We thought Idaho would do what Eastern Washington did in football this season — which is usually a good thing.

Not this year.

And we thought this year would be the year the Cougars finally beat the Huskies.

Well ...

At least Boise State came through for us, as predicted, rolling through the conference and into a bowl game.

Here’s a look at how we predicted the four big area college football teams would do — and how they actually did.

- Idaho: We thought the Vandals would improve from 4-7 in 2018 to 6-6 this year, and challenge for a playoff berth.

Instead, Idaho finished 5-7 and never really challenged for a playoff spot.

Idaho’s biggest win was a 35-27 victory at home over Big Sky Conference favorite Eastern Washington, but a game that didn’t count in the conference standings.

The Vandals followed that big win up with a 27-24 loss at lowly Northern Colorado in the Big Sky opener.

That’s how the season went for Idaho.

The Vandals played FCS semifinalist Weber State tough in a 41-35 loss, then was shut out by Portland State, and later finished with a 60-53 overtime win at Northern Arizona.

Idaho showed just enough to make it seem like it could be a player in the conference, but just needs to do it more consistently.

- Washington State: Most Cougar fans presumed grad transfer Gage Gubrud from EWU would be the starting quarterback. But it turned out to by Anthony Gordon, who had a strong season in his one year as the Cougar starter.

But defense was an issue all season. And if the Cougs hadn’t rallied for two touchdowns in the final minutes to beat Oregon State 54-53 in their next-to-last game of the regular season, they would have not been bowl eligible after losing to the Huskies the following week for the seventh straight year.

But as it is, they extended their record of consecutive bowl appearances to five, albeit with a 6-6 record — a far cry from the 10-2 mark we thought was possible.

- Boise State: Despite going 12-1 (we thought they’d be 10-2 heading into the Mountain West title game), the Broncos generated little buzz this season — especially for a team that was so close to going undefeated.

Boise State’s victory at Florida State in the opener seemed like a big deal at the time, but the once-proud Seminoles couldn’t even wait until the end of the season before firing their coach.

The Broncos won their first six, lost 28-25 at BYU, and have won six straight heading into the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday against the Huskies.

- Eastern Washington: The Eags’ loss at Idaho didn’t help, though it did drop EWU to 1-3.

But what really hurt was Big Sky losses at Sacramento State and Montana. And even four straight wins to finish the season with a 7-5 record wasn’t enough to earn a berth into the 24-team playoffs.

Not quite the 11-1 season we thought from the Big Sky favorites, but as they say, that’s why they play the games.

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