Vandals brace for Doss, UC Davis

Wide receiver Keelan Doss has been on the minds of the Idaho Vandals since last summer.

Doss, a top-three finalist for the 2017 Walter Payton Award and an early-season favorite for the honor this year, is the No. 1 weapon for UC Davis (2-1), which plays host to Idaho (1-1) this afternoon at Aggie Stadium in the Big Sky Conference football opener for both teams.

“We’ve known that since summer study,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “We’ve got to limit his touches, and limit his yards after the catch.”

Doss, who caught 115 passes for 1,499 yards last season, has 28 catches this year — more than twice as many as the next receiver — for an average of 8.3 yards per reception.

Junior quarterback Jake Maier is averaging 314 passing yards per game this season. Jared Harrell has caught a pair of TD passes.

“They’ve got a lot of tools offensively,” Petrino said.

As you might expect from a Dan Hawkins-coached team, UC Davis likes to throw the ball. They’ve put it up 164 times this season, compared to 89 rushing attempts.

Bring it on, the Vandals say.

“We feel like we’ve got a good chance to put our hands on one, take one to the house maybe,” Idaho sophomore safety Jalen Hoover said.

NOTES: UC Davis is ranked No. 21 in the STATS media poll, 25th in the FCS coaches poll. Idaho received votes in both polls this week. Idaho is coming off a bye, while UC Davis is coming off a 30-10 loss at physical Stanford.