The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Sept. 28, 2011

Call it the tale of two teams.

One looked explosive at times on offense, getting big gains and keeping the game close until everything unraveled in the second half.

The other won its home opener - somehow.

AND FOR as explosive as the Idaho Vandals appeared in the first half in Saturday's game at the Kibbie Dome, Fresno State was just as good in the second half on the way to a 48-24 win.

In the week leading into the game, Idaho coach Robb Akey had been looking forward to a final defensive slugfest between the two schools, with Fresno leaving for the Mountain West Conference next season.

When the defense started to make plays, the game was already out of reach as the Vandals managed only 55 yards of offense and were outscored 24-7 after halftime.

The bright side is that it's only September, and while they've got four games behind them, there is still plenty of time to fix things.

Preston Davis, the Vandal receiver who made the catch against Bowling Green to win the Humanitarian Bowl in 2009, didn't even play on Saturday.

Saying the season is doomed is premature, but getting things turned around needs to happen soon.

CHANCES ARE that the Seattle Seahawks won't have a magical run toward the playoffs this season.

Thanks to the wind blowing during pregame festivities, it appeared that they were trying to hide the NFC West title from last season.

As the team attempted to raise the championship banner, it got hung up behind the banner for the 2006 season. It remained that way for the entire game.

What they couldn't hide as well was the first half - they couldn't defend Larry Fitzgerald as it seemed every time he was thrown the ball, he caught it.

Double coverage, right on the sideline, no problem for him.

And at times, they appeared destined to finish with the worst record in the league and have the inside track on drafting Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft next year.

Thankfully, they made one more play than Arizona and ran off with a 13-10 win.

Chances are, when the NFC West rivals meet again in a couple months, neither will play like they did on Sunday.

And while Seattle won the game, I hope the Seahawks don’t either.

Getting your quarterback sacked four times, having two punts go 20 yards and nearly allowing the Cardinals to run right down the field in the final minutes to score a winning touchdown, to say Seattle was lucky is an understatement.

With the way that Seattle played on Sunday, they’ll need a lot of luck to make it back to the playoffs.

Keep playing like that — the Seahawks will have Luck next year.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].