players made tremendous progress throughout the fall.
“The improvement those younger guys made in the second half of the season, primarily on defense, I thought they made huge strides,” Ford said. “I think we learned a ton and our players that were not in the program before have a much better understanding of what the standard needs to look like going forward.”
Ford dismissed offensive coordinator Matt Linehan, running backs coach Lance Dunbar, and defensive line coach Tevita Finau following the season. Ford emphasized that his decisions were not a reflection of personal dissatisfaction, but a commitment to the championship level standard he wants the program to embody.
The Vandals already hold the top ranked recruiting class in the FCS. Ford believes this incoming group can substantially alter the program’s trajectory.
“I definitely think it has all the building blocks to really change the trajectory,” Ford said. “Every year you have to evaluate what your program needs. Those guys last year did a good job but I want some championship level people.”