After a hard-fought loss against Washington State, the Vandals are in Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Hoosiers.
Idaho took the trip to Indiana almost exactly a year ago, where they lost 56-14. The Vandals passed for 196 yards and ran for 65, while Indiana had 159 passing yards and 179 rushing yards. On defense, senior LB Fa’avae Fa’avae had 11 tackles for Idaho, watch for the team captain to do the same today.
The matchups to watch this time around will be the main QB-WR duos. Redshirt freshman QB Gevani McCoy went 21/32 for 212 yards against WSU last week. Redshirt junior Jermaine Jackson had 110 yards on five receptions. Indiana redshirt junior QB Connor Bazelak went 28/52 for 330 yards in Indiana’s narrow 23-20 win against Illinois. Junior wide receiver Cam Camper 156 yards on 11 receptions.
With such a deep running core, also watch for the Vandals to hand it off frequently.
“We need to run the ball better, take some pressure off the passing game,” coach Jason Eck said.
Freshman RB Anthony Woods led Idaho in rushing yards against WSU, going for 50 yards on nine attempts. Senior Roshaun Johnson holds the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game with six. Look for the 6’0” 220 pound running back to truck through some Indiana defenders.
The most impressive piece of Idaho’s game against WSU was the defense, and everyone is hoping to see that same effort today. Look out specifically for redshirt junior Paul Moala. The Indiana native, and Notre Dame transfer, will return to his home state to a very warm family welcome.
“I believe he told me he needed 20 or 22 tickets,” Eck said.
Moala totaled four tackles in his Idaho debut against the Cougs, one of which was a tackle for loss.
Redshirt sophomore Mathias Bertram and redshirt senior Ben Bertram will also have family in attendance. Mathias Bertram had nine tackles and two forced fumbles against WSU. Ben Bertram had one tackle.
Although Vandal fans, players and coaches loved what they saw in the WSU game, coach Eck believes that his players are going to need to play even better than they did last weekend.
“I think their team does a lot of things better than Washington State. We’re going need to play a lot better than we did last week to win this football game.”
Kickoff is at 5 p.m. on the Big 10 Network. The game can also be heard online or on The Varsity Network app.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jamesaldrich25