The Sports Xchange
NCAAF Team Report – Idaho – INSIDE SLANT
Idaho clinched its 12th losing season in the last 13 years with its 70-28 shellacking at Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
From the opening play — when a fumble gave the ball to the Bulldogs on Idaho’s one, through 839 offensive yards, Louisiana Tech’s high-powered offense was more than the Vandals (1-7) could handle.
“If we’re going to be in a shoot-out, we have to shoot,” coach Robb Akey said. “When we did get settled in, we didn’t get the run game stopped.”
Of Louisiana Tech’s 839 yards, 408 were rushing and of those, 232 were by Kenneth Dixon, who also scored six of the Bulldogs’ 10 touchdowns.
The 70 points scored by Louisiana Tech was a most in the game by the Bulldogs since 1998. The Bulldogs’ 839 yards of total offense was a school record and the most by an FBS team this season.
Idaho is 3-17 since the start of 2011. Vandals coach Robb Akey has 50 losses in less than six full seasons.
Akey told the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review that he occasionally reads local newspapers to “check the temperature” of writers and fans about the team’s struggles.
“I don’t need to check the temperature,” he told the Spokesman-Review. “I know that everybody’s all (ticked) off right now. So I’m anticipating those things. And it’s human nature, and it’s our world right now. So yeah, I know it’s there.
“But I address it more along the lines of, ‘Let’s pay attention to what we can do. I know everybody’s telling us what we can’t do. We don’t need to listen to that.’ We’ve got the opportunity to do what we can do. We can make everybody else right, or we can pay attention to what we can do and how we can we can do it well.”
Idaho gets a week off before facing an improving San Jose State team.
The Spartans are 5-2 following Saturday’s 52-24 win over Texas-San Antonio. They were 1-12 in Mike MacIntyre’s first season in 2010.
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NCAAF Team Report – Idaho – NOTES, QUOTES
WHAT’S AHEAD: Idaho gets its first bye week of the season and then returns to play at home against San Jose State on Nov. 3. The Vandals finish their season in Idaho and Utah. They play home games against San Jose State and Texas-San Antonio and road games at BYU and Utah State.
–Idaho, which is to be an independent FBS team next season, unveiled its 2013 schedule last week. In a rarity for college football, the Vandals play two games against New Mexico State in November — Nov. 2 at home and Nov. 30 on the road. They also have road games against North Texas, Wyoming, Washington State, Arkansas State, Mississippi and a soon-to-be-determined BCS program (likely from the Big Ten or SEC). Their home schedule includes games against Northern Illinois, Fresno State, Temple and Old Dominion.
KEEP AN EYE ON: The progression of junior quarterback Dominique Blackman, who has struggled in the last month. He has thrown more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (nine) and more often than not, seems out of sync with his receivers.
LOOKING GOOD: The Vandals’ longest pass play against Louisiana Tech came on a 58-yard double pass from receiver Roman Runner to Najee Lovett for a touchdown.
STILL NEEDS WORK: Idaho managed just 304 total yards and ran 36 fewer plays than Louisiana Tech on Oct. 20. Going against the nation’s worst pass defense, Blackman completed 20 of 35 passes for only 199 yards and two interceptions.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Everybody’s going to hate you when you’re doing bad and everybody’s going to love when you’re doing good. But at the end of the day, we’re the team that goes out on the field. It’s 11 people out at one time, not 100,000 talking about it on the Internet.” — Idaho senior cornerback Aaron Grymes
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NCAAF Team Report – Idaho – STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
PLAYER NOTES:
WR Jahrie Level — Leads the Vandals with 37 receptions for 446 yards (an average of 12.1 yards per reception). Most of his work is between the end zones, however, as he only has two touchdown receptions.
RB Ryan Bass — The Arizona State transfer has been mostly a bust, rushing for only 324 yards on 86 carries. He has yet to score a touchdown. Idaho has only three rushing touchdowns this season.
P Bobby Cowan — The senior’s numbers continue to improve. He is averaging 42.1 yards per punt with a long of 59 yards this season.
ROSTER REPORT
–RT Jordan Johnson is suffering from a knee injury that makes him questionable against San Jose State on Nov. 3.
–LB Conrad Scheidt remains out for an indefinite amount of time because facial bone fracture.
–TE Taylor Elmo (shoulder) has missed the last two games and is questionable against San Jose State.
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