Idaho had one last chance to finish the season with a winning record when Northern Arizona came to play football at the Kibbie Dome.
But the Vandals lost to the Lumberjacks, 38-31, guaranteeing the Vandals will not finish with a winning record for the fifth season in a row.
Although Idaho put on a stronger showing against Northern Arizona than it did against Montana or Eastern Washington, it was still a game defined by mistakes and missed opportunities.
Graduate student quarterback Mike Beaudry came back after missing the last two weeks with an injury, and the improvements in the offense were noticeable. The Vandals had their best offensive performance since the homecoming game against Portland State.
The Vandals had 422 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, with two coming off of goal-line runs by fullback/tight end Logan Kendall. In addition to the offense performing well, the defense had their first turnover since before the Portland State game, with redshirt senior linebacker Charles Akanno returning a fumble for a touchdown.
Despite these performances, the Vandals also struggled in certain points in the game on both ends of the football. Beaudry threw three interceptions, and the Vandals lost the overall turnover battle to NAU 3-1. Idaho’s defense allowed 471 yards and five touchdowns from NAU, with a couple of those drives taking only four plays.
The Vandals also couldn’t take advantage of some critical mistakes by NAU, especially in the fourth quarter. The Vandals had two scoring drives in the fourth quarter in which the NAU defense committed three personal foul penalties and a pass interference penalty. Two of those penalties came in Idaho’s drive that ended the third quarter and started the fourth, in which the Vandals scored a touchdown and cut the NAU lead down to three points.
The next personal foul penalty and the pass interference penalty came after that drive. The penalties gave the Vandals a first and goal, but they were unable to get in the end zone and settled for a field goal. That field goal did tie the game, but NAU retook it shortly after.
The Vandals ended up punting on the very next drive, but NAU made one final mistake when they got the ball back that gave Idaho a chance to tie the game.
NAU was preparing to punt the ball back to Idaho, but the Lumberjacks punter accidentally kneeled trying to grab a low snap, turning the ball over on downs and giving the ball back to Idaho on NAU’s 32-yard line with 1:30 left in the game.
The Vandals could not take advantage of the field position throwing a game-sealing interception two plays later.
The Vandals are 2-6 on the season, with no chance to win the Big Sky or to finish the season above .500. At this point, the Vandals are playing for pride — which they hope to achieve in their final home game of the season next week against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, who bring a record of 1-8.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]