Tuesday Morning Quarterback: How the Vandals got back in the postseason

The Idaho football team’s run to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs last season was unprecedented.

The Vandals’ Cinderella story climaxed with earning a spot at the dance for the first time in more than two decades under new head coach Jason Eck.

Eck and his staff managed to churn out career years from several players, including eventual Jerry Rice Award-winning quarterback Gevani McCoy, All-American receiver Hayden Hatten, first-team All-Big Sky Conference defensive back Marcus Harris and 1,000-yard receiver Jermaine Jackson.

The final act of this memorable season, however, was sour, as the Vandals fell 45-42 to Southeastern Louisiana in the opening round of the playoffs on Nov. 26, 2022.

The result was an unceremonious end for a team that felt like it hadn’t even begun to peak.

“We went down there last year, and I didn’t feel like we played our best football,” Eck said. “I felt like we had a better football team going into that game against Southeastern Louisiana, and it was a sick feeling in our locker room to see guys crying because their season’s over. I would certainly be disappointed if this season ended with a loss in our first playoff game, especially after a home game.”

As last season faded into the rearview, the expectations for the Vandals were unclear. But, to be fair, the Big Sky Conference as a whole was a bit of a scramble.

The conference’s coaches and media polls were released during Big Sky Media Days, and one thing became clear: nothing was going to come easy in the Big Sky.

The coaches had Montana State, UC Davis and Sacramento State as their top three teams, whereas the media had Montana State, Idaho and Montana.

Fast forward to Sunday’s FCS playoff selection show, and the media ended up being on the right side of things as Idaho (8-3, 6-2 Big Sky) finished right where they predicted, second in the conference.

The Vandals were chosen as the No. 4 seed, managing to improve their positioning from a year ago as well as earning the first-round bye and home-field advantage that comes with the seed.

Idaho will play the winner of Nicholls (6-4, 6-0 Southland) and Southern Illinois (7-4, 4-4 Missouri Valley) in the second round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

“It’s kind of crazy because we were just excited to be in,” Idaho junior linebacker Mathias Bertram said about last year’s playoff appearance. “And this year, in the second half of the season, it wasn’t enough just to be a team that was in; we wanted to be up there with the other powerhouses.”

For Idaho, last year was about getting on the right track, whereas this year it’s about the destination, which is the FCS championship game in Frisco, Texas, on Jan. 7.

The Vandals are considered one of the top four teams in the country by the FCS playoff committee, so the goal of playing in the final game of the year doesn’t seem too unrealistic. But Idaho will need to find some level of consistency throughout the tournament in order to get there.

“You got to play at or near your best every week,” Eck said. “If you have a game where you play average or bring your B game or C game, there’s a good chance that your season’s done. We have to bring our A game every week and really focus on playing our best and what we can control. Certainly, it’s nice to have our first game be at home in the friendly confines and a night game. We typically have a good atmosphere here for night games. Hopefully, we can get people excited.”

Eck hit the nail on the head: this team can’t play average against top-tier FCS competition, or else it’s going to falter.

This was an issue that came along later for the Vandals, as during the first month of the season, even if they left something on the field, they still found a way to win. And if they pieced together a full 60 minutes, watch out.

The first two games of Idaho’s slate were early signs of what it could do on both sides of the ball, cruising to victories over Lamar (42-17, Aug. 31) and Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Nevada (33-9, Sept. 9).

Next up for the Vandals would be Pac-12 opponent California on Sept. 16.

Idaho started this game like its first two, jumping out to a 17-0 lead with more than nine minutes remaining in the second quarter.

It was at this point that Frisco didn’t just seem like a possibility; it started to feel like a reality. But Cal, the bigger and deeper team, would go on to score 31 unanswered points to secure the 31-17 victory.

This would be a turning point for Idaho.

The Vandals followed their loss to the Golden Bears with a rather convincing 36-27 victory over Sacramento State, which at the time had won 22 consecutive games from within the Big Sky.

After the Hornets came the 89th “Little Brown Stein” rivalry game against Montana on Oct. 14.

This one felt like the biggest regular-season game for Idaho in decades. It was broadcast nationally on ESPN2, and for the first time since 2010, the Kibbie Dome was sold out.

The outcome wouldn’t go Idaho’s way, falling 30-23 to the Grizzlies. Montana never trailed, outgained Idaho by more than 120 yards and notched six sacks.

This was a tough pill to swallow, as last year the Vandals’ signature win was a 30-23 decision against Montana, bringing the Little Brown Stein back to Moscow for the first time since 1999. So just as fast as Idaho brought the trophy back to Moscow, the Grizzlies snatched it away.

The Vandals had a bye week to tighten up loose ends before playing the at-the-time No. 2 team in the country, Montana State, on Oct. 18.

That time off proved to be crucial as the coaching staff devised a stellar game plan to redeem its Montana loss by downing the Bobcats 24-21 on Oct. 28.

So, despite Idaho having to wait a week, it was still able to capture one of its biggest regular-season wins in program history by defeating Montana State.

A big reason for its victory was the extra week of preparation, an advantage that Idaho will be granted leading into its first playoff game.

“I think our staff really knows how to use this time well,” Eck said. “You can really dig into the film at a deeper level. I think we have a great plan for keeping our players fresh during a bye week by just physically making sure we get the work we need. But we’re going to be a fresher team than the team we’re playing.”

After the Vandals’ win against Montana State, they came out flat during their 27-13 victory against Northern Colorado on Nov. 4, relying on a 70-yard pick six by Marcus Harris with more than two minutes left in regulation to close the deal.

After the Bears, the Wildcats from Weber State gave Idaho a quick wakeup call with a 31-29 victory over the Vandals on Nov. 11.

Idaho was without star running back sophomore Anthony Woods, which forced McCoy to drop back 51 times, resulting in him getting sacked three times and throwing an interception.

The Vandal defense also had several lapses, whether it was giving up big plays through the air or failing to secure tackles against the run.

That bad taste in Idaho’s mouth was immediately washed away following its 63-21 rout against Idaho State on Saturday.

The Vandals trounced their little brother from the south without their starting quarterback. And despite this, redshirt freshman QB Jack Layne had the best performance of the year under center for Idaho.

He finished 20-of-26 passing for 275 yards and six touchdowns, which tied a program record.

“We didn’t play well against Northern Colorado,” Eck said. “I probably need to make a bigger fit on that. I think our team responded to adversity well, and I think sometimes that’s my job as a head coach to break that down. Sometimes people have that invincibility factor where they think, ‘Yeah, we weren’t really in danger of losing that game; it wasn’t that close of a call.’ But it was.”

“I do love how our team has responded to adversity; probably the three best games we’ve played this year have been after a loss, and we got to keep pointing out things that we can do better, and we might have to create some adversity for them so we can keep that going and play our best football these final weeks of the playoffs.”

So when the regular season was all said and done, the Vandals finished with one more win than they had last year — but the results are so much sweeter. A bye week, home field advantage, and the sense that they’ve officially arrived

Idaho has also seen an improvement against the upper echelon.

Last year, the Vandals played two FBS schools and three postseason teams in the regular season, finishing 1-4.

This year, the Vandals played a matching amount of FBS and playoff teams, improving to 3-2 overall.

As for statistics, the biggest jump came from Woods, who finished with 1,010 yards rushing, upping his total by more than 120 yards. His TDs more than quadrupled, scoring 14 on the year compared to three in 2022.

McCoy, as a passer, has regressed marginally in 2023.

His completion percentage (65%) dropped by 3%, and his passing yards (2,410) dropped by more than 300 with 10 fewer passing attempts. His TDs are what took the biggest hit, throwing 14 in 2023 compared to 27 in 2022.

McCoy’s drop in passing production also hurt Hatten’s and Jackson’s numbers, who were both 1,000-yard receivers a year ago.

Hatten finished with 985 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Against Montana, Hatten also broke the career TD reception record (28).

Jackson was the Vandals’ second-leading receiver, finishing with 42 receptions for 502 yards.

Defensively, Idaho was known for creating takeaways in 2022, generating a Big Sky-high 19 turnovers. This year, the Vandals took a big hit in that category, carrying a minus-7 turnover margin into their game against the Bengals.

Thankfully for Idaho, four turnovers in that game helped boost its margin to a slightly more respectable minus-5.

Despite the lack of takeaways, Idaho’s pass defense is still the best in the conference, allowing 157.5 yards per game.

So while the Vandals haven’t improved in every statistical category this year, they have in the most important category of all, the win column.

Idaho has had a miraculous two-year turnaround, reaching the postseason in back-to-back seasons for the first time since ’94 and ’95.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.