Despite the big offensive numbers, the Idaho Vandals fell to the Auburn Tigers 56-34 Saturday in front of 87,451 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.
“I thought they fought the whole game and gave it everything they had,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “I tell them all the time if you give everything you have as far as toughness and effort then you should walk out here with your head up high and be proud, and I think that’s how they should walk out of here.”
Idaho (3-8 overall, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) will finish its season against Sun Belt Conference foe Texas State at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kibbie Dome.
“We got Texas State coming in,” Petrino said. “It’s our seniors’ last game at home and we’re going to play really good and I think our guys should build off the confidence of how they played today and have a great week of practice and play their hearts out this week.”
While the Vandals rushed for 123 yards, quarterbacks Matt Linehan and Jake Luton were able to attack the Auburn defense through the air, combining for 356 passing yards.
“I told Jake I was going to give him reps in this game,” Petrino said. “I didn’t want Matt to take all the hits from their D-linemen to be honest with you and it was good for Jake to get experience. I thought Jake’s been playing well. All year he’s been a little banged up. This was the first week he was back really healthy and I thought they both executed the offense well.”
Junior tight end Trent Cowan and junior wide receiver Callen Hightower were the primary targets for Linehan and Luton.
Cowan caught 10 passes for 118 yards and Hightower hauled in eight passes for 161 yards and one touchdown.
“Trent Cowan had a heck of a game, really made a bunch of plays,” Petrino said. “Callen Hightower had a good game.”
The Tigers got on the scoreboard on the opening drive of the game as Peyton Barber scored on a 2-yard rushing touchdown, capping an eight-play, 66-yard drive. The Vandals tied the game less than a minute later after senior running back Elijhaa Penny found the end zone on a 4-yard rushing touchdown.
The Idaho offense only needed two plays to get into the end zone. Penny’s touchdown was set up by a 71-yard completion by Linehan to Hightower.
“We got pretty much everybody back on offense next year with the exception of Penny and Dallas Sandberg so we can be a really good offense next year,” Petrino said. “We just got to keep continuing to grow and get better on defense.”
The Tigers pulled away from that point going into halftime with a 35-17 lead.
The Vandals committed three turnovers – two interceptions and one fumble – and the Tigers scored 21 points off those turnovers.
Auburn defensive back Johnathan Ford returned Linehan’s interception 48 yards for a touchdown to put the Tigers up 35-10 with 6:47 left in the second quarter. The second Vandal interception came out of Luton’s right hand.
With 2nd and 2 at the Auburn 7, Luton threw an interception to cornerback Jonathan Jones. The interception halted Idaho’s 12-play, 68-yard drive that lasted 4:22.
The Tigers took advantage of the Idaho mistake as Auburn junior quarterback Jeremy Johnson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run.
Idaho sophomore safety Jordan Grabski led the Idaho defense with 12 tackles and freshman linebacker Kaden Elliss finished second on the team with eight tackles.
“Kaden Elliss ran around and made a bunch of tackles,” Petrino said. “He’s just a freshman. He’s going to really be a great player for us and I thought Jordan Grabski, just looking out there had some big hits and did some good things.”
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]