BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Sacks and penalties were more than the Idaho Vandals could overcome Saturday night and the result was a 21-13 loss at Bowling Green State in a game that, despite not winning, the Vandals showed vast improvement from their season-opening loss to Eastern Washington.

"We fought and we played hard," Idaho coach Robb Akey said. "We need to fight and play hard and win."

Saturday's game was the debut of highly touted quarterback Dominique Blackman, who missed the opener for unspecified reasons. His effort was one of the best in school history with 30 completions in 37 passes for 352 yards and one touchdown. The flaws? An interception and being caught in a collapsing pocket for four sacks along with 10 penalties for 83 yards.

"Anything that happened is my fault," said Blackman, who completed his first Division I touchdown in the fourth quarter when he found a leaping Marquan Major with a 16-yard pass in the end zone. "I shoulder everything."

Blackman's teammates, however, would disagree.

"We have to make it click," senior cornerback Aaron Grymes said. "We have to put it all together."

Idaho, off to an 0-2 start for the first time since 2006, travels to LSU on Saturday.

The Idaho defense had three sacks, four breakups and three quarterback hurries. Trouble was another shifty quarterback (Matt Schilz) who managed to come up with the big plays in the nick of time.

"We need to play a little bit cleaner; we need to protect our quarterback," said Akey, noting a more robust running game also is needed.

After trading punts on the first two possessions, Bowling Green (1-1) scored on Anthon Samuel's 4-yard run with 6:12 left in the first half. The drive, which started at the BGSU 33, was aided by a 42-yard hookup between Schilz and Shaun Joplin to take the Falcons to the Idaho 25.

The first quarter ended with Bowling Green holding the 7-0 lead as the Vandals struggled with penalties in the first 15 minutes. Blackman was 5 of 6 for 46 yards in the opening period but drives fizzled with four penalties for 33 yards.

Idaho's first score came on a 20-yard Trey Farquhar field goal with 1:48 left in the half. Farquhar's kick capped an 11-play, 77-yard drive that featured sharp passes by Blackman (six of the 11 plays) and strong bursts from running back Ryan Bass. It stalled, however, when Blackman was sacked on second and 4 and the ensuing completion was 2 yards short of the goal line.

Then the defense forced a turnover when Benson Mayowa stripped the ball from Schilz and Maxx Forde covered it at the Bowling Green 32. Blackman first went to Justin Veltung for a 20-yard pickup to the Bowling Green 12. A short run by Bass moved the ball to the 10 before a pass to Bass went to the 5. On third down, Bass was hit as the ball arrived from Blackman and it popped free to set up Farquhar's second field goal - a 22-yarder with 15 seconds left in the half for a 7-6 halftime deficit.

The Vandals came up empty on their first drive of the second half. This time Farquhar's field goal attempt from 36 yards was wide left with 8:28 left in the third. Veltung, in the end zone, was sandwiched between two Bowling Green defenders and came up empty on the third-down play.

Third-down plays were good to the Falcons on the ensuing drive and, after converting on third down with gains of 37, 12 and 29, they led 14-6 with 3:46 left in the third. The 29-yarder was the scoring run by Samuel, who found some room up the middle.

It became 21-6 slightly more than one minute later after Josh Pettus intercepted Blackman at the Idaho 21. Schilz hooked up with Je`Ron Stokes to score from 15 yards out with 2:31 to go in the third. Schilz finished with 283 passing yards.

Blackman's first Division I touchdown pass - and the Vandals' first of 2012 - was a 16-yarder to a leaping Major. The catch, with Farquhar's PAT kick, pulled the Vandals to within 21-13 with 6:22 to play.