When Idaho football coach Paul Petrino said last week both of his quarterbacks would play in Saturday's Sun Belt Conference opener at Louisiana-Monroe, he also included the caveat that those plans could change if one of them has the hot hand during the game.

Redshirt freshman Matt Linehan started at QB and wound up going the distance, completing 26 of 47 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions, in the Vandals' 38-31 loss. He was sacked four times.

"Matt had had a better week of practice, and we got into the game and he was playing really good," Petrino said. "He was probably playing better than anybody on the field for us, as a team, and he was leading really well, and he was commanding the huddle. He was just doing everything well, and I just felt that was the best chance for us to win, keeping him in there."

Chad Chalich, the redshirt sophomore from Coeur d'Alene High who started the Vandals' first seven games last year before an injury sidelined him for the rest of the season, did not get in on Saturday. But that could change from week to week, Petrino said.

"I think it's like every position," Petrino said. "I told our guys after the game, every single position, we're going to be competing to see who the best players are each week. They (Linehan and Chalich) will both always get reps in practice, and we'll go into the game and have a plan, and we'll go from there."

Last week's game at Monroe turned out to be the Vandals' de facto opener, after the previous week's game at Florida was canceled after one play due to thunderstorms. At Monroe, Idaho battled back from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit and eventually tied it at 31, before the Warhawks scored the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds left.

"We fought hard, got it right to the end, we just had a couple execution mistakes," Petrino said. "We've got to continue to grow and get better. We showed great improvement from last year; we're way better. We talked about getting to the fourth quarter and finding a way to win, and we got there, we just didn't quite finish it."

Idaho plays host to Western Michigan (0-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome. Western Michigan lost 43-34 at Purdue in its opener, then was idle last week.