THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Vandals made strides again this season; despite the departing players, can they keep it going?

Star receivers Hayden Hatten and Jermaine Jackson walked off the field one last time as Idaho Vandals on Saturday night, after the Vandals fell 30-22 to UAlbany in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Moments later, surrounded by black curtains, reporters and TV cameras in a makeshift interview room, the two Vandal standouts reflected on their time in Moscow, which was culminated in back-to-back appearances in the FCS playoffs since 1994 and ’95, and one week earlier included Idaho’s first playoff victory since 1993.

“It's inevitable as a college athlete,” said Hatten, who leaves as Idaho’s career leader in touchdown catches. “It’s something that hits you, but it’s something that I’m proud of. Proud to say I played five years of eligibility at the University of Idaho, and truly have found a second home outside of Phoenix, Ariz., where I grew up and lived my entire life. I came in to this university with 45 kids, and there’s six of us still here that stayed all five years, my twin brother (Hogan, Idaho’s long snapper) being one of them, and … it’s sad, very sad, but it’s an accomplishment, because I set out to play college football. This was my dream, and being able to live it, being a Vandal is living my dream.”

Jackson, who ended up being a bigger factor as a punt and kickoff returner, echoed Hatten’s thoughts.

“Just loved being a Vandal; that’s the biggest thing,” said Jackson, who played his first two seasons at the College of San Mateo. “Appreciated being a Vandal every day, that’s probably what hurts the most, now that it’s over. Loved being here.

I was just trying to soak it all in (after the game). It was hard to believe it was over.”

IF LOSING those two key playmakers wasn’t tough enough, the next 48 hours or so turned out to be, on the one hand, crazy, but on the other hand, just the new normal in college athletics.

Three Vandal stars — quarterback Gevani McCoy, running back Anthony Woods and cornerback Marcus Harris, all first-team all-Big Sky selections — on Monday announced they were entering the transfer portal.

On Tuesday, wide receiver Terez Traynor said he was entering the portal.

McCoy and Woods each have two years of eligibility remaining; Harris, a transfer from Oregon State, and Traynor, who previously played at Western Kentucky, have one year left.

McCoy’s backup the past two seasons has been Jack Layne, who started once each season (vs. Idaho State each time) when McCoy was injured. Layne was impressive in leading the Vandals in victory in both meetings, passing for six touchdowns in this year’s matchup last month in Moscow.

With Woods gone, the Vandals will have no one back who ran for more than 50 yards this year. The “X” factor could be Elisha Cummings, who ran for more than 700 yards for Idaho in 2022, but didn’t play this season.

Traynor’s departure means Idaho will lose its top three receivers from this season. The top potential returnee is wide receiver Jordan Dwyer (20 catches), followed by two tight ends — Jake Cox (12) and Alex Moore (10).

While Vandal fans are rightfully bummed their heroes won’t be sticking around in Moscow to complete their college careers, you can’t really blame them for leaving.

Under the current system of name, image and likeness, stars at smaller (say, FCS) schools are always going to be tempted to leave for bigger (say, FBS) schools, where they can play against better competition and, yes, make more money.

Hatten and Jackson talked about it at the Big Sky Football Kickoff in July, noting they were tempted by bigger schools to join them this season, but expressed a desire to finish the job in Moscow.

Good for them. But you also can’t blame the others for wanting to see what’s out there.

AS IT turns out, Idaho and UAlbany had already signed a contract to play again next year, in the third game of the season, and Idaho’s first home game.

Little did either team know they would be meeting ahead of that matchup.

“I probably should have encouraged some of those guys (with UAlbany) to go pro, knowing that,” Eck said with a bit of a laugh after the game. “When we signed for this game, they were 3-8 (last season), and now they’ve got a heckuva football team … that’s a good football team that comes in, but we’ll focus more on that later.”

Prior to this season, UAlbany had never advanced as far as the FCS semifinals, and had never won a football game outside the Eastern Time Zone.

Great Danes coach Greg Gattuso was already looking forward to his team’s return to Idaho.

“One, we love Hells Canyon. We stayed there; we can’t wait to come back and see everybody there,” Gattuso said. “They treated us great. They were special. When I saw the (playoff) seedings I was shaking my head — what are the odds that we just got contracted to play Idaho and we’re going out (to Moscow)?”

OVERALL, SATURDAY’S loss was a disappointing end to a terrific season (and two-year run) for the Vandals under Eck.

Idaho finished 7-5 last year and 9-4 this season, the Vandals’ first winning seasons after returning to the FCS in 2018. This, after just five winning seasons in 22 years in FBS — and three of those came in the 1990s.

“For our guys coming back, it just tells us that we have to get to work,” Eck said. “We have to have a great offseason. The path from being one of the top 8 in the country to the actual No. 1 team in the country is still a big gap. It might be as big of a gap as from making the playoffs to being a team with a losing record.”

Eck praised the departing seniors “that helped us get this program turned around. We’re in a lot better shape.”

“I thought our crowd was awesome again tonight, having over 9,000 people,” Eck said afterthe game. “I think our fans need to start training themselves for weekends in December, keeping those weekends free, because we plan of having a lot more playoff games in the Kibbie Dome over the next few years. They should be proud of this team; they’ve brought a lot of pride to this university, and a lot of great exposure, and we have to keep building.”

Eck said he wants the returning players to remember the feeling of reaching the playoffs, but falling short of the semifinals — a perch the Vandals have reached just twice in their history.

“Their may be some days in January and February when it’s cold and snowy out, and you have to get up early to lift, and that’s why,” Eck said. “It’s all the work you do in the offseason that no one sees that really defines what happens … in the games people see.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.

MARK NELKE/Press Brevin Easton of UAlbany caught three touchdown passes in Saturday's 30-22 win at Idaho in the FCS quarterfinals at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow — including this go-ahead score in the fourth quarter between Vandal defenders Murvin Kenion III (0) and Ormanie Arnold (8).