MOSCOW — “Finish” was the buzzword around the University of Idaho football team during fall practices.

Perhaps it should have been “start.”

Minus its first-string quarterback, Idaho came out of the gate slowly, managed just one score in a season-opening 20-3 loss to Eastern Washington on Thursday night before 11,136 at the Kibbie Dome.

“Not the conversation I expected to have with y’all tonight, obviously,” Idaho coach Robb Akey said, beginning his post game remarks to the media. “We lost to a good football team tonight; they played better than we did tonight.”

As reported earlier in the week by the University of Idaho’s student newspaper, starting quarterback Dominque Blackman did not start — and as it turned out, did not play at all.

Asked why Blackman did not play, Akey said, “That’s between he and I, and it will stay between he and I. He wasn’t available to play, so the backup goes in. He will start against Bowling Green (Idaho’s next game, on Sept. 8).”

Blackman was in uniform during the pre-game warmups — perhaps trying to throw off EWU — but was in street clothes during the game, wearing a headset and pacing the Vandal sidelines a lot.

Senior Logan Bushnell said he found out “a week and a half ago” that he would be starting against Eastern. On his 11 possessions, the Vandals punted nine times, kicked a field goal and Bushnell threw an interception. He finished 10 of 24 for 123 yards and was sacked twice.

“We just didn’t get it started,” said Bushnell, who was making his first collegiate start. “It wasn’t a good start for us.”

Akey said the Vandals had plenty of time to prepare for the Eagles knowing Bushnell was going to be the starter.

“Don’t anybody try to blame this on Logan Bushnell,” Akey said. “We didn’t play well enough. This is a team effort.

“As any rookie quarterback might be, he was a little tight early,” Akey said. “It felt like he was starting to get settled down a little bit, and I thought we were going to be able to go a little bit, but we didn’t.”

Junior Taylor Davis, who Akey said was “sick as a dog” earlier in the day, came in for the last Vandal series, driving Idaho into Eastern territory before a fumble ended the drive at the EWU 36.

Asked if he would have considered putting in Chad Chalich, the true freshman from Coeur d’Alene, if Davis had been too sick to play, Akey replied, “yep.” Chalich and Davis stood together on the sidelines during the game, wearing headsets and signaling in plays.

Idaho was 2 of 15 on third down.

“We couldn’t get something to click,” Akey said of the offense, which was out gained 412-237 by Eastern. “We could not get the spark; we could not get a string of stuff to happen. That was very aggravating. We left our defense on the field more than I would like to see.”

“They were lights out,” Eastern coach Beau Baldwin said of his defense. “With the veterans we have on defense and their ability to fly around and disrupt the other team’s offense, that will make it tough on opponents. We have a tough, veteran group, and they did a really nice job tonight.”

Junior Kyle Padron, starting his first game at Eastern starting 21 games at Southern Methodist, finished 13 of 33 for 260 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Brandon Kaufman, one of three All-America receivers at the Football Championship Subdivision level for Eastern, caught five passes for 148 yards.

Padron hit on a few big plays for Eastern, ranked 12th in the FCS, but for the most part Idaho’s defense played well. A few times, Padron was able to scramble around and make plays, a couple times flipping the ball off to a running back just before he was tackled.

“Their quarterback was playing real smart,” said Idaho linebacker Homer Mauga, who had an interception in the first half. “He was doing like any other quarterback would do — avoid a sack.”

“He’s willing to fling it, to try to get something to stay alive,” Akey said.

Idaho punted on five of its six possessions in the first half. Actually, the Vandals punted on all six, but Eastern was called for holding on one of them, extending the drive. Bushnell found Najee Lovett wide open down the right sideline for a 66-yard gain, which led to a 27-yard field goal by Trey Farquhar and a 3-0 lead with 4:03 left in the first quarter.

Eastern’s Brandon Kaufman beat Tracy Carter down the right sideline and hauled in a 58-yard completion from Kyle Padron, leading to Jimmy Pavel’s 27-yard field goal.

Padron rolled right and hit Jake Withnell for a 3-yard touchdown pass and a 10-3 EWU lead with 12:29 left in the half. That was set up by another long completion, this time 33 yards to Kaufman.

Ronald Baines of Eastern intercepted Bushnell at the Vandal 20 early in the third quarter, and Pavel’s 23-yard field goal made the Eagles’ lead seemingly insurmountable at 13-3. If that didn’t ice it, Quincy Forte’s 2-yard touchdown run with 12:49 remaining certainly did.

EWU out gained Idaho 223-135 in the first half. Padron was 9 of 22 for 182 yards and an interception. Bushnell was 7 of 14 for 95 yards. Kaufman had four catches for 115 yards.

Idaho finished with just 73 yards rushing, led by Ryan Bass’ 52 on 15 carries. Eastern ran for 152, much of it coming late as it tried to keep the clock moving with a comfortable lead.

Notes: Wide receiver Mike Scott led the Vandals onto the field, carrying a No. 86 flag in memory of former teammate Ken McRoyal, who was killed last spring. … Benson Mayowa, who missed most of fall practice with academic issues, started at defensive end. … Vandal linebacker Su’A Tuala dropped what likely would have been an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter. … A new rule means players who lose their helmets during a play must sit out one play. Unofficial score on that one —Idaho 2, EWU 2. … Eastern broke a string of 10 straight losses vs. Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The Eagles’ last win over an FBS school? 2003, when EWU won 8-5 at Idaho.

E. Washington 3 7 3 7—20

Idaho 3 0 0 0— 3

First Quarter

Id_FG Farquhar 27, 4:03.

EWas_FG Pavel 34, 1:41.

Second Quarter

EWas_Withnell 3 pass from Padron (Pavel kick), 12:29.

Third Quarter

EWas_FG Pavel 23, 6:57.

Fourth Quarter

EWas_Forte 2 run (Pavel kick), 12:49.

A_11,136.

EWas Id

First downs 17 10

Rushes-yards 40-152 28-73

Passing 260 164

Comp-Att-Int 13-33-1 16-32-1

Return Yards (-1) 2

Punts-Avg. 6-42.8 9-36.4

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 13-70 7-52

Time of Possession 31:53 28:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_E. Washington, Forte 17-66, Talley 18-63, Herd 1-15, Padron 2-9, Team 2-(minus 1). Idaho, R.Bass 15-52, Baker 7-23, Level 1-6, T.Davis 1-1, M.Scott 1-1, Bushnell 3-(minus 10).

PASSING_E. Washington, Padron 13-33-1-260. Idaho, Bushnell 10-24-1-123, T.Davis 6-8-0-41.

RECEIVING_E. Washington, Kaufman 5-148, Edwards 2-62, Herd 2-28, Clark 2-17, Withnell 1-3, Forte 1-2. Idaho, Lovett 8-105, Veltung 3-21, M.Scott 2-14, LaGrone 1-10, Baker 1-9, Runner 1-5.