Vandals look to bounce back
The University of Idaho football team (3-5, 2-3 Sun Belt Conference) looks to put last week’s second-half collapse behind when the Vandals play today at South Alabama (3-4, 1-2) at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.
Idaho was halfway to a three-game win streak with a 30-7 lead early in the third quarter, when the Vandal defense stopped stopping, and New Mexico State stormed back for a 55-48 overtime victory in Las Cruces, N.M.
“We’ve got to move on,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “I don’t want any finger pointing … we’ve got to go down to Mobile and get a win. We played two games and a half of really good defense, and then we had a bad half of defense.”
Adrian Johnson is South Alabama’s top rusher, with 503 yards and four touchdowns. Cody Clements had passed for 1,593 yards and 10 touchdowns, with nine interceptions. Gerald Everett has 28 catches, six for touchdowns.
“He’s a one-cut slasher,” Petrino said of Johnson. “And they’ve got some skill players that are scary.”
South Alabama won 34-10 over Idaho last year in Moscow, in the first meeting between the two schools.
“Idaho has a good football team, they are scoring a lot of points and have one of the best quarterbacks (Matt Linehan) in the league,” South Alabama coach Joey Jones said. “They have proven they can score some points, we’re going to have to stop them on defense.”
On Friday, the Whitman County Prosecutor’s Office told the Lewiston Tribune it has dropped fourth-degree assault charges against Idaho receiver Dezmon Epps.
Epps, the Sun Belt’s leading receiver, was accused of hitting a female acquaintance Oct. 25 at a Pullman bar. Pullman Police forwarded charges to the Whitman County Prosecutor’s Office, Sgt. Jake Opgenorth told the Tribune on Tuesday.
The prosecutor’s office said it decided not to move forward with the case on Thursday, citing an inability to prove the charges against reasonable doubt. The prosecutor’s office told the Tribune the alleged victim also refused to cooperate and return to the state of Washington.
Epps was suspended indefinitely from the team following the accusations, and missed last week’s game at New Mexico State.