A lightning strike warming caused a delay in the action on Saturday afternoon, but it was the Wyoming Cowboys who are causing a delay in Paul Petrino’s rebuilding plan. Idaho hit the road to Laramie, Wyo. falling to the Cowboys 42-10, with much of the same type of mistakes that plagued Idaho in a 40-6 loss at North Texas the week before.
Idaho hung tough with Wyoming, going back and forth defensively with the Cowboys to the tune of a scoreless first quarter but quarterback Brett Smith proved to be too much. Smith accounted for 359 total yards of offense to go along with his four touchdowns.
Austin Rehkow punted nine times and Idaho was held scoreless until late in the fourth quarter, coming close on offense many times but not being able to find the execution to get over the hump.
“I think our defense played really well in the first quarter and the offense let them down,” Petrino said. “Offensively we had some opportunities to move the ball and give the defense a chance and we let them down.”
Turning point
Redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Chalich had Idaho driving in the first quarter, 2nd and 8 just short of midfield. Marboe’s snap to Chalich in the shotgun was wild, Chalich was able to control it off the bounce but had pressure bearing down on him. Instead of eating the sack, Chalich tried to throw it away and instead dropped the ball.
It took Wyoming all of three seconds into the second quarter to get into the endzone. The Pokes never looked back from there.
Critical mistakes
Idaho had promising drives all day, but it was crippling mistakes at bad times which kept the offense out of the endzone until the final possession of the game.
Spurred by the legs of quarterback Josh McCain the Vandals were able to drive into Wyoming territory, looking to cut a 14-0 Cowboy lead in half. Instead, Chad Chalich tossed the ball to Najee Lovett on a third down in which the receiver stood behind the conversion marker. A poorly executed fourth down rollout pass gave the ball back to Wyoming. Wyoming took the ball the other way to take a 21-0 lead.
After forcing the Cowboys into a three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half it was Josh McCain again using his legs to spur Idaho to something promising. But when he got inside the Wyoming 40 he coughed the ball up. Wyoming took the ball the other way to take a 28-0 lead.
The common theme is Idaho handing Wyoming good field position and a Wyoming team being too good to not take advantage of it.
“Our football intelligence right now is not very high. And that’s coaching, we have to get a lot better at coaching our guys and getting them to understand what they’re doing,” Petrino said. “There’s some young guys but that stuff has to stop. We can’t keep making silly stupid mistakes and that was one of them.”
Quick hits
– The lightning delay in the second quarter didn’t do Idaho any favors. The Vandals, trailing 14-0, had second and 3 at midfield when a lightning strike near the stadium halted the game for 30 minutes. Chalich’s next play after the delay was a sack and Idaho ended up punting. Petrino said he didn’t think the lightning as much to do with it as Idaho’s lack of execution
– The offensive line struggled mightily today. Idaho quarterbacks were sacked seven times, while Idaho running backs only amassed 56 yards on 21 carries.
– Idaho will come home to face reigning MAC champion Northern Illinois next week. The Huskies are the first opponent Idaho will play this year who played in a bowl game last year. First year coach Rod Carey has Northern Illinois at 1-0 and will come to Moscow coming off of a bye week. The Huskies beat Iowa in week one.
But Petrino isn’t looking at that just yet.
“All I’m looking forward to do is practice tomorrow. I don’t think we can look farther than the next practice. Ever,” he said.