Coming off their biggest win since the bowl season of 2016, the Idaho Vandals will try to keep that momentum going this week.

The challenge for Idaho — after handling the favorites to win the Big Sky Conference, avoiding a letdown this week when the Vandals (2-2) open conference play at winless Northern Colorado (0-4).

“I think we’ve got a long ways to go before we could ever be overconfident,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said earlier this week, in his weekly meeting with area media. “You come in and watch the film on Sunday, and there were a lot of things we did great, but there are a lot of things we could improve on.”

Winning a road game would be a good start.

Idaho is 0-8 over the past one-plus seasons, after returning to the FCS level in 2018.

“We’re 6-1 at home the last two years,” Petrino said. “We’ve got to get a road win, we’ve got to get a road conference win. If we want to be conference champions, we have to win on the road.”

INJURY REPORT: Petrino said its possible all five starters who missed the Eastern game with injuries — offensive lineman Conner Vrba, defensive linemen Noah Elliss and Kayode Rufai, linebacker Sully Shannon and defensive back Sedrick Thomas — could be back this week.

And Petrino noted offensive lineman Matt Faupusa was injured on the 18th play vs. Eastern, “so we really played most of the game without six starters,” he said. “So that makes you even more proud of how they played.”

Among others, he praised the play of Darius Archie at offensive guard, Jalan Jenkins and Kyle Perry (Sandpoint High) at linebacker, and Jalen Hoover and Christian Nash at cornerback, filling in for the injured starters.

NOTES: Wide receiver Jeff Cotton leads the Big Sky in receptions (9.5 per game) and yards (107.3 per game). Linebacker Tre Walker’s 11 tackles per game are tops in the league. Linebacker Charles Akanno earned FCS national defensive player of the week honors, but Petrino said Walker could have shared the award with him, so good was his performance. As for Cotton, apparently he practices so hard that Petrino has to limit his reps in practice. “Yes, I have to hold him back from himself, to make sure his legs are fresh for Saturday,” Petrino said.