Vandals look to Dome to help provide winning mojo

Today • Lamar at Idaho • 1 p.m. • TV: SWX/ESPN+ • Radio 1230 AM, 107.1 FM 

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

After a heartbreaking loss, followed by a not-unexpected one, the schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Idaho Vandals. 

But at least the Vandals are finally playing at home. 

Next up for Idaho (0-2) is back-to-back FCS playoff participants from last season, starting today with the Lamar Cardinals (1-1) of Beaumont, Texas, at 1 p.m. at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

“The students are back on campus, and we’re really looking forward to giving them something to be excited about,” second-year Idaho head coach Thomas Ford Jr. said. “We want to make sure we have a home field advantage, and part of that is producing when you play at home.”

Home or away, it won’t be easy. 

Lamar is ranked 14th in the Stats Perform top 25 poll, and 17 in the AFCA coaches poll. 

The Cardinals opened the season with a win over Abilene Christian, which beat Lamar last year in the first round. 

Abilene Christian plays at Idaho on Sept. 20. 

Lamar’s Aiden McCown threw three touchdown passes vs. Abilene Christian, two to Davin Driskell. 

McCown was picked off three times in the loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns. 

“I really don’t look at rankings much; I look at the film,” Ford said. “They’re a very talented team whether they’re ranked or not ... they're going to run the football ... their head coach (Pete Rossomondo) is an O-line guy. Defensively they’re going to move; they’re very twitchy up front. They're definitely an attack-style defense.” 

Lamar lost 38-7 last week to FBS Louisiana. 

As for the Vandals, Ford noted that “if we bat the ball down at the end of the Cal Poly game, we’re 1-1.” 

He said offensively, Idaho’s receivers need to win against man coverage, something that happened against Cal Poly, but not so much, understandably, against Utah. 

“From an offensive standpoint, probably looking at slow starts that put us in tight spots,” Idaho offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker said. 

Defensively, Ford said the communication issues and lack of experience will be mitigated by the return of safety Zach Wusstig. 

Tackling was also an issue, Idaho defensive coordinator Lee Stalker said. 

“There's no other option — we must play better defensively for our team to have an opportunity to be successful this season,” Stalker said. “We must play light-years better. You saw small glimpses of it against Cal Poly ... Utah, you take with a little grain of salt.”

Notes: The 2026 Idaho Athletics Hall of Fame class will be inducted during today’s game, and it will be a bittersweet one. 

One of the inductees is Megan (Cummings) Knowles, a standout soccer player for the Vandals, and the wife of Ryan Knowles, former Idaho football player and current Sandpoint High football coach. Megan died in August after a battle with cancer. She was 46.