Idaho went into its last two games, at Washington and Washington State, as obvious and huge underdogs.

The losses surprised no one.

The scores — U-Dub 59, Idaho 14 and WSU 56, Idaho 6 — were probably a bit more one-sided than the Vandals had hoped.

But almost more important than the score was how Idaho played at certain junctures of the game — certain phases of the game that should work well, no matter the opponent.

“We would have liked to have played better than we did,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said of the two games, which dropped Idaho to 1-2 heading into Saturday night’s game at UNLV. “We played well in the first half (at WSU) and probably most of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was very discouraging ... we’ve got to play way better than that to beat anybody.”

No matter who the opponent is, he said, “We’ve got to score points; we’ve got to start executing better offensively.”

Petrino noted the 18-play drive against Washington State that ended with a blocked field goal, returned for a touchdown.

“A lot of good things that happened with that (drive), and then it ended with guys not doing their job,” he said. “Instead of it being 7-6, it’s 14-3. Those are things that can’t happen.”

He said within the losses, some individuals played well — linebackers Tony Lashley and Kaden Elliss, and defensive lineman Tueni Lupeamanu “ran around and gave great effort,” offensive lineman Jordan Rose blocked well, and cornerback Jayshawn Jordan played well.

But ...

“We’ve got to get all 11 guys on both sides of the ball playing well,” Petrino said.

In both games, the Vandals started well before fading.

In Seattle, Idaho held the Huskies to just one touchdown in the first quarter — and that was on a short field after the Vandals fumbled away the opening kickoff — before eighth-ranked Washington got ramped up in the second quarter.

Last Saturday, Idaho scored first on a field goal against the Cougars, and were poised to perhaps take the lead midway through the second quarter when they had to settle for a field-goal try — and it was all WSU after that.

“Part of that is believing you’re going to win,” Petrino said. “When something bad happens, you’ve got to stay fighting, you’ve got to stay believing.”

Overall, the offense, with nine returning starters, has yet to click like many thought it would — particularly on a team expecting to become bowl-eligible this season. Idaho is averaging 310.7 yards of total offense per game.

One thing that needs to happen, Petrino said — his playmakers have to step up and make plays.

“We have to make some plays in the open field ... not get tackled by the first guy,” he said. “To be a good offense you can’t get tackled by the first guy all the time; you’ve got to beat people one on one. Then you don’t have an 18-play drive, you have a five- or six-play drive, with a big play. I think all of our skill players have to do a better job of beating people one on one and that is something we’re going to work on this week.”

Another area of special teams needs shoring up as well, Petrino said. Idaho is averaging just 15.79 yards per kickoff return. The Vandals are allowing 21.88 yards per return.

“We’ve got to block people on kickoff returns,” he said. “It’s ridiculous what we’re doing to those returners, just letting everybody fly down and hit em.”