THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, May 1, 2016

Figures.

After more than 20 years of trying to make some headway in FBS football, the Idaho Vandals are poised to have one of their best seasons at college football’s highest level.

And NOW they decide to shove it in reverse.

Oh well.

The good ol’ days are always the best days.

Worries were fewer, everything was less complicated, most of the bad stuff from way back when has faded from memory ... and so you remember your teams were usually really good.

Those pushing for the Idaho Vandals’ impending relegation to the FCS in a couple of years gleefully point to the glory days of the 1980s and early 90s, when the Vandals put together 14 straight winning seasons between 1982-95, won five Big Sky Conference titles, and made 11 trips to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

They were guided by legendary Vandal coaches Dennis Erickson ... Keith Gilbertson ... and John L. Smith.

So when the Vandals return to FCS and the Big Sky Conference in the fall of 2018, they can just hit the restart button, and pick up where they left off in 1995, right?

IF IT were only that easy.

Conveniently forgotten is that in the first 17 seasons Idaho played football in the Big Sky, the Vandals had 12 losing seasons. They were 18-37 from 1977-81, at which time Jerry Davitch was out and Dennis Erickson — Version 1.0 — was in.

That’s when all the fun began.

Idaho moved up to what was then called Division I in 1996, the same year Boise State did. It may be hard to believe now, but that was back in the day when Idaho was better than Boise State in football, with the Vandals beating the Broncos 12 straight times between 1982-93.

Idaho started strong in Division I, with three winning seasons its first four years, but has had just one winning season since 1999.

Meanwhile, Boise posted losing records 1996 and ’97, but has had winning seasons ever since, have been perennial guests in bowl games, and, more often than not, ranked in the polls.

The old rallying cry in Moscow was about “keeping up with Boise State,” but no one has dared bring that up for years. The teams haven’t played since 2010, as the Broncos figured there was little to gain by pummelling the Vandals yet another time — unless Idaho wanted to trek to Boise each time for the beatdown, something the Vandals refused to do. Home and home, or not at all, they said.

Which brought us to Thursday’s announcement from Idaho president Chuck Staben that the Vandals were heading back to the Big Sky, and dropping back down to FCS.

HOW THAT affects the other two guys at the news conference Thursday remains to be seen.

Athletic director Rob Spear has long pushed to keep the Vandals in the FBS — even as the losing seasons mounted, and the cries from fans to return to FCS got louder.

So it had to sting a little for him to sit and listen to Staben say in Idaho’s concession speech that the Vandals should no longer be “hoping” another conference will invite them to join, or hold out hope another FBS league “might” form in the West.

Football coach Paul Petrino has a long and successful history as an FBS assistant — but he didn’t come here to see if he could knock off FCS power North Dakota State one day.

However, even those staunchly in favor or continuing to fight the FBS fight begrudgingly have to realize the Vandals have been beating their heads against the wall for two decades, and despite whatever success they have the next two years, perhaps the continual headache is really not worth it anymore.

It has come to this — Idaho won four games last season, and the Vandals are absolutely stoked for the upcoming season. If Boise State won just four games in a season — well, all the thick bacon in the world from JB’s in Meridian wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the anger in the Treasure Valley.

The pro-FCS folks say the move will rekindle old rivalries (Idaho-Montana, Idaho-Idaho State, even Idaho-Montana State) and spark new ones (Idaho-Eastern Washington). More of the local talented high school players will choose to play college ball in Moscow instead of other FCS schools in the region, and the fans will again pack the Kibbie Dome like they did in the good ol’ days.

We’ll see.

If so, maybe in a few years, there may even be a scenario like there was in 1985, when Idaho played host to Eastern Washington in a first-round Division I-AA playoff game. On a key play late in the game, an EWU lineman from Clark Fork blocked an Idaho linebacker from Sandpoint to spring an Eagle running back for a big gain, leading to an Eastern win over the Vandals.

Time will tell if the Vandals can indeed go back to their glory days of I-AA football. But, as much as it hurts to give up the fight, it appears to be time to see if they can at least try.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.