Montana 23, Idaho 21 ... a look back

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

How ironic.

One of the biggest plays of last Saturday’s Montana-Idaho football game — the one that ended the Vandals’ comeback hopes — was made by a Montana Grizzly player who starred just up the road from Moscow.

Kale Edwards, the former Coeur d’Alene High star quarterback/safety/linebacker, rushed in off the left side and caused a fumble by Idaho quarterback Gevani McCoy that the Griz recovered, sealing Montana’s 23-21 victory over the Vandals for the Little Brown Stein, before a sellout crowd announced at 14,218 at the Dome.

“It’s great, man,” Edwards said. “I got offered here out of high school … these are the ones that matter the most to me. They called a play for me, and I did my best … thankfully Levi was there to pick it up.”

“For an Idaho kid, to make the game-winning play, so surreal,” said Montana linebacker Levi Janacaro, who recovered the fumble caused by Edwards. “Kale works his butt off, day in and it was really cool to see, really cool to see that success.”

It was Edwards’ first sack as a Griz, and teammates chanted “Sackless no more” afterward.

“I love the guys,” said Edwards, who got to hold the stein at midfield afterward. “I was getting crap for a while, it was fun to get rid of that … much overdo.”

“Real happy for him, because we’ve been getting on his case a little bit,” Idaho coach Bobby Hauck said of Edwards. “That was a big play; he just won, and knocked the ball out. He’s from (near) here … very happy for Kale.”

It was Idaho’s first sellout at the Kibbie Dome since 2010, when Boise State made its last visit to Moscow. Griz fans helped with the sellout.

“It was loud in here; it was way louder than I thought it would be,” Janacaro said. “Ruining their homecoming; there’s nothing that’s much more fun than that.”

“Never seen the Kibbie Dome like this,” Edwards said. “I’ve gone to a lot of Idaho games, played here a couple of times. It was a crazy environment … fun.”

“They brought it tonight,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said of the crowd. “Our crowd was tremendous. I told our guys, take a moment and enjoy when they first came out of the tunnel, because that was a special thing to see. I’m disappointed I couldn’t get us to play better, to give that home crowd a victory. This was a great environment for a college football game.”

THE VANDALS dropped to 5-2, 3-1 in the Big Sky. Montana improved to 6-1, 3-1.

Both still control their FCS playoff hopes.

After seven weeks — five on the road — Idaho gets a bye this week, then returns to action next Saturday vs. Big Sky-leading Montana State (6-1, 4-0).

“After seven consecutive games, you’re ready for a bye,” Eck said. “We’ll have a bit of an edge next week, because Montana State has a tough game on the road at Sac State. … I’m happy we have a buy, get us healed up and ready for the stretch run ahead.”

Idaho committed three turnovers vs. Montana, and started slow in one of the biggest games the Vandals have played in since The Return.

“I’ve got to do a better job of getting the guys ready for the magnitude of a game like this — sellout crowd, and all that,” Eck said. “I thought we had some yips things — jumping offsides, and I’ve got to do a better job getting the guys ready to play. The good news is, we’ve got a pretty big game next week. So I can do a better job of getting guys in better situations to be successful, and making sure we’re emotionally ready to handle an environment like this.”

Idaho lost offensive lineman Eli Sanchez to a season-ending injury in practice the week of the Montana game.

McCoy did his part to bring Idaho nearly all the way back from a 20-0 hole. He passed for 336 yards and two touchdowns, both to Hayden Hatten, and ran for 54 yards, mostly on scrambles.

“We couldn’t get the quarterback on the ground,” Hauck said. “He’s slick, he’s got great speed. Every time they needed to move the chains, he moved them with his feet. He really played his tail off; on every scoring drive they had, it was him scrambling and making it happen. If I’m them, I’m proud of that kid, he kept his team in the game all night.”

“I thought he competed. He was under a lot of pressure,” Eck said of McCoy. “Our offense is really build to have a good running game, to go with (passing). We’re not really built to be a one-dimensional team. Those last two touchdown, he did a great job extending plays and gave us a chance.”

Including Idaho’s last offensive play, McCoy was sacked six times.

“Even that last play, where they called it a fumble, I thought it should have been an incomplete pass; might have been intentional grounding,” Eck said. “But even on that play, he had pressure on him almost immediately. We’ve got to protect better than we did.”

It was Montana’s second big win on the road in as many weeks — Montana won 31-23 at UC Davis the previous week — and the Griz are playing better since Clifton McDowell took over at quarterback.

“I think they’ve found their footing now, what they want to do offensively,” Eck said of Montana. “I think they’re doing a good job coaching, because they’re doing a good job putting their best guys in position to be successful.”

ON THE late-night drive home, north up U.S. 95, a few miles north of the Coeur d’Alene Casino exit, a white sign with dark letters, propped up on the ground near the median, could be seen by motorists heading north.

“GRIZ COUNTRY,” the sign read.

I noticed it while motoring by — observing the speed limit, of course — shortly before 2 a.m.

You figure the sign was left there by a Griz fan on their way home from the game, which kicked off shortly after 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, and ended shortly before 11.

The surprise was, the sign was still there nearly 3 hours after the game ended — if Vandal fans heading toward Coeur d’Alene were upset over their third-ranked (FCS) squad losing to the No. 16 team located some 250 miles away — I was surprised none of them stopped to remove said sign, squarely in “Vandal Country,” and, well, do to a Griz sign what you might expect a Vandal fan to do with a Griz sign.

I guess in the big picture, the fact someone thought enough to leave a Griz sign near the middle of the road after the game, a sign of Montana support but also a dig at Idaho fans confident their team was going to win this game, is the most meaningful thing here.

Idaho and Montana played some doozies in the 1980s and early 90s, both in Moscow and in Missoula. Idaho, of course, took a 22-year hiatus to dip its toes in the FBS waters, only to return to the Big Sky in 2018.

The teams have played since then, but not quite with the anticipation that Saturday night’s tilt had.

After Idaho left, Montana continued as one of the teams to beat in the Big Sky. Upon their return, the Vandals started to regain their footing in the conference just last year.

So what did the sign signify?

It means the Vandals are back, and, some three decades later, the rivalry is back as well. For real.

“I think this is a pretty good rivalry,” Eck said. “I know it wasn’t for a long time, but it’s a pretty dang good rivalry now.”

That’s a good sign.