Idaho Vandals try to regroup after surprising loss; No. 5 team awaits

In a 27-24 upset loss to Big Sky bottom feeder Northern Colorado on Saturday, Idaho’s football team amassed 18 offensive plays of 11-plus-yard gains.

“And no passion was shown on any of ’em,” coach Paul Petrino said during his weekly press conference Tuesday.

The seventh-year boss faulted himself. The Vandals lacked “fire,” that zeal and discipline they’d shown the previous two weeks in a narrow loss to Wyoming and a defeat of Eastern Washington.

For Idaho (2-3, 0-1 Big Sky), it’s back to the drawing board in preparation for its 3 p.m. MT game Saturday at the Kibbie Dome with Weber State, the fifth-ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision (Pluto TV). It’s a game Idaho can’t overlook, like it did the Bears.

“I just felt like we thought we were expected to win, so we kinda jumped out to that (14-point, 24-10) lead and didn’t wanna pounce, and finish the game,” said running back Nick Romano, who had a breakout day individually with 132 yards on 15 rushes.

After one of the worst outings of his tenure, Petrino said he’s pushing positivity, particularly early in the week.

“Just reach back and find a little bit of that magic that we really played against Wyoming and Eastern with,” Petrino said. “Those two games, we played with great passion and great energy, and fire, and I don’t know if we just didn’t do it for three weeks in a row.

“Took the week off, now it’s time to have it back.”

Idaho State at Montana, 1 p.m. Saturday

The Bengals have lost 12 straight to the Grizzlies, but after a dominant showing against Portland State (51-24) the Bengals will enter this one with confidence. Quarterback Matt Struck tossed six touchdown passes against the Vikings. One of his favorite targets, Mitch Gueller, needs 46 yards to become the school’s all-time leader in receiving yards.

College of Idaho off again

The Yotes improved to 4-0 and No. 9 in the NAIA poll with a 42-0 whitewash of Rocky Mountain last week. They have a bye for the second time in three weeks before traveling to Carroll for an Oct. 12 game.

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman contributed to this report.