THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016

The neat thing about opening your college football season on a Thursday night is it gives you two more days of rest, two more days to prepare for your Week 2 opponent.

It also gives the rest of us two more days to put your Week 1 performance into perspective.

Such as, how to you quantify a three-point win, at home, over an FCS squad picked to finish in the bottom half of its division, with a new quarterback and an new coach, especially when you’re an FBS team with bowl aspirations.

The short answer — Idaho should take the win, move on, try to get better.

AFTER ALL, winning was better than the alternative, especially considering recent openers for the Vandals.

In 2011, after falling one win short of a second straight bowl trip, Idaho looked to build momentum vs. Bowling Green — the team the Vandals, coached by Robb Akey, so memorably beat in the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl.

Two years later, Bowling Green stuck a 32-15 loss on the Vandals at the Dome, and Idaho went on to finish 2-10.

In 2012, Idaho opened at home vs. Eastern Washington, which by then had emerged as one of the top teams in FCS, winning the national title in 2010. The Eags, even while breaking in a new quarterback, dominated the Vandals in a 20-3 game that didn’t appear to be that close. Idaho won just one game that year, Akey was fired after a 1-7 start, and the Vandals finished 1-11.

Last year, Ohio came to Moscow for another Thursday night opener and handled the Vandals, 45-28. Idaho did get it going as the season went on, winning four games and botching two others that cost the Vandals a bowl bid, so a win over Ohio might have helped a little.

Those expecting the Vandals to dominate Montana State on Thursday night probably went home disappointed. But according to the eyeball test, the two teams looked similar in size; if Idaho had an edge in speed, it was negligible. In some respects, it looked like a game we might see again in a couple of years.

The Vandals were just 8 for 22 through the air for 128 yards against Montana State — numbers that won’t cut it against the remainder of their schedule. The Vandals swear those numbers were a hiccup, and in their defense, they have thrown the ball well against better teams in recent years.

And if the Vandal defense plays like it did against the Bobcats, with the likes of defensive end Aikeem Coleman, defensive lineman Tueni Lupeamanu, linebacker Tony Lashley and safety Russell Siavii making plays, the onus won’t always be on the offense to outscore teams.

After the Vandals run the UW/WSU/UNLV gauntlet in the next three weeks, we’ll know a little more about what Week 1 meant.

SHOUT OUT to Montana State fans for creating at least somewhat of a bi-partisan atmosphere in the Kibbie Dome.

Nearly two sections of the Dome, part of the announced crowd of 11,987, were filled by Bobcat fans. It was reminiscent of the days Montana would bring thousands of fans to Moscow. It’s safe to say Sun Belt teams don’t travel that well, at least when Moscow is the destination.

It was a glimpse of what things might look like in 2018, when Idaho drops down from FBS and rejoins the Big Sky.

And kudos to Jeff Choate, the former St. Maries High standout, former Post Falls High football coach and athletic director, making his debut as a college football head coach.

He played a smash-mouth type of football not seen often in the Big Sky these days, gave his squad a chance to win.

And gave the fans an entertaining regional matchup, one many have clamored for on a week-to-week basis for years.

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.