'That's not good'

MOSCOW - They talked about getting off to a fast start.

Then the Idaho Vandals came out and did exactly the opposite.

The Vandals turned the ball over twice in the first quarter - once for a touchdown - got sacked three times, and got beat by big passing plays by Ohio.

"That's not good," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said after Idaho fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter before eventually falling 45-28 to the Bobcats in the season opener Thursday night before 11,587 at the Kibbie Dome.

"Two turnovers, and giving up the big plays; those are things that we have to stop," Petrino said.

Ohio racked up 489 total yards - pretty good for a ball-control offense.

Of Ohio's four first-half scoring drives, three were set up by pass plays of 30 or more yards.

In the first quarter, Ohio sacked Matt Linehan three times and forced two turnovers, one of them a 29-yard interception return by Jovon Johnson on a Linehan pass that bounced off the hands of Jacob Sannon.

Idaho's defense, a sore point last season, gave up a big gain on the second play of the game, when a busted coverage allowed tight end Brendan Cope to run wide open down the middle of the field for a 55-yard reception. Cope later caught a 5-yard touchdown pass on a fade route from Derrius Vick for a 7-0 Ohio lead.

But Idaho's defense came up big later in the quarter, after Dezmon Epps fumbled the ball away deep in Vandal territory. Quinton Bradley forced a fumble by Vick, and Tony Lashley recovered at the Vandal 23.

Idaho's best play in the first half might have been fourth down.

Trailing 21-0 late in the first quarter, Petrino opted to go for it on fourth at the 48. Linehan hit Elijhaa Penny out of the backfield for 7 yards, leading to Austin Rehkow's 40-yard field goal.

Idaho went for it again on fourth and one from its 38, and on a read option, Linehan kept it for 17 yards around the right side. Eight plays later, Penny scored from a yard out to pull Idaho within 21-10 with 7:54 left in the half.

All told, Idaho was 4 for 5 on fourth downs.

Linehan, who was sacked only once after the first quarter, completed 35 of 47 for 285 yards and two interceptions - the second a Hail Mary on the game's final play. He connected 14 times with Epps, mostly on underneath routes, for 148 yards.

Junior Deon Watson, the former Coeur d'Alene High standout who moved to tight end from wide receiver this season, had five receptions - all in the fourth quarter - for 48 yards. He caught a 5-yard TD pass from Linehan with 2:34 left, then caught the two-point conversion pass to cut Ohio's lead to 38-28.

Watson then recovered Idaho's onside kick, but after it went only 9 yards. Besides, the Vandals were called for a penalty elsewhere on the kick as well.

Ohio then clinched it on Kylan Nelson's 17-yard TD run with :42 seconds left.

"The last two drives I got Deon more involved, and he did some good things there," Petrino said.

"I thought Deon came on strong at the end," Linehan said. "You saw a glimpse of what he can do."

Ohio rushed for 205 yards, averaging just over 5 yards per rush.

"I didn't think they would be able to handle us up front like they did," Petrino said.

Idaho made it interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting it to 31-20 on Elijhaa Penny's 1-yard run with 11:51 left. But Ohio answered with a 75-yard, 11-play drive that consumed 6 minutes, capped by Daz'mond Patterson's 1-yard run. The Vandals came back with the TD drive culminated in the Linehan-to-Watson connection, but that was as close as they would come.

Idaho's quick-tempo offense seemed to have Ohio on its heels at times; the Vandals finished with 391 total yards. But the Vandals couldn't stop Ohio when it counted. The Bobcats punted just twice.

"After (the first quarter) we started moving the ball," Linehan said. "But we've just got to eliminate those self-inflicted wounds," Linehan said.

Penny, who slimmed down to 234 pounds this year, ran for 69 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, running over a linebacker on his second score, early in the fourth quarter. He also caught five passes for 32 yards.

"We always talk about coming out fast and strong, and we didn't do that," Penny said. "I felt everybody was so anxious and so uptight; we were just juiced a little too much."

Notes: Slot receiver David Ungerer was injured on the third play of the game, and did not return. ... Epps, who sat out last year following a violation of team rules, caught seven passes for 89 yards in the first half. ... Jace Malek, the former West Valley star who was diagnosed with cancer just before signing with the Vandals in February, then had his right leg amputated recently, was an honorary captain for the Vandals, and went out to midfield for the coin toss. In the post-game press conference, Linehan got choked up talking about Malek.