Vandals score game's last 42 points, rout Portland State 56-21

MOSCOW — The Portland State Vikings, winners of just two of their first six games coming in, didn’t appear particularly impressed early with the Idaho Vandals’ strong start to the season.

Portland State took the opening kickoff and drove to a relatively easy score, and led by a touchdown late in the first half.

But the rest of the way, it was all red-hot Idaho.

The Vandals scored a touchdown near the end of the half to tie it up, then scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to win going away, 56-21, in Big Sky Conference football on Saturday before 7,357 at the Kibbie Dome.

Idaho (5-2, 4-0 Big Sky) took the second-half kickoff and scored for a 28-21 lead, and the Vandals were off to their fifth-straight win, and first 4-0 start in conference play since 1994.

“The last few minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half were huge,” first-year Idaho coach Jason Eck said on the Vandals’ postgame radio show. “We got the lead there, and then the defense turned it up and played better in the second half, made great adjustments, and really shut them down. And then once we got the lead, they became one-dimensional, and we were able to put pressure on them, and get interceptions.”

Idaho totaled 571 yards of offense and forced three turnovers against Portland State (2-5, 1-3), upping the Vandals’ turnover margin to plus-11.

Gevani McCoy threw four touchdown passes and caught a pass for a fifth score. He was 10 of 19 for 248 yards. Jermaine Jackson caught eight passes for 132 yards and two TDs, including a 63-yard touchdown on Idaho’s second offensive play.

True freshman Anthony Woods ran for 139 yards on 15 carries as the Vandals totaled 309 on the ground.

In the final minute of the first half, Idaho went for it on fourth and 10 from the Portland State 45, and McCoy ran 13 yards up the middle for a first down. He hit Jermaine Jackson for a 32-yard score on the next play for a 21-all tie at the half.

On the first drive of the third quarter, Elisha Cummings took a handoff on an apparent sweep to the right, then threw back across the field to McCoy, who broke two tackles and finished the 14-yard scoring play and a 28-21 lead.

“Getting the touchdown right before the half was big, because they had the momentum,” Eck said. “They did a good job offensively in the first half, and did some good stuff against us.”

Later in the quarter, McCoy avoided a sack thanks to a block by Tommy Hauser, a walk-on wide receiver from Post Falls High, and dumped the ball off to Cummings, who dashed all the way to the Portland State 4 for a 55-yard gain.

Two plays later, Hayden Hatten made a one-handed TD catch from McCoy, getting his left foot down just before falling out of bounds in the end zone.

Tommy McCormick’s fourth interception of the season — matching Idaho’s total from all of last year — set up Woods’ 1-yard run on the next play for a 49-21 lead.

“It was a great opportunity to show that we’re a championship-type team,” Eck said of the second half. “That team came in and punched us in the face a little bit, and were ready to go.

But that’s what really good teams do; they respond when things go bad, and we played much better in the second half.”

It’s the first time since 2016 that Idaho has won five straight games.

Idaho’s Ricardo Chavez missed a 36-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter, just his second miss of the season.

Next Saturday, Idaho plays at Sacramento State, which was 6-0, 3-0 heading into Saturday night’s home game vs. Montana.

Idaho last started 5-0 in league in 1989.