Vandals seek return to toughness

One thing fifth-year Idaho football coach Paul Petrino said his Vandals teams have prided themselves on, even when they were getting worked on the scoreboard, was that they played with toughness.

That’s why he said he was “shocked” to see that toughness lacking from Idaho in its 44-16 loss to UNLV, a game in which the Rebels rushed for 357 yards.

“You feel like we have a lot of guys back, but we’ve got a lot of guys that haven’t played much football,” Petrino said. “And maybe some of them haven’t been in a tough, physical confrontation yet. They better get used to it, because that’s what we’re going to get.”

That’s because Western Michigan (0-2), which Idaho (1-1) visits today at Waldo Stadium, is averaging 189.5 yards on the ground this season, in games against USC and Michigan State.

Sophomore LeVante Bellamy has rushed for 178 yards in two games for the Broncos, averaging 8.0 yards per carry.

Petrino said the run fix for the Vandals was simple — tackle better, and stay in your gaps.

“I told them, people might try to run the ball more on us,” Petrino said. “Don’t worry about it, the score might be lower, we just have to have one more point than they do.”

Elsewhere, Idaho’s focus will be on cornerback/kick returner Darius Phillips, who returned a kickoff return for a touchdown in each of the first two games this season, and also forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown against Michigan State.

“We don’t want to kick him the ball, and you don’t want to throw the ball to him either, because he’ll probably return it for a touchdown,” Petrino said.