Late turnovers doom Vandals — Idaho drops to 0-4, heads into bye week

From wire and news services and local reports 

MOSCOW — Two fourth-quarter miscues by Idaho led to two Abilene Christian touchdowns, and that proved to be too much for the Vandals to overcome in a 41-39 loss to the Wildcats of Beaumont, Texas, on Saturday afternoon before 6,246 at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

Idaho (0-4) led 24-21 entering the fourth quarter, only to see Abilene Christian (1-3) take the lead on a pair of field goals by lefty Brandon Perez. 

On Idaho’s next possession, quarterback Joshua Wood, who had an otherwise splendid day, dropped back to pass, was pressured as he tried to throw, tried to tuck the ball and fumbled while he was hit. Obi Udom scooped up the loose ball and ran it into the end zone from 7 yards out with 10:19 to play. 

“They (the officials) said they believed he was tucking the ball,” Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. Said of Wood. “I thought his hand was going forward. They reviewed it, and they determined he was trying to tuck the ball, and the defender knocked it out. Those are the type of toss-up calls that happen in a football game.” 

Idaho then went for it in its own territory on fourth down, but the pass fell incomplete. 

On the next play, ACU ran a screen pass from Tucker Parks to running back Deonte Dean, who scooted down the left sideline for a 37-yard TD and a 41-24 lead with 8:49 remaining. 

Idaho answered with a pair of fairly quick touchdown drives, the second with 1:46 left. 

Abilene Christian recovered the onside kick, gained a first down on a fourth-down run, and ran out the clock. 

“Obviously there’s no words to describe how disappointed myself and the rest of the program and Vandal Nation (are),” Ford said. “We just keep getting ourselves in positions where we’re just not able to finish. We’re having some self-inflicted wounds that we’ve got to clean up. I thought this was our best start, but we can’t have the self-inflicted wounds.” 

Wood passed for 326 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for four scores — the most by a Vandal QB in more than a decade.  

Wood hit Tony Harste down the middle for a 47-yard score. On the play before, they hooked up for a 25-yard gain. Harste finished with six catches for 151 yards.  

Late in the first half, Abilene Christian went for it on fourth and 2 and the Vandal 2, and Parks hooked up with Raydrian Baltrip for the score with 2 ticks left in the half, giving the Wildcats a 21-17 halftime lead. 

Cruz Hepburn and Mitchel Jaskowiak had 10 tackles each for Idaho, and Zach Wusstig and Niko Speer had sacks. 

Idaho has a bye next week, then plays host to Montana State on Friday, Oct. 2 on ESPN.

Ab. Christian    7    14    0    20    —    41 

Idaho     7    10    7    15    —    39 

First quarter 

Idaho — Wood 1 run (Forsman kick), 11:16 

ACU — Parks 2 run (Perez kick), 5:16 

Second quarter  

Idaho — FG Forsman 38, 14:50 

ACU — Dean 24 run (Perez kick), 9:11 

Idaho — Harste 47 pass from Wood (Forsman kick), 3:41 

ACU — Baltrip 2 pass from Parks (Perez kick), :02 

Third quarter 

Idaho — Wood 2 run (Forsman kick), 5:26 

Fourth quarter 

ACU — FG Perez 31, 14:06 

ACU — FG Perez 51, 10:32 

ACU — Udom 7 fumble return (Perez kick), 8:48 

Idaho — Wood 9 run (West-Baranco pass from Wood), 6:33 

Idaho — Wood 3 run (Forsman kick), 1:46 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — ACU, Banks 22-99, Parks 13-74, Dean 8-63, Hill 1-8. Idaho, Wood 13-37, Kincheloe 9-28, Miller 6-27, Carter 2-16, Bias 1-4. 

PASSING — ACU, Parks 14-21-0-148. Idaho, Wood 22-34-0-326, Carter 1-1-0-6. 

RECEIVING — ACU, Dean 1-37, Dudley 1-32, K. Henry 2-23, Banks 3-20, Baltrip 3-20, Benton 3-11, B. Henry 1-6. Idaho, Harste 6-151, West-Baranco 6-60, Superales 3-39, Kinchelow 2-37, Jezioro 4-31, McCraney 1-8, Alexander 1-6.