Vandals brace for Sac State ground attack

Sac State at Idaho, today, 1 p.m. • TV: SWX, ESPN+ • Radio: 92.5 FM

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

Last year, Idaho played eventual Big Sky Conference co-champion Sacramento State tough on the road, taking the lead in the fourth quarter before falling 31-28.

This year, there will be no moral victory for a close call — the Vandals were a bit of a surprise last year, and much more is expected this season.

“I would say they’re probably the favorites, because they’re three-time defending champions,” second-year Idaho coach Jason Eck said earlier this week, in his weekly meeting with area media. “But I think it’s a very tight margin (this year). I thought we were big underdogs in that game (last year).”

Today, Idaho (2-1), ranked seventh in the FCS, plays host to No. 4 Sacramento State (3-0) in the conference opener for both at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

It will be the first top-10 FCS matchup at the Kibbie Dome since 1994, when Idaho faced Northern Iowa.

Sacramento State has won 19 straight Big Sky games, and 22 straight regular-season games.

Idaho and Sac State are two of only four FCS teams to beat an FBS team this year. Two weeks ago, Idaho won at Nevada; last week, Sac State won at Stanford.

Sac State lost top rusher (Cameron Skattebo, who transferred to Arizona State), its top two quarterbacks, and its coach (Troy Taylor, who went to Stanford) from last season, but hasn’t seemed to skip a beat. The Hornets look much the same as last year.

The leading rusher is quarterback Kaiden Bennett, who has run for four touchdowns this year.

“He probably takes the best characteristics of the two quarterbacks they used last year,” Eck said. “Probably throws it as good as the guy who was the thrower, and runs it similar to Asher O’Hara. He doesn’t have those jumps over the piles like Asher did, but he’s a good player too.

“I was hoping maybe they’d have a step back after losing those guys, but Bennett’s playing at a championship level.”

Eck said Sac State won the battle in the trenches last year, something the Vandals need to reverse this year to win.

“We need to stop the run,” Eck said. “Even though they lost some guys to graduation and the portal, I think they haven’t dropped off; they’re playing very good football.”

Eck said the Vandals have had too many missed tackles, but overall, are in better shape heading into their conference opener than last year, when they were 1-2 after two games vs. FBS schools.

He said the Vandals have to find more ways to get the ball to sophomore running back Anthony Woods, who has 265 rushing yards and a 6.3 yards per carry average.

Quarterback Gevani McCoy has thrown for 765 yards and four TDs, and Hayden Hatten has 256 receiving yards. And other receivers have stepped up, Eck said, so teams can’t just focus on stopping Hatten and Jermaine Jackson.

“It’ll be a great challenge, but we have a very good football team, and I think we can get better,” Eck said. “We haven’t hit our ceiling yet, for sure.”