Talking Davis, and money games for Vandal football team

Should Taylor Davis start at quarterback for the Idaho Vandals on Saturday at Mississippi, it would be only the fifth start for the 6-foot-3, 232-pound fifth-year senior from Anthem, Ariz.

It just seems like he's been in the mix more than that.

Last year, Davis competed with senior Logan Bushnell and junior college transfer Dominique Blackman for the QB job.

Blackman ultimately won the job, though he missed the opener for an undisclosed reason. He was later kicked off the team for breaking team rules, and Bushnell took over as starter, with Davis starting the season finale at Utah State.

The previous season, Davis started three games.

All told, in his first three years, Davis played in 12 games total, starting four - throwing a total of 132 passes for 564 yards and four touchdowns, with four interceptions.

In the last game, after starter Chad Chalich left with an injury to his right shoulder, Davis came in and completed 14 of 39 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown, with one interception, at Arkansas State. Idaho played well in spurts before eventually falling 48-24. But during one second-half stretch, Davis guided the Vandals to 17 straight points, pulling them within 31-24 early in the fourth quarter.

"The third quarter was probably as good a quarter as we've played, and he did a real good job of moving us," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. "I think he'll just get better and better. He's always had a strong arm, with the bye week (last week), and this week getting all the reps, I think he'll go play well. I was proud of how he played in the last game, without a whole lot of reps at all, for a long time."

Chalich and Josh McCain, who injured his shoulder the previous game, are still recovering from their injuries. Petrino does not speak specifically about injuries, other than to say he was hopeful at least one of them could be available Saturday as a backup. The only other quarterback in the program now is freshman Matt Linehan, and Petrino said he would prefer to redshirt him.

Paying the bills: Asked the importance of Idaho playing games like this - and like at Florida State on Nov. 23, Petrino had a simple reply:

"Money, to be brutally honest," he said. "Helps pay for all the other programs. You need a couple of them a year to help pay your budget. If we're going to be flat-out honest, that's the most important thing. It's just something where you go and you play your heart out, and build the program up where in the next couple of years, you knock somebody off, and go down there and try to do it this year. But you've got to have a couple of those games to pay the bills."

Idaho will get $850,000 from Ole Miss, and $950,000 from Florida State. The Vandals received $550,000 from playing at Washington State earlier this season.