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Vandal football: Something new for the rematch

| April 10, 2021 1:10 AM

Idaho at No. 9 EWU • Today, 1 p.m. • SWX/PlutoTV, 92.5 FM, ESPN 700, 103.5 FM

From news services

Growing up in Helena, Mont., around his dad, Carroll football coach Bob Petrino, Paul Petrino was used to his dad's teams playing the other teams in the Frontier Conference twice in a season.

That doesn't happen much for Paul Petrino's Idaho Vandals in the Big Sky Conference these days.

But due to COVID-19, it happens this year, with Idaho and No. 9 Eastern Washington meeting for the second time this season. In the season opener on Feb. 27 in Moscow, Idaho scored in the final minute to upend the Eagles 28-21 at the Kibbie Dome.

The regional rivals meet again today at Roos Field in Cheney.

"You have to come up with a few things that are different," Petrino said of facing a team a second time. "You have to come up with some wrinkles that maybe they haven’t seen. Out-scheming each other doesn’t happen quite as much. So it really comes down to the execution — but you have to come up with some wrinkles to make them adjust to what your doing."

Idaho (2-2, 2-2 Big Sky) is playing its second-to-last game of the shortened spring regular season. The Vandals travel to Northern Arizona next Saturday in a makeup game.

Today's game is the regular season finale for Eastern (4-1, 4-1), which has won four straight since that loss at Idaho.

Eastern is second, Idaho fourth among the eight (of 13) Big Sky teams playing football this spring. Weber State (4-0, 4-0) is in first place, and UC Davis (3-2, 3-2) is third. Eastern has beaten UC Davis, which has beaten Idaho, which has beaten Eastern.

So the Vandals, despite that loss and one last week at Idaho State, still have playoff hopes.

"And then if you beat them, all three of us have two losses," Petrino said of Idaho beating EWU. "We have two, UC davis has two and Eastern has two. And we’d be the only one to beat a top-10 team (EWU) twice."

The key vs. Eastern is the same as it's been the past couple seasons — keep quarterback Eric Barriere and the explosive Eagle offense off the field.

"We’ve got to stay on the field as much and as long as we did the first time," Petrino said. "Limit the number of possessions they have, and try to do a good job putting pressure on (Barriers), because if he has time, or if he moves and makes time, he makes big plays for sure."

Since EWU lost at Idaho, Barriere has been the league's Offensive Player of the Week three of the past four weeks.

"We're playing a team we haven't beaten in a while," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best, who tested positive two days before the season opener, and missed the game against the Vandals at the Dome. "It will be fun and new for me — I didn't get to be there the first time in the Kibbie Dome. But I do know this, we are going back home and we love to play on the Red."

Tre Walker led the Vandals with 13 tackles in his return to action last week at ISU. He now averages 15.7 tackles per game, the most in the Big Sky. The next closest defensive player, Cal Poly’s Matt Shotwell, is in second after averaging 11.3 tackles per game this season.

Idaho sophomore receiver Hayden Hatten leads the Big Sky with 8.8 receptions per game and is third with 115.5 yards per game. Both marks are also good enough to put Hadden in the top-five in the nation.