The Idaho football team will make its second of three trips to Alabama Saturday.
The Vandals beat Troy Oct. 17 in Troy, Alabama, and they will play Sun Belt Conference opponent South Alabama (3-4 overall, 1-2 Sun Belt) at 12 p.m. Saturday in Mobile, Alabama. Idaho’s final game in Alabama will be at Auburn Nov. 21.
Idaho (3-5, 2-3) will look to bounce back from a 55-48 loss in overtime against New Mexico State Saturday in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“We got to move on,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “I told them Sunday night everybody’s got to look at the film. I don’t want any finger pointing. Everybody took a huge role in that loss starting with me.”
Even in the loss, the Idaho offense racked up 569 yards. Idaho sophomore quarterback Matt Linehan threw for 307 yards and junior wide receiver Callen Hightower hauled in 115 of those yards.
Senior running back Elijhaa Penny took the bulk of the carries again as the Lakewood, California, native rushed for 192 yards on 35 carries.
Penny rushed for 184 yards on 36 carries in Idaho’s 27-13 homecoming win against Louisiana-Monroe Oct. 24.
“He’s been a stud for the last two weeks,” Petrino said.
Petrino said the offensive linemen and senior fullback Jake Manley deserve credit for Penny’s success in the running game.
Petrino said it’s sad that Penny was unable to exit the field with a win Saturday because of the numbers he put up.
“He left everything he had out on that field,” Petrino said. “You feel bad for him that he didn’t walk off that field with a win.”
Petrino said Penny has a bright future in football after college.
“There’s no doubt he’ll get in a (NFL training) camp,” Petrino said. “In my opinion, there’s no doubt he’ll make a team because he can do it all. He’s a really good protector. He’s got great hands and he’s going to run hard. There’s not that many big backs out there that can do all three of those things, so credit to him for all his hard work and what he’s done.”
Idaho senior guard Dallas Sandberg said Idaho’s offensive line has been winning the battle in the trenches.
“We’re kicking the crap out of the D-line right now,” Sandberg said. “We’re getting up to linebackers really well and we haven’t been playing the best of fronts but we’ve just been taking advantage of that and getting Penny up to the second level so he can break the arm tackles and whatnot.”
Sun Belt officials suspended Idaho senior linebacker Marc Millan for the South Alabama game because of his illegal tackle on New Mexico State quarterback Andrew Allen. Redshirt freshman linebacker Ed Hall will start Saturday.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CabezaGarrett
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Thanks for the great coverage you guys have been providing all season. It would be awesome to read a little bit more about the defense, despite the recent relapse. I noticed that they are a lot more aggressive this year, plus were getting beat a lot less in the back end. Is Edwards playing safety, how about Hawkins? I can never really tell because of the multiple looks we see. Who is filling in for Grabski?