Vandals have no margin for error
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 2 months AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | November 20, 2010 8:00 PM
Sure, the prospects of having to beat Utah State, Fresno State and San Jose State in the next three weeks to become bowl eligible is a little bit more doable for the Idaho Vandals than, say, going through the meatgrinder of Hawaii, Nevada and Boise State, which they just did.
But the reality is, Utah State is 3-0 vs. the Vandals in Robb Akey's tenure as Idaho coach.
"They've battled their tails off the last two weeks and come away with wins," Akey said of the Aggies. "They're feeling good about themselves and they're playing at home, and they beat us here last year."
Idaho (4-6, 1-4 Western Athletic Conference) travels to Logan, Utah, today to play Utah State (4-6, 2-4). The Vandals need to win their three remaining games to reach seven wins, which would make them bowl eligible.
Utah State has been up and down this year, but has been up of late, beating New Mexico State and San Jose State — albeit the worst two teams in the WAC — the past two weeks. The Aggies have also beaten BYU, and lost by just seven points in their opener at Oklahoma.
Utah State senior quarterback Diondre Borel, who has given Idaho fits in the past, has gained more than 500 yards rushing and scored six touchdowns. He’s passed for 1,964 yards and eight touchdowns with nine interceptions.
“I know they’re not happy about everything that has happened to them,” Akey said, “but I do know they’ve won their last two ballgames, and there’s excitement coming out of their camp right now.”
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“I’ve been very impressed by Zach’s natural ability to rush the passer,” Eck said. “And he’s worked hard on his body, he’s up to about 222 pounds now, and I really think he can be a difference maker for us. He’s still doing some things with the linebackers, but I think his speed can give some offensive linemen problems (as an edge rusher).”
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“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”