Vandals also focus on Moniz
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 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. | October 29, 2011 9:00 PM
Idaho football coach Robb Akey said he planned to spend most of this week keeping his team focused on the task ahead in the next five games, rather than the Vandals' 1-6 start.
But what few moments he hasn't spent concentrating on the Vandals, he's been thinking about Hawaii quarterback Bryant Moniz.
"That quarterback, the guy is a stallion - he's on my mind big time," said Akey, whose Vandals (1-6, 0-3 Western Athletic Conference), who were idle last week, play host to Hawaii (4-3, 2-1) today at the Kibbie Dome. "He can hurt you both running and throwing the ball."
Moniz, a former walk-on, has passed for 2,145 yards and 19 touchdowns with four interceptions this year. He is also their leading rusher with 394 yards and six touchdowns.
"Moniz is one of the best quarterbacks around," Akey said. "He can throw the dog out of the ball, and they throw the dog out of the ball. He can hurt you with his legs, too. His running beat Colorado, and sealed the New Mexico State game alone."
The last time Hawaii visited the Kibbie Dome, Idaho won 35-23 in 2009 en route to its appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl. Hawaii leaves the WAC after this season to join the Mountain West.
Hawaii is coming off a 45-34 victory over New Mexico State, a team that beat Idaho 31-24 the week before. Hawaii won 44-26 at Louisiana Tech, a team that won at Idaho 24-11 the following week.
Notes: Idaho punter Bobby Cowan is ranked No. 1 in the nation with an average of 47.9 yards per kick, which is a school record by more than 5 yards per kick. ... Justin Veltung is ranked third nationally with an average of 18.8 yards per punt return. He has returned two punts for touchdowns. ... Idaho needs to win all five of its remaining games to be bowl eligible. After today, the Vandals travel to San Jose State and BYU, play host to Utah State and travel to Nevada.
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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.”