The last time the Vandals visited Bozeman, Chris Tormey was in his first season as the head coach, Bill Clinton was the President of the United States and “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey was the No. 1 song in the country.
On October 7, 1995, Cliff Hysell’s Bobcats beat Tormey’s Idaho squad 16-13 at Reno H. Sales Stadium. The Bobcats would go on to finish that season 5-6, the Idaho victory serving as one of just two in Big Sky Conference play.
The Vandals overcame a 1-3 start to surge into the playoffs thanks in part to a 55-43 win over No. 6 Montana, the eventual Division I-AA national champion that season. Idaho also beat No. 13 Northern Arizona, No. 15 Northern Iowa and No. 16 Boise State in consecutive weeks to sneak in before losing 33-3 to No. 1 McNeese State in the first round of the tournament.
That season marked the end of Idaho’s first stint in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals won the league nine times, including eight times between 1982 and 1992 before making the jump to the Big West before the 1996 season.
Between 1982 and 1995, head coaches Dennis Erickson, Keith Gilbertson and John L. Smith combined to lead the Vandals to the Division I-AA playoffs 11 times. Idaho won six playoff games, including advancing to the 1988 semifinals in Gilberton’s last season and again surging to the Final Four in 1993, Smith’s last campaign in Moscow.
Following Idaho’s departure, Montana rose to the top of the conference, dominating the Big Sky for the rest of the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. The hiring of Mike Kramer to lead Montana State in 2000 helped the Bobcats break out of the dormancy that followed the 1984 national title run and lasted through Hysell’s last season in 1999.
Between 2002 and 2014, Montana State won or shared six conference titles and advanced to the seven times.
Montana State and Idaho last faced off in the first game of the Jeff Choate era to open the 2016 season in Moscow. UI posted a 20-17 win.
MSU enters the game 3-2 overall, 1-1 in Big Sky Conference play. The Bobcats are coming off a bye. Idaho lost 62-28 to Idaho State to fall to 1-1 in league play, 2-3 overall.
QUICK HITS
Location: Moscow, Idaho
Nickname: Vandals
Founded: 1889. The state of Idaho’s land-grant university also serves as the oldest public university in the Gem State and the state’s primary research institution. UI was the state’s sole university for 71 years until 1963. UI offers 142 degree programs with a strong regional reputation for agriculture, architecture, business, engineering and law.
Enrollment: The university has 11,534 students and an endowment of $237.5 million.
Stadium: Kibbie Dome – In 1971, the original outdoor concrete football stadium replaced Neale Stadium. Following the 1974 football season, a barrel-arched roof and vertical end walls were added in ten months and the stadium re-opened as an enclosed facility in September 1975.
The venue has 16,000 permanent seats, making it the smallest home stadium in the Football Bowl Subdivision during the Vandals’ 22-year stint competing at the top level of college football. During basketball season, the dome is reconfigured into a basketball arena known as Cowan Spectrum, which seats 7,000. Idaho averaged 10,533 fans during 2017, posting a 2-4 record at home and a 4-8 record overall in its last year competing in the Sun Belt Conference.
THE TEAM (1-2 in Big Sky play, 2-3 overall)
The Coach: Paul Petrino, sixth season at Idaho. The 2016 Sun Belt Coach of the Year — the Vandals won nine games, including the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl two seasons ago — is part of one of the most prominent coaching trees with roots in Montana. His father, Bob Petrino Sr., was the head coach at Carroll College from 1971 until 1998, winning 16 Frontier Conference championships.
Paul, who was born in Butte, was the quarterback on the 1988 Carroll College team that went undefeated. Shortly after his playing career ended, he began his coaching career, first working for his father before joining John L. Smith’s staff at Idaho in 1992. Petrino left for Utah State in 1995, the final season Idaho played in the Big Sky before moving up to the FBS.
Petrino made stops at Louisville and Southern Miss as a position coach before returning to Louiville in 2003 on his brother, Bobby Petrino Jr.’s staff. The Petrino brothers coached for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 before Bobby took the Arkansas job in 2008. Paul spent 2008 and 2009 as the Razorbacks OC before taking the same job at Illinois for two seasons only to return to Arkansas in the same capacity in 2012.
Since taking over at Idaho before the 2013 season, Petrino has a record of 21-43. He went a combined 2-21 his first two seasons and won four games in 2015 before the breakthrough 2016 campaign.
During their time in the FBS, the Vandals earned three bowl bids, winning the Humanitarian Bowl under Chris Tormey in 1998 and Robb Akey in 2009 before Petrino’s best team beat Colorado State 61-50 in 2016.
THE OFFENSE – Players to watch
Mason Petrino, quarterback, 6-0, 195, junior — After splitting snaps with sophomore Colton Richardson last season when all-league senior Matt Linehan went down with an injury, Petrino continued splitting snaps in Idaho’s 79-13 loss at Fresno State and UI’s 56-10 win over Division II Western New Mexico.
Paul Petrino’s oldest son — Mason’s twin sister, Anne Mari Petrino, plays softball at Montana — assumed the quarterback duties as the Vandals entered Big Sky play. He threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns in UI’s 44-21 loss at UC Davis. He guided Idaho to its first Big Sky win since 1995, a 20-7 victory over Portland State in which the Vandals put a high priority on controlling the clock after building a 20-0 halftime lead.
In last week’s blowout 62-28 loss to in-state rival Idaho State, Petrino finished 11-of-22 for 81 yards before Richardson entered the game in the second quarter. Petrino came back in for one series before halftime and finished the game, playing the last two UI possessions.
This season, he has completed 60.3 percent of his passes for 776 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions.
Isaiah Saunders, running back, 5-10, 234, senior — Saunders emerged as the power back Paul Petrino favors down the stretch of Idaho’s run to the bowl win in 2016. As a sophomore, Saunders rushed for 112.6 yards on 23.4 carries per game during the last five games of the season, including notching career highs with 147 yards and three touchdowns in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
He finished the year with 731 rushing yards, 879 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns, all on the ground.
Last season, he rushed for 506 yards and two scores. So far this season, he’s almost equaled those numbers, rushing for 451 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 4.7 yards per carry and 90.2 yards per game. He has rushed for at least 99 yards in all three Big Sky games this season, including 114 last week against Idaho State.
“The guy who makes their offense go is the Saunders guy,” Choate said. “He is a big, physical back, 230-pound kid, good inside zone runner.”
Colton Richardson, quarterback, 6-4, 254, sophomore — The former prep Idaho Offensive Player of the Year spent the first nine weeks of last season under the assumption he would redshirt before Linehan’s injury thrust him into action when Petrino went down against New Mexico State. He led Idaho to a season-ending 24-10 victory over Georgia State, throwing for 228 yards and a touchdown.
His sophomore season got off to a rocky start as he threw three interceptions in the opener against Fresno State. The following week, he threw two touchdowns. He only threw five passes against UC Davis, did not play against Portland State and completed 13-of-20 passes for 191 yards and two scores in last week’s lopsided loss
He has completed 55.1 percent of his passes for 407 yards, five touchdowns and four picks this season.
“Mason Petrino has done a really nice job operating their offense but then the Richardson kid has a different skill set, really has a strong arm and can do some things that Mason can’t in the passing game,” Choate said in his weekly news conference on Monday. “They have a little bit of a Yin and Yang there.”
THE DEFENSE – Players to watch
Kaden Elliss, linebacker, 6-3, 240, senior — One of the top NFL prospects in the Big Sky, Elliss’ reputation preceded him. The two-time All-Sun Belt selection earned preseason All-Big Sky honors despite not playing a snap in the league until this season.
As a junior, he ranked third in the Sun Belt with 16 tackles for loss and recorded five sacks, second on the Vandals and fifth in the league. He also caught seven passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns as a tight end. He became the first FBS player to record a sack and catch a touchdown in the same game since 2013, accomplishing the feat twice.
Elliss is one of 12 children of former Detroit Lions Pro Bowl defensive lineman Luther Elliss, a consensus All-American in 1994 at Utah before piling up 331 tackles and 29 sacks in 134 games during his nine-year NFL career.
This season, Kaden Elliss has 21 tackles, including team-bests of three sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble, one of just three for a defense that only has one takeaway this season.
“Kaden Ellis is as good a player as there is in this league,” Choate said. “Turn the tape on if you don’t believe me. He’s the real deal.”
Ed Hall, linebacker, 6-0, 214, senior — The three-year starter was an honorable mention All-Sun Belt selection last season after leading Idaho with three interceptions to go with 78 tackles. As a sophomore two years ago, he had 70 tackles and he entered his senior year with 178 stops in his career.
This season, the fast and aggressive Will linebacker is leading the Vandals in tackles. He has 40 tackles, including two tackles for loss.
“I think the Hall kid as productive of an inside linebacker as there is in this league,” Choate said.
Dorian Clark, cornerback, 6-0, 185, senior — Clark is Idaho’s top cover corner, a three-year starter who bounced back from a season-ending injury in 2016 to start 10 games last season.
He is a part of an Idaho secondary eager to bounce back from last week’s demoralizing result. The Vandals stacked the box and played man coverage almost exclusively against ISU in an effort to slow down a Bengals’ rushing attack averaging 290 rushing yards per game entering the contest. ISU responded by burning Idaho’s man coverage over and over again. ISU senior quarterback Tanner Gueller threw for 492 yards and eight touchdowns to earn FCS STATS National Player of the Week Honors.
Clark has 22 tackles, two tackles for loss and four pass breakups this season, the latter a team-best. He has 14 pass breakups in his career.
Photos by University of Idaho Athletics. All Rights Reserved.
