The past 14 days haven’t been the best situation for Idaho football.

One day after losing 70-28 at Louisiana Tech, popular head coach Robb Akey was fired and replaced with Jason Gesser, the team’s offensive coordinator.

In his first week, Gesser lost quarterback Dominique Blackman — who started the past seven games for the 1-7 Vandals, but reportedly failed three drug tests — and senior linebacker Conrad Scheidt. They were kicked off the team. Tight end Taylor Elmo was suspended.

“The whole situation this last week hasn’t been easy,” Gesser said. “If anybody says they’ve gone through this situation and it was, then they’re lying to you.”

But Gesser is confident that the Vandals can put the events of the past two weeks behind them.

“If we play the way we know we can play and play inspired football, we can go out there and we can win this game. Our players truly believe that. That’s the truth, that’s the reality, that’s the fact,” Gesser said.

“If we feel sorry for ourselves, have a bunch of excuses, we lost this guy and that guy and we lost the head coach and put a lot of excuses on the table, we will be embarrassed.”

After the San Jose State game, the Vandals finish the season at BYU, versus Texas-San Antonio and at Utah State.

Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear is searching nationwide for a new coach, and said Gesser will be considered.