Healthier Idaho searching for 1st road league win since ’17

A handful of key contributors are set to return from injury, and the Idaho football team has altered some outlooks in the past two weeks, particularly after securing its best win in three years, a 35-27 decision against heavy favorite Eastern Washington on Sept. 21.

Now, it will get a chance to chalk up its first Big Sky road win since returning to the league, and it’ll be against a Football Championship Subdivision cellar-dweller.

The Vandals play winless and offensively inept Northern Colorado in Greeley at noon today (Eleven Sports/Pluto TV).

Unlike at almost any juncture last year, Idaho has a lot to be sure of.

“(We’re) very confident, very excited,” UI coach Paul Petrino said. “We’re coming together closer and closer. I think it’s a really close unit that cares about each other.”

This game will be about finding a balance, maintaining a bit of necessary self-assurance but not entering the league opener overconfident. The Vandals (2-2) didn’t ride this high at any point a season ago.

But this year’s team, Petrino said, is equipped to handle it. It’s more mature with a larger swell of command within.

“A lot of (keeping focused) comes from internal leadership, and our guys have been doing a good job of leading amongst the players,” Petrino said. “I think we got a long ways to go before we should be overconfident, still got a lot of things we gotta improve on.”

In the second half against EWU, the defense’s communication waned some, and it didn’t line up as quickly as Petrino would’ve liked. With a lead, the offense slowed down, and its inside-running game became predictable.

That was facing a then-No. 11 Eagles team. UNC (0-4) shouldn’t present as much of a challenge, although the Bears have competed intermittently, and usually ride a modest defense in first halves before their offense does them in the final 30 minutes.

The Vandals, meanwhile, boast a top-50 FCS defense (368 yards per game) — withholding their game against Penn State — and an offense that has outgained each of its opponents and controlled the clock. Of course, that’s also not including the contest against the Nittany Lions.

UI holds onto the ball for an average of 33:53, the best in the Big Sky and No. 6 in the country.

Idaho will be much more healthy too.

It’ll return bruising running back Aundre Carter from a second-half injury suffered against Eastern. Defensive end Kayode Rufai, cornerback Sedrick Thomas, and linebacker Sully Shannon all most likely will play.

“We really played mostly the whole (EWU) game without six starters, so that makes you even more proud of our players, how hard they played,” Petrino said.

But of most importance for UI is breaking a winless away-game conference streak that stretches back to Dec. 2, 2017, when the Vandals visited Atlanta and upended Georgia State 24-10 in Sun Belt play.

“It was the first thing I mentioned Sunday night, ‘We’re 6-1 at home right now in the last two years. We gotta go get a conference road win, a road win period,’” Petrino said. “We wanna be champions, we wanna get to the playoffs, you gotta win on the road.”

The Idaho staff hasn’t allowed the Bears to be overlooked, and that’s probably a good thing, considering UNC is coming off one of its two best outings, a 14-6 loss Sept. 21 to South Dakota in which it tallied four sacks, 9½ total tackles for loss and held the Coyotes to two scores, both coming on long-lived, defense-heavy, contested possessions.

If UNC were to rely on its offensive strength — pounding Wyoming transfer Milo Hall inside the tackles — that’d be promising for the Vandals, who’ve made their living this season plugging up the interior.

“(Hall) has good balance, makes good cuts. He ran the ball well against Washington State, especially early in the game,” Petrino said.

The Bears’ defensive strength also is in their interior defensive line, a lengthy bunch. However, Idaho’s offensive line was the team’s most valuable position group in its first-half manhandling of EWU.

In the teams’ first-ever meeting — UNC joined the league in 2006 — Idaho’s best facets match up with UNC’s. Getting above .500 for the first time in two years will just be about staying composed.

And being physically superior, and maybe taking advantage of the Bears’ raw corners with some “backyard football,” receiver Cutrell Haywood suggested.

“The most important change from last year to this year is we’re all believing, we’re all expecting to win. We’re out there having fun,” Haywood said.

Clark may be reached at cclark@lmtribune.com, on Twitter @ClarkTrib or by phone at (208) 848-2260.