Vandals hope senior day is historic

The Vandals have an opportunity to do something that the football program has not done in 28 years: complete an undefeated regular season inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

Idaho (7-3, 4-2) can achieve that mission with a victory today when the Vandals host Weber State at 5 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on SWX and streamed live on ESPN+. It would be the first perfect regular-season home record for UI since 1996.

The game will also represent senior day for Idaho as the team will honor the 11 seniors on its roster. Weber State (3-7, 2-4) beat the Vandals when the two teams met last season and has a major upset on its resume with a road victory against Montana earlier this season.

“You never know how these teams are going to respond. We certainly can’t let a team like this play harder than us,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “They are more in the spoiler role now while we are having tangible things to play for. ... This team was kind of in that role last year too. They weren’t a playoff team last year, but they spoiled us from winning a conference championship.”

Upset-minded Wildcats

Weber State has struggled to a 3-7 record, but the Wildcats are a team that is no stranger going into a playoff-hopeful team’s house and causing havoc.

On Oct. 5, Weber State went into Missoula, Mont., and upset the Grizzlies 55-48 in overtime. The two teams traded scores all game long and there were 38 combined points in the fourth quarter. Richie Munoz found Damon Bankston on a 7-yard score and the defense came up with a big stop to finish the upset.

“Their record is not where they would like it to be at 3-7, but you see what this team is capable of,” Eck said. “When you are capable of going to beat Montana on the road, that is a heck of a win.”

The Wildcats have a balanced attack offensively. Weber State averages 217 passing yards per game and 210.5 yards on the ground per game. Defensively, WSU has given up 170.5 rushing yards per contest and has struggled to create turnovers. In 10 games, Weber State has only forced eight turnovers.

Damon Bankston averages in the triple digits per game rushing with 1,050 yards on 166 attempts. The junior has nearly doubled his career numbers in a breakout season. Over the first three years with Weber State, Bankston had 1,220 total rushing yards which was good enough at that point to be 31st all-time in Wildcat history. Now at 2,270 yards, the running back is seventh all-time for the school. The Katy, Texas, native is 429 yards from breaking the school single-season record with two games remaining.

Munoz has thrown for 2,170 yards and 21 touchdowns on 190-of-320 (59.4%) passing. The quarterback’s favorite target is Jacob Sharp with 48 receptions for 728 yards and eight touchdowns.

“Munoz is a good player. Played against us last year, beat us last year,” Eck said. “Kept us from tying for a conference championship.”

Who will be the Idaho quarterback?

The story of the 2024 season for sophomore quarterback Jack Layne has been a painful one. He broke his collarbone in the season openeer against Oregon and missed nearly two months.

In his return against Eastern Washington on Oct. 26, Layne played well going 17-of-28 for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, the QB suffered an injury to his wrist on his throwing hand and has struggled to throw the ball deep. It was enough of a setback that Layne missed last week’s game against Portland State.

Jack Wagner handled the position well against the Vikings with a 205-yard performance. The freshman has had difficulties working through his progressions and has tended to force the ball deep too often, but he has the physical skills to be solid as the signal-caller.

With Nick Josifek (collarbone) and Holden Bea (lower leg) out for the season and freshman Rocco Koch mending injuries he sustained as the running option at QB against EWU, the Vandals are thin at the position. If Layne and Koch are still out and Wagner was to get injured, Idaho would be down to the wildcat/option playbook with wide receiver Mark Hamper and running back Art Williams in line to take the snaps.

Strong rushing attack with a deep RB room

Running backs Elisha Cummings and Nate Thomas are still battling their way back off the injured list, but Eck has had the opportunity to ease them back because of the play of Williams and freshman Deshaun Buchanan.

Williams has been a solid compliment to the running style of Cummings and Thomas and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

Buchanan has taken every opportunity he has been given with injuries in front of him and ran with it. The Chandler, Ariz., native is second on the team with 419 rushing yards on 8.4 YPC. Buchanan has rushed for 328 yards with four touchdowns on just 30 carries in back-to-back breakout performances.

Penultimate game struggles

The Vandals are 0-2 in the second-to-last game of the regular season under Eck. That includes a 44-26 senior day loss to UC Davis in 2022 and a 31-29 loss to Weber State last season.

Those two experiences will combine today when Idaho hosts the Wildcats on senior day. The Vandals are in a prime position to earn a first-round bye in the FCS playoffs with two more wins, but the first step is finding a way to get a victory on this part of the schedule.

Kibbie Dome perfection

The Vandals opened their six-game home schedule with a blowout victory against UAlbany on Sept. 14 in a game that acted as a measure of revenge for the last team to beat Idaho inside the Kibbie Dome. Since that victory, the Vandals have rallied off three other home wins, all by 10 points or less.

“We want to defend our home turf. We have had a great atmosphere in this Kibbie Dome,” Eck said. “You want to play your best football (so) hopefully if we are fortunate to have a home playoff game that some of those people come back. It is a huge opportunity.”

Idaho has not had a perfect home record in the regular season since 1996 under Chris Tormey in the first of five years that the Vandals played in the Big West. Idaho went 5-0 inside the Kibbie Dome and 1-5 outside the comfort of the Dome that year.

In the first season with Eck, the Vandals started the season 4-0 at home before losing to the Aggies on senior day.

Vandal senior day

Idaho hopes to send its 11 seniors out with a win.

The Vandals have 10 seniors on defense and the lone senior on offense is UCLA-transfer tight end Mike Martinez.

The 10 seniors on defense for Idaho are DL Keyshawn James-Newby, DB Abraham Williams, DL Jahkari Larmond, LB Syrr Barnes, DB Kyrin Beachem, DB Tommy McCormick, LB Spencer Fisher, DB Corry Thomas Jr., LB Mathias Bertram and DB K.J. Trujillo.

“It is going to be a great challenge,” Eck said. “Big senior day, gonna need a great crowd so please everyone come out to this game.”

The basics

What: Weber State (3-7, 2-4) at Idaho (7-3, 4-2)

Where: P1FCU Kibbie Dome, Moscow

When: 5 p.m. today

TV: SWX/ESPN+

Radio: KOZE-AM/FM (950/95.5), KZFN-FM (106.1), KORT-AM (1230), KLER-AM (1300)

Spread: Idaho -12.95 (collegefootballpoll.com)

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.