Ranked No. 20 in FCS, Idaho Vandals continue playoff push with home finale vs. UC Davis
The 20th-ranked University of Idaho football team must do everything it can to improve its resume over the final two weeks of the regular season.
Translation? The Vandals need to keep winning impressively.
Only 24 of 130 Division I Football Championship Subdivision teams advance to the playoffs, and the Vandals aren’t necessarily a lock.
Their best hope is to win out, beginning with their home finale at 5 p.m. Mountain time Saturday against UC Davis at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Idaho’s final game of the regular season is at Idaho State on Nov. 19.
“This is a big game, because seven Division I wins is kind of one of the criteria the selection committee looks at,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said during a Monday press conference about the postseason. “So getting to seven, I think, is a big goal, and we’ve played well at home this year and are undefeated at home.”
The Vandals sit at 6-3 overall and 5-1 in Big Sky play. They are third in the league standings behind No. 2 Sacramento State and No. 3 Montana State, who are each 6-0 in conference action. Five Big Sky schools made the 2021 FCS playoff field.
Idaho is 4-0 inside the Kibbie Dome this season and last posted an unbeaten mark at home in 1996.
“I thought coming in that if we could give these fans something to be excited about, they’d rally around us,” Eck said. “And I think they have. They’ve done a great job.”
UC Davis arrives in Moscow riding a four-game winning streak. In Big Sky games only, the Aggies lead the league in both scoring offense (42.0 ppg) and scoring defense (19.2 ppg). They’re also the Big Sky’s top passing threat, averaging 322.7 yards through the air. Sophomore quarterback Miles Hastings has completed 219-of-312 passes for 2,535 yards and 19 touchdowns.
“I think their quarterback is really accurate,” Eck said. “I think he’s probably the best quarterback surely that we’ve played in conference and maybe as good as Washington State’s guy.”
Former Boise State coach Dan Hawkins is the head coach at UC Davis and his son, Cody Hawkins — a Bishop Kelly High graduate — is the Aggies’ offensive coordinator. UC Davis made the 2021 playoffs, losing to South Dakota State — where Eck was the offensive coordinator at the time — in the first round.
“They’re playing as good as anybody in the country right now,” Eck said. “And Coach Hawkins, I don’t know how long he’s been a head coach, but he was at Boise and then he was at Colorado. I’m sure he’s had more years as a head coach than I’ve had games as a head coach. He’s an experienced dude. He knows what he’s doing.”
