VANDAL NOTES: After a bye, Idaho resumes pursuit of bowl

Paul Petrino spent last Saturday like most dads who are also sports fans.

He got up early, and played basketball with his daughter, Ava. Then he sat down and watched hours and hours of college football.

Petrino, of course, is also Idaho’s head football coach, so he took advantage of the Vandals’ bye week, before Idaho (4-4, 2-2 Sun Belt) travels to Louisiana-Lafayette (3-4, 2-2) on Saturday.

“I gave the coaches the day off (Saturday), since we haven’t had a day off since we started,” Petrino said.

He watched in particular the Louisville-Virginia game, a game Louisville won 32-25 to keep the Cardinals’ slim College Football Playoff hopes alive. His brother, Bobby, of course, is the Louisville head coach, and Paul previously was an assistant there, and still has fond memories of the program, the city and the people there.

On the bye ... and assessing the Sun Belt: “It was a long grind,” Petrino of playing eight straight weeks to start the season, “so it was good for them to freshen up. And it was good for them to go against each other one on one; I think that makes you better.”

Petrino lumped Arkansas State (3-0 Sun Belt) in with Troy and Appalachian State (both 4-0) as the class of the conference.

As for the rest, “everybody else is pretty equal. Anyone can beat anybody on a given day,” he said.

Idaho lost at home to Troy (34-13) and lost at Appalachian State (37-19).

The Vandals do not play Arkansas State or Georgia Southern (3-2) this season. Idaho needs two wins in its final four games to become bowl-eligible.

“We’ve won some close games in the fourth quarter, and I think we’ve done a nice job in the second half,” Petrino said of the first eight games. “There’s been a couple games there where we got a little outmatched as the game went on ... our motto all year has been to keep it close and find a way to win it in the fourth quarter, and that’s what we’ve got to get done this weekend, to be honest with you.”