Idaho football is back in full swing, holding its first spring practice this past Monday with a fresh new group of players eager to enter the program’s second season back in the Big Sky conference.
The Vandals competed in the Big Sky this past fall for the first time since the 1995-1996 season and had big expectations for 2018. Idaho rounded out the year with a 4-7 overall record and 3-5 conference record. The Vandals played impressively at home, going 4-1 in the Kibbie Dome but couldn’t seem to pick up a win on the road with all seven of their losses on the opponent’s turf.
Not exactly the season anyone expected or hoped for, to say the least.
This was a wake-up-call for the program. Many assumed dropping down from FBS to FCS would indicate a higher-than-average win margin than seasons past. Since this is the first program to drop down from FBS to FCS, it would be easy to think playing smaller and supposedly less talented teams would result in more victories.
Last season clearly proved Big Sky football is no cake walk for any team.
Braedon Cain
After getting a taste of the true competi- tiveness and talent the Big Sky has to offer, the Vandals are ready to bounce back for the 2019 season. Signing one of the top FCS recruiting class in the nation is one way to re-instill that winning tradition the Vandals once boasted in the Big Sky conference many years ago.
“If this isn’t our best (recruiting) class we’ve signed here, it’s definitely one of the best classes we’ve put together,” Idaho Head Coach Paul Petrino said in a news release.
If hearing that from the head football coach doesn’t sound like music to a fans ears, then I’m not sure what does.
Petrino is in his seventh season with the program, leading the Vandals to nine wins in the 2016 season and their first bowl victory since 2009, when head coach Robb Akey was at the helm. Petrino’s last two seasons have had their share of setbacks, only grabbing eight wins combined over the timespan.
But this upcoming season has a lot of potential as the team returns seven starters on offense, highlighted by wide receiver Jeff Cotton and All-Big Sky First Team offensive lineman Noah Johnson, both entering their senior years. The defense only returns five starters, including junior linebacker Chris- tian Elliss and senior defensive back Lloyd Hightower, but a recruiting class consisting of junior college transfers and talented freshman has the capability to fill positions on defense that need to be replaced.
The Vandals will also have a more favor- able Big Sky conference schedule, playing some of the conference’s better teams like We- ber State and Eastern Washington at home. The non-conference schedule consists of a season-opener on the road in Happy Valley against the Penn State Nittany Lions followed by Central Washington for the home-opener and then traveling to Laramie to face off against the Wyoming Cowboys.
The chances of achieving victory over an FBS Power Five conference school like Penn State are still slim to none, but that is nothing new for the Vandals, as they usually have one of these big schools on their schedule year after year.
Idaho’s renewed relationship with the Big Sky conference may not have started off on the best note, but it’s never too late for a second chance.
Braedon Cain can be reached at [email protected]