Idaho football looks for momentum at Utah St.

Idaho coach Robb Akey understands the importance of momentum and has spent a lot of time stressing it to his team.

The Vandals (1-2, 0-0 WAC) begin conference play at Utah State (0-3, 0-0) Saturday, and the second-year coach wants his team to understand how momentum changes and what happens when it does.

"If bad things happen in a ball game, we need to respond and make something good happen," Akey said. "That's the approach we're taking with this game. We have to do whatever it takes to respond to the flow of a ball game."

To understand how momentum changes, all the Vandals had to do was watch last week's game film against Western Michigan.

Idaho grabbed momentum by recovering an onside kick to start the second half, then added to it by scoring a touchdown that tied the score.

Things looked good until Idaho was called for pass interference on third down that allowed Western Michigan to retain possession. The Broncos eventually scored to take a 21-14 lead, then swiped the momentum all the way when Idaho fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

Western Michigan scored again, then added nine more points before Idaho answered.

Final score: Western Michigan 51-28.

"Untimely penalties can change the flow of the game," Akey said.

The Vandals had nine of them against Western Michigan that cost Idaho 95 yards.

"As long as they're playing the way I want them, I'll praise them for that," Akey said. "When they do the knucklehead things, we'll get those cleaned up. We had a little bit of both on Saturday."

Senior Eddie Williams said penalties are about focus.

"It's attention to detail - that's the main thing," he said. "We've got to work on the little things. We've got a lot of young guys and we've just to work on them and clean them up. That has to be the main emphasis this week."

The Vandals have shown the ability to make momentum-gaining plays. They started the Idaho State opener with a long pass that ended up as a 77-yard touchdown, the sixth-longest pass play in the nation this year.

The onside kick last week was another example.

Williams said those kind of decisions are welcomed by the players.

"It just gets us fired up," he said. "Those are things we plan on doing and spend all week getting ready for that exact situation. We've been practicing those plays, so we're prepared for those situations and we're ready to take advantage of them. We're pretty good at them."

Akey wouldn't say if he had anything planned for Utah State, but you can almost count on it.

"There are things within your own play calling that you can do," he said. "Momentum is one of the biggest things within a game. That's not rocket science - everyone wants to do it. You want to start the game fast and finish it strong.''