Vandals fall to 0-4, now at 11-straight losses
South Alabama scored more points against Idaho (34) than it did in its previous three games combined (32). The Jaguars accumulated 429 total yards on offense, and their defense held Idaho to 269 yards. The result was 34-10 blowout victory for the team from Mobile, Alabama.
“They just whooped us,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “Offensively, we got our butts kicked. We’ve been playing really well on offense and they’ve been playing really well on defense and they came out on top today.”
| Argonaut
Vandal quarterback Matt Linehan is brought down by a South Alabama player during the first half of Idaho’s 34-10 Dads’ Weekend loss to South Alabam Saturday in the Kibbie Dome.
With the loss, Idaho falls to 0-4 this season and has dropped 11-straight games dating back to last season. Saturday, the Vandals travel to San Marcos, Texas, to take on Texas State.
Petrino said coming into the game he knew South Alabama would be the toughest defense they have faced this season.
“I thought we would play well and still score points on offense — obviously we didn’t,” he said.
Over the course of the first three games, Idaho’s offense scored an average of just under 30 points per game.
Freshman quarterback Matt Linehan was unable to eclipse 300 passing yards for the first time in his career. He finished 25-of-40 for 239 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown.
Petrino said it hurt to settle for field goals after long offensive drives. He said what hurt the team even more was it only came away with one converted field goal out of three attempts. Penalties also hurt Idaho.
“We just had a lot of pre snap penalties — that was just killing us,” senior wide receiver Josh McCain said. “That was just hurting our drives, slowing us down and we couldn’t get any momentum.”
After surrendering seven sacks, Petrino said it’s not only the offensive line that needs to improve, it’s the whole offense.
Along with the offensive line holding their blocks longer, he said receivers need to run better routes, Linehan needs to get rid of the ball quicker and the running game needs to improve.
“We got to start controlling the line of scrimmage enough to run the ball,” Petrino said. “We just got to block it better … so I’ll have more confidence in calling it. I’m not sure if I’m calling it enough either.”
Despite what the final score might indicate, Petrino said the defense played arguably its best game of the season against South Alabama. The unit was able to force two turnovers.
“I feel like that fired guys up,” said senior defensive end Maxx Forde of the two turnovers. “We just got to be able to build on that and keep trying to get more turnovers … Those are big plays for us, we just got to keep getting more of those.”
Petrino thought the defense made huge improvements, and said they probably played well enough to win.
Forde said he thinks the team is still making strides in the right direction. He said the defense still needs to eliminate the big plays against them.
“Losing any game is tough,” Forde said. “We are definitely working to get it turned around. It’s going to get turned around.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]