Idaho (3-8, 2-5 Sun Belt) will say goodbye to 13 seniors on Saturday in its regular season finale Saturday vs. Texas State (3-7, 2-4) at the Kibbie Dome.

Some were here when Paul Petrino, finishing up his third season as Vandal coach, got here; some he recruited from junior colleges.

Earlier this week, he expressed a fondness for the entire senior class.

“All the seniors, you just wish them all the best,” he said. “The great thing is, in December, every one of them but one is going to graduate. That’s really encouraging, and a great thing for them all to be successful in life.”

He singled out several players, like offensive lineman Dallas Sandberg, “he’s like the father of the group … he helps them (the other linemen) in everything,” and 1,000-yard rusher Elijhaa Penny, who has “given everything he’s got.”

Then he spoke of defensive end Quinton Bradley, a holdover from the previous coaching staff.

“Me and Quinton, those are some of the special things when you come in,” Petrino said. “Sometimes when you’re first teaching things and guys aren’t totally sure. We kind of went from here (hand spread apart) to here (hands clasped together). He’s as close as I am to anybody right now.”

Idaho will lose just two senior starters on offense (Sandberg and Penny), and half of the starting defense will return.

So the motivation for winning this week is twofold — “to send the seniors out with a win, and to have all kinds of momentum going into the offseason,” Petrino said.

Few expected Idaho to approach bowl eligibility this season. But if the Vandals had been able to hold on to big leads in back-to-back games — at New Mexico State and at South Alabama — Idaho would be playing for its sixth victory this week, which would make the Vandals bowl eligible. Not all bowl-eligible teams in past years got picked for bowls, but with the possibility this year that some 5-7 teams may be needed to fill out all the bowls, you had to like the Vandals’ chances with a 6-6 record.

“That makes you hurt,” Petrino said in retrospect. “That makes you lose sleep at night, it makes you think about it driving home, as you’re driving back to work. You can’t go back and replay it, but it’s something you definitely want to learn from and make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. At least you can say that we were that close to doing it, but you have to make sure that it (getting bowl-eligible when you have the chance) happens in the future.”

Petrino was asked once again about the impact of Jace Malek, whose scholarship to Idaho was honored by Petrino even after he learned the former West Valley High star had been diagnosed with cancer. He was made an assistant coach on the Vandal staff, joins the team when he can. He has lost a leg, and it was recently reported he only had months to live.

“Jace just makes you a better person every single time you’re around him,” Petrino said. “I talk to him every day, either on the phone … a couple of those away trips, he sat next to me on the plane. I don’t know if I can put into words how much better of a person he’s made me. I know him and coach Kris Cinkovich are really close. He and a bunch of our players are close. He is such a special young man that is so upbeat about life, stays positive all the time, he’s going to fight to continue his life. He got to go on that hunting trip and when he got that big moose he sent me a picture of it. Jace has been awesome; I don’t know if I can put into words how much he’s meant to our team.”