First win to come…for somebody — Two winless head coaches look for first career wins

Somebody will walk out of the Kibbie Dome on Saturday with his first career-coaching win Saturday. Whether or not that coach is Paul Petrino remains to be seen, but Saturday potentially represents his best chance to get the elusive first win since arriving in Moscow. 

Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Safety Tom Hennessey blocks freshman running back Richard Montgomery during special teams drills in practice Wednesday in the Kibbie Dome. The Vandals take on Temple for the Homecoming game at 2 p.m Saturday.

Idaho (0-4) opens the Kibbie Dome doors to the Temple Owls (0-3) 2 p.m. on Saturday for Homecoming, with Petrino and Owls’  coach  Matt Rhule both pursuing their first career wins.

“We’re both (winless) so I know somebody is desperate for a win,” Idaho receiver Dezmon Epps said.

Both teams will attempt to shake off embarrassing performances — Idaho a 42-0 defeat across the border to Washington State last week, Temple coming off a bye week that followed its 30-29 home loss to FCS Fordham.

“They shouldn’t have lost that game,” Petrino said. “They’re big, they’re good, their front is good on both sides of the ball, so we have to get ourselves really ready to play.”

Temple’s recent decline has come in a quick, tumultuous manner that Idaho fans may find familiar. The Owls are two years removed from a 9-4 season and a win in the New Mexico Bowl, and went 4-7 last season in their first year back in the American Athletic Conference (formerly the Big East).

Those seasons were with former coach Steve Addazio, who left to take over at Boston College.

For Idaho, despite losing its home opener, there will be no place like Dome after the 42-0 loss at Washington State brought Idaho’s road score differential to 124-10. Two weeks ago, Idaho took undefeated Northern Illinois to the brink, falling just short 45-35. Temple having to travel about 2,100 miles can’t hurt Idaho either.

“It’s great to be home, I thought that student’s section was awesome, the whole crowd was great (against Northern Illinois),” Petrino said. “I think our guys played with confidence. Hopefully we come out and start it the same way but finish better.”

For Idaho to take advantage of the home crowd, it will need another fast start, which means shoring up the protection upfront. The Owls will present challenges up front, Petrino said, with their experience, size and style of play. Temple comes in with only five sacks on defense on the season, but has also only given up eight on the season.

“We played Temple a couple times when I was at Louisville, they remind me of the same team,” Petrino said. “They’re just a bunch of big, physical, tough kids. They are real big on the defensive line, physical both on the offensive and defensive line. That would be the biggest worry or challenge.”

Idaho’s defensive line has only garnered six sacks in its four games. Idaho goes into Saturday without defensive end Quinton Bradley who is sidelined for the second straight week with a shoulder injury. Without the sophomore who was tapped to be the flagship in Idaho’s pass rush, it will be up to Marius Burgsmueller, yet to record a sack in his career, to step up at the defensive end position opposite of Maxx Forde.

“He’s been able to do some things, he’s another guy who’s been in the rotation a good bit,” defensive line coach Bam Hardmon said. “It’s one of things where he just started the actual series off which is always a great thing, but you also take it as a challenge that now ‘I have to perform’ and stand up to that pedestal.”

Chad Chalich dealing 

Idaho’s redshirt freshman starter is coming off of another solid performance, despite the fact Idaho didn’t get into the end zone at Washington State. Chalich completed 73 percent of his passes against the Cougars and is completing 67 percent of his passes on the season. The role of backup quarterback Josh McCain coming in as a running change-of-pace quarterback is less certain.  With the struggles McCain  had last week, Chalich may have as much reign over the entire offense as he’s had all season. It showed in practice with Chalich comfortably throwing the ball down the field and operating in the red zone.

“It really comes down to this: see the defense, believe what you see and take what they give you,” Petrino said. “When he doesn’t do that is when he gets sacked … it’s a process, that’s when you’re a freshman and you keep going. When he finally believes what he sees and takes what they give him, that’s when he’ll be in great shape.”

The supporting cast around Chalich has struggled more than Petrino is used to with the young quarterbacks he’s had before in previous stops as an assistant, he said. Untimely penalties and turnovers have also hurt Idaho from putting together drives on a consistent basis this season.

“We just have to play as a team, like I said before, stop hurting ourselves on turnovers,” Chalich said. “This offense can score a lot of touchdowns, but we just have to execute the offense and believe we can score.”

Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]