Vandal football lost to the University of Montana Grizzlies 34-14 on Saturday, continuing their pattern of losses. They have lost five of their last six games, lost three of their past four Big Sky matchups, lost their seventh straight game against Montana, and dropped to 2-5 on the season.
Early on, though, the Vandals’ defense showed up and caused a Montana offense to struggle. Coming off the loss against Eastern Washington the Vandals were just trying to win, said junior linebacker Tre Walker.
“There were a lot of hiccups from the last game and we were trying to do as much as possible to put our offense in the best position possible to help us win the game,” Walker said.
The first quarter was a fairly even matchup between both teams, with the Vandals marching down 75 yards to score. Montana responded at the end of the quarter to tie it up at one score each.
From then on, it was a runaway win for the Grizzlies. They scored 27 points that went unanswered until the fourth quarter. Vandal freshman quarterback Gevani McCoy connected with senior wide receiver Mekhi Stevenson for a touchdown pass with only 1:11 left in the game.
“When Zach was in, they started to go to cover zero and they started to put everybody down around the line,” coach Paul Petrinto said. “When that’s the case you need to break tackles and block really well … there were a couple times where we were really close to having good plays and we hurt ourselves.”
Until the Vandals’ touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, the Vandals barely had over 100 yards in total offense on 11 drives. The Montana defense held true to its reputation as one of the toughest defenses in the entire Big Sky. Vandal redshirt sophomore QB Zach Borisch, who had over 100 yards rushing in the last two weeks, was contained to 54 rushing yards on 3.1 yards a carry.
The Vandals’ two top quarterbacks on the depth chart, graduate student Mike Beaudry and freshman CJ Jordan, were still absent from the field. Petrino said he wasn’t sure if they would be back this season. If either Jordan or Beaudry don’t come back next week, Petrino said, they will most likely continue with the duo of Borisch and McCoy for the rest of the year.
It wasn’t all bad for the Vandals. After not being able to score against Eastern Washington last week, McCoy scored his first touchdown pass as an Idaho Vandal.
“It was a great experience,” McCoy said. “For that to be my first touchdown, it felt good with that group of guys out there. Late in the game, how we kept on fighting, it felt good.”
The Vandals did show heart in the final minutes of the game. After scoring a touchdown with a minute to go, they attempted and successfully recovered an onside kick and attempted one last drive to end on a good note. Although the drive didn’t result in a point, it was a promising sign to see the Vandals still pushing forward.
Despite the strong showing to begin the game and some encouraging moments to close it out, it was still a dominant performance by the Grizzlies and the continuation of the discouraging trend for Idaho. Since the second half of the game against Portland State, Idaho has been outscored 133-42 in ten quarters of football.
There’s no chance for a Big Sky conference title or an FCS playoff berth at this point in the season, but the Vandals can still run the table and finish the season with a winning record of 6-5. But, that is only if the Vandals can break the pattern.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]