The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Oct. 27, 2012

Sometimes in sports, it's not easy to accept defeat.

But the time is drawing closer for some area schools to entertain an idea that isn't so popular.

Taking a step back to move ahead.

THE IDEA of watching the Idaho Vandals football team face teams like Louisiana State and North Carolina might be appealing to some, but wouldn't you rather see the team play games that don't finish with lopsided scores?

Granted, like most football programs, they play those kind of games to get paid, often to spend within the athletic department to fund other sports.

However, with the recent outcomes of the Vandal football team, that Humanitarian Bowl win over Bowling Green three years ago seems like a long time ago.

A really long time ago.

At first, when Idaho made the jump from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West Conference in 1996, they brought Boise State with them.

Boise State has since won two BCS games and are moving to the Big East Conference in July in football only and the Big West in all other sports.

Idaho will return to the Big Sky in all other sports but football by 2014.

After a ton of success at the I-AA level, now Football Championship Subdivision, it baffles me that they're against a move back.

Proving your point by going independent is one thing.

Struggling to win four games a year is another.

AT TIMES, I often wonder just how some of those 1A Division II schools can field a team for 8-man football, especially the Mullan Tigers of the North Star League.

For the last couple of years, the rumors of the school being unable to field a team have been false, with the school somehow, someway coming up with just enough players to field a team.

Often times, the final score doesn't reflect that.

Mullan won its first game of the season against Timberline of Weippe 44-26 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow and its final game against Lakeside 20-8.

A little later today, the Kellogg football team will face Fruitland at the Kibbie Dome in a state 3A football play-in game. Kellogg advanced via a win last week against Bonners Ferry to improve to 1-7 and play for the right to go to the playoffs as three teams from the Intermountain League advanced.

Really — a 1-7 team is just a great 48 minutes away from advancing to the state playoffs.

Seeing that makes me wonder just what might happen if Mullan and Kellogg merged — maybe along with Wallace for football only.

They’d still be a 3A school and could maintain a lot of those rivalries that both have developed.

But while it makes the most sense in both cases, I don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.

Taking a step back doesn’t mean that you’re not good enough to compete with everyone else.

Just going in the right direction, instead of being stuck in the mud.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.