Optimism was hard to come by during Paul Petrino’s debut Saturday in Denton, Texas. The Vandals accumulated loads of it early on in the first quarter, but all of the positive energy evaporated into the humid Texas air when North Texas collected 40 consecutive points en route to a 40-6 victory at Apogee Stadium.
Idaho’s Jake Manley dives into the end zone for the Vandals’ sole touchdown of a 40-6 loss to North Texas Saturday in Denton. Courtesy: Ilya Pinchuk/University of Idaho
Petrino looked the part of a mastermind — the man that may be able to give Idaho a major facelift — when redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Chalich tossed to Jake Manley for a 6-yard Vandal touchdown.
Then there was the onside kick, recovered by the Vandals on the Mean Green 45 yard line.
Minutes later, Chalich burned Idaho’s fourth and final timeout of the half. It may have well been a sign of things to come, as the Vandals would fall victim to consecutive penalties, two of 11 on the day, which totaled more than 90 yards.
But Petrino wouldn’t single out any one player, or play, in Saturday’s loss,
“It’s about 11 guys doing their job together,” he said. “We hit a couple big plays. There we some we could have hit. It’s sad when you leave them out there.”
Idaho saw its offensive and defensive line take some of their own hits and three Vandal players would leave the game with injury, with only one of them, Rimington Award watch list candidate Mike Marboe, returning to the playing field. Defensive end Maxx Forde and offensive tackle Cody Elenz weren’t as fortunate.
There was a lot to like about Idaho’s offensive play, though Chalich and company couldn’t take the Vandals back to the end zone after their first-quarter score. In his collegiate debut the Coeur d’Alene product was 19-of-27 passing with 230 yards. Chalich, who found himself scrambling often on third and long situations, took a couple of deafening hits and fumbled twice.
“We hurt ourselves,” Petrino said. “More than anything, we got our butts kicked up front.”
While Idaho did hurt itself on more than a few occasions, North Texas’ Brelan Chancellor was the subject of many Vandal headaches Saturday evening. The hosts’ leading receiver caught six passes for 135 yards and a touchdown while taking another carry nine yards.
The senior suffered a season-ending injury during the first play of the 2012 season and hadn’t played a down of football since.
“It felt great to be back. You can’t take anything for granted. One play and it can be done,” said Chancellor, who accrued 255 all-purpose yards.
The Vandals left a lot to be desired on special teams, as kicker Austin Rehkow missed a point-after-attempt as well as a 39-yard field goal in his collegiate debut and the punting team allowed Chancellor three returns for 111 yards. One of those, a 62-yard return, was a few juke moves away from a spot on the SportsCenter Top 10 reel and another North Texas touchdown.
Rehkow, who is doubling as Idaho’s kicker and punter, showcased his strong leg on the punting side of things and booted six for 284 yards and had a long punt of 62 yards.
Petrino and the Vandals will visit the Wyoming Cowboys next Saturday, with a 1 p.m. PDT kickoff in Laramie.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]