Vandals sacked

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Idaho struggled to protect its quarterbacks, as Wyoming sacked Vandal quarterbacks seven times en route to a 42-10 victory Saturday afternoon before 22,030 at War Memorial Stadium.

After a scoreless first quarter, Wyoming (1-1) slowly started to sway the momentum. After a 33-minute delay because of lightning, Wyoming converted a 14-0 into a 21-0 advantage going into the half after scoring with :49 left in the second quarter.

"Our defense played really well in the first quarter and our offense let them down," coach Paul Petrino said after the Vandals fell to 0-2. "We had some opportunities to move the ball and give the defense a chance."

Trailing 42-0, the Vandals scored twice in the fourth quarter - on a 41-yard field coach by Austin Rehkow (who also averaged 48.2 yards on nine punts) and a 1-yard run by James Baker with 18 seconds left.

In addition to being complimentary of the effort of the defense, Petrino said the play of quarterbacks Chad Chalich and Joshua McCain was solid. Chalich, a redshirt freshman from Coeur d'Alene High, completed 22 of 32 passes for 182 yards and McCain, a junior college transfer, was the Vandals' leading rusher with 49 yards on 10 carries. But Chalich was sacked six times, McCain once.

An emphasis on the running game didn't pan out.

"It was disheartening," Petrino said of the Vandals' inability to run the ball (139 net yards). "I was going to run it all night. We just didn't execute. We were doing a lot of silly things that kill you."

The Vandals got within the red zone only twice during the game.

"Our football intelligence right now is not very high," Petrino said. "And that's coaching, and we got to get a lot better at coaching our guys. . That stuff has to stop."

Wyoming's Brett Smith passed for 295 yards and four touchdowns, three to Dominic Rufran.

Smith set a school record by netting 72 passing and rushing TDs in his career. Just a junior, Smith surpassed the previous record of 70 set by quarterback Casey Bramlet from 2000-03. He is one TD pass from tying Bramlet for the school record for touchdown passes.

Smith started the game 1 for 10. He also rushed for 64 yards.

"It makes me feel good because that means we're putting points up on the board and doing well as an offense," Smith said.

Wyoming gained 564 yards total offense and converted 11 of 18 third downs.

Dezmon Epps had six catches for 61 yards and Mike LaGrone had six for 56 to lead the receiving corps. Jayshawn Jordan and Marc Millan led the defense with nine tackles each with Millan accounting for two sacks and three tackles for loss.