Homecoming represents a time in the fall semester when the entire campus gathers together to celebrate a number of festivities and events, including a pivotal football game that concludes the week’s activities.
The annual game highlights the return of the Idaho football team from a lengthy road trip. The students should pack the Kibbie Dome to support the team as the Vandals play their first home game since they lost to Georgia Southern Sept. 26.
While the Vandals have struggled to produce wins in recent seasons, they have developed a surprising pattern of success on Homecoming Week, winning each of their homecoming matchups the past three years.
In fact, the Vandals have gone 9-2 on Homecoming Week in the past 11 seasons at the Kibbie Dome, dating back to 2004.
The Vandals (2-4) will look to continue that homecoming magic this weekend against Sun Belt Conference foe Louisiana-Monroe.
Idaho recently returned from a road game at Troy, where they pulled off a nail-biting 19-16 victory over the Trojans. The victory secured the first multi-win season for the Vandals since 2011 and has many analysts predicting that this weekend’s matchup against Louisiana-Monroe could result in Idaho’s third win this year.
Idaho should be riding high after the victory in Alabama last week. The Vandals fought through jet lag and a lengthy flight delay, arriving about five and a half hours before kickoff to beat the Trojans on the road Saturday.
Meanwhile, Louisiana-Monroe (1-5) comes to Moscow hoping to flip the script on the second half of its season. The Warhawks’ lone victory this year came at home against FCS opponent Nicholls State, who the Warhawks defeated by 47 points.
In this weekend’s matchup, the Vandals will look to build on the confidence from the win over Troy, as well as rely on the homecoming mojo that has embodied the program in the past decade.
Idaho will also be motivated this weekend by the opportunity to develop its first winning streak since 2009, when the Vandals won five straight en route to a Humanitarian Bowl victory over Bowling Green.
If the Vandals are able to come away with a win Saturday, they would extend their win streak to two and improve their position in the Sun Belt standings.
A key factor in this weekend’s homecoming matchup is the crowd noise. If last year’s numbers are any indication, the homecoming crowd for the Vandals will likely exceed 15,000 fans, closing in on the dome’s capacity of 16,000 spectators.
Earlier this week, USA Today released its list of the top 10 stadiums in college football, with the Kibbie Dome making the list at No. 10. The authors mentioned crowd noise as a main factor in the ranking, highlighting how Vandal fans can influence key games such as the homecoming matchup against Louisiana-Monroe this weekend.
ESPN has the Warhawks listed as two-point favorites coming into Saturday’s matchup, but don’t count the Vandals out just yet.
If Idaho is able to channel the homecoming success of recent years, it will emerge from the Dome with a huge Sun Belt victory and its first win streak in over five years.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom