Idaho strikes early
MOSCOW - Idaho's Vandals returned to the Kibbie Dome for the first time in a month and used the momentum of the return home for a 37-14 homecoming victory over New Mexico State on Saturday before 13,812 at the Kibbie Dome.
It didn't come without a sobering price when senior linebacker JoJo Dickson went down in the third quarter with a broken leg.
"He told everybody play smart; don't do anything dumb out there on the field," Idaho junior linebacker Robert Siavii said. "He said, 'It's football. It happens.' We just have to play smart. That's what everybody did."
The Vandals (4-3, 1-1 WAC) were particularly effective in the early going as they rolled to a 31-7 halftime lead during a two-quarter span that saw New Mexico State gain just 125 yards total offense to 336 for Idaho. While the Vandals were scoring on five of their first six possessions, the Aggies (1-6, 0-3) punted five straight before scoring with 34 seconds left before the halftime break.
The second half was a different story as the teams mixed punts and field goals with only New Mexico State’s second TD with 22 seconds left in the game to break the pattern.
Senior quarterback Nate Enderle was a sharp 20 of 32 for 256 yards and three TDs in the first half. He acknowledged consistency remains an issue.
“We came out strong. We had a lot of energy,” Enderle said. “We executed well for the most part. The second half we just weren’t very consistent. We came out a little flat. We can’t be down on ourselves. We just have to fix it.”
Both sides of the ball were dominating in the first two quarters with the Vandal defense allowing just 73 rushing yards in the first half and limiting Aggies quarterback Matt Christian to 4-of-16 passing for 52 yards. He finished 8 of 29 for 134 yards.
“We came out of the chutes very well,” Idaho coach Robb Akey said. “It was a good first half. We want to finish better. There were a lot of positives there.
“That was a several-score win. That’s a good job.”
Enderle wound up completing 25 of 47 passes for 291 yards with TD strikes to Preston Davis, Maurice Shaw and Kama Bailey. Shaw and Eric Greenwood matched six-reception efforts with Shaw’s covering 73 yards and Greenwood’s 54. Daniel Hardy was the yardage leader with 78 on three catches, while Preston Davis hauled in five for 50.
Princeton McCarty and Deonte` Jackson shared running back duties with McCarty carrying eight times for 55 yards and Jackson 11 for 40. Trey Farquhar, in addition to the four PATs, was good on all three field goal attempts (41, 38 and 47 yards).
Defensively, end Aaron Lavarias and linebacker Tre`Shawn Robinson had seven stops each with two of Lavarias’ counting as tackles-for-loss. Robinson also had one TFL as the Vandals totaled six for the game in addition to four pass breakups and three quarterback hurries.
Bobby Cowan was called on to punt just once in the first half, but was needed five times in the second. He responded with a career-best average of 50.7 yards per kick.