With the Battle of the Domes trophy being tossed, the Vandals battled for something even better on Saturday. The “Potato State trophy” has taken over, and Idaho ensured it stayed home.
After a lot of chirping on social media over who had “the best dome,” Idaho showed which Dome held the better team. The Bengals, despite having the most passing yards in the Big Sky, came out flat. They hit Vandal defenders four separate times as Idaho rolled to a 63-21 victory.
Similarly to last season, Idaho mixed up the backfield against ISU. With redshirt sophomore quarterback Gevani McCoy out with an injury, it was redshirt freshman QB Jack Layne’s time to shine.
Layne came out and instantly proved that he was prepared. After a short pass and a couple runs from sophomore running back Anthony Woods, the Vandals faced a fourth-and-four at the ISU 47. With only four yards to go, Layne hit redshirt junior Hayden Hatten for an 18-yard gain, which eventually led to a rushing touchdown for Woods.
Not even two minutes later, the Vandals got their first of four interceptions. Junior defensive back Kyrin Beachem was in the right place at the right time as he snagged his second interception of the season. From there, Layne found Hatten again, this time in double coverage in the endzone, for his first passing touchdown of the game.
Interceptions and passing touchdowns were the biggest story of the game. Layne’s second TD came one drive and two plays later. He found graduate student tight end Turon Ivy Jr. for 30 yards on a trick play, then hit redshirt freshman Jordan Dwyer for a 45-yard bomb that ended up in the endzone.
Up 21-0, it was time for the third facet of the game, the special teams unit, to throw in a little flair. Redshirt senior WR Jermaine Jackson made a few guys miss and got some great blocks as he ran 79 yards for his first TD of the season.
“The message was… play our best, and I think we did that on both sides of the ball and on special teams,” Head Coach Jason Eck said during a press conference. “It was a huge boost for JJ to get that punt return.”
Just two plays after that punt return, redshirt freshman DB Dwane McDougle snagged his first interception of the night. The interception led to another passing TD from Layne, this time to redshirt sophomore TE Jake Cox. After the TD from Cox, the game got all sorts of exciting.
After forcing a quick three-and-out, the Vandals got the ball back, but it wasn’t for long as Woods got hit hard and fumbled. However, the Bengals also wouldn’t keep the ball for long as freshman QB Jackson Sharman became the third player of the day to throw an interception.
After the interception by redshirt freshman DB Ormanie Arnold, it was time for yet another passing TD from Layne. This time around, it was Jackson in on the reception as he got his first receiving TD of the season.
Two minutes later, after another Bengal three-and-out, Layne found a way to score with his arm again. He hit Woods out of the backfield and Woods took it into the endzone, putting Idaho up 49-0.
Just as history would have it, the Vandals forced yet another three-and-out, and the Idaho offense trotted back out with 7:52 to go until halftime. For almost five minutes, Idaho chunked its way down the field.
On second-and-six, 22 yards from the endzone, the Vandals lost a yard, but a personal foul was called on ISU, the downs reset, and Idaho now only had 11 yards to go.
Despite still having three minutes and three downs, the Vandals went for the house call. Layne found Hatten in the endzone and the two made history. Layne tied the record for passing TD’s in a game with six, and the 56 points broke the Idaho record for points in a half.
Although the record had been broken, the Vandals had one more chance to break it even more. After an eight-yard sack by graduate student linebacker Tre Thomas, McDougle snagged another interception to give Idaho the ball back at the ISU 45. Although the Vandals made an effort to try and score again, they were ultimately forced out after two minutes and 49 seconds as an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to ISU at their own 10-yard line. However, with only 18 seconds left, the Bengals were unable to make anything happen.
After halftime, Eck pulled most of the starters, and the Bengals took advantage, scoring their first points almost nine minutes into the third quarter. They scored once again in the fourth, but Idaho answered quickly with another historic touchdown.
This time around, it was freshman QB Jack Wagner passing to junior TE Jack Schuster as both players got their first collegiate touchdown.
“Jack Schuster (is) a guy who’s really well respected on our team,” Eck said. “He came out on about a 25-cent scholarship and then has worked his way into the rotation. You could see the guys really excited when he got his first career touchdown.”
Idaho State was able to score once more before the end of the game, ensuring that the 2023 game wasn’t the biggest loss in the series. Although Idaho wasn’t able to tie the record point differential of 49 points in a 70-29 win on Oct. 1, 1994, they did put up the second-most points with the 63-21 win.
With the dominant win, the Vandals had all but secured a top-eight seed for the playoffs, which insured a first-round bye and a home game in the second round.
“I think we’re clearly one of the top teams in the nation,” Eck said after the game. As it turns out, not only are they one of the top eight, but one of the top four.
Last season, after a huge win over ISU, the Vandals sat at 7-4, and were on the edge of being a playoff team. This season, they won by even more, had a tougher schedule, and added an FBS win to secure a spot at the top.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Eck said. “Obviously the four seed has a huge premium… where you’re seeded to have two home games instead of one. So, (it’s) a great advantage and great opportunity for our team.”
It’s also a great opportunity for the Vandalizers, alumni and community members to get at least one more opportunity to watch the Vandals. For many teams across the country, Saturday was the final chance they had to suit up for the season, and for a lot of players, it was the final time they got to suit up ever.
Idaho has the privilege to give its 17 seniors at least one, but possibly two, opportunities to run out of the tunnel and into the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.
“It’s a special opportunity, and that’s really something we started talking about the last month of the season,” Eck said when asked what it means to have the seniors play in the Dome at least one more time. “We’re only guaranteed so many days. A football team’s life is pretty short, it’s about a year.”
The Vandals have a week of practice together before getting Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. After that, they’re only guaranteed one more week as the 2023 Vandal football team. Come Dec. 2 at 7 p.m., it’s win or go home, or in Idaho’s case, stay home, something that hasn’t been said since 1993.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25