Vandals look to bounce back against another ranked foe

Today, Northern Arizona at Idaho * 2 p.m., SWX/ESPN+

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

Seeing Northern Arizona on the schedule usually doesn’t elicit the same interest as, say, a game with Eastern Washington or Montana. 

But the Lumberjacks (3-2, 1-0 Big Sky), ranked No. 24 in FCS, who visit No. 10 Idaho (3-2, 0-1) today for the Vandals’ homecoming game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, have made people notice in recent years. 

Last year, NAU defeated Montana, which went on to play for the FCS championship. Last week, the Lumberjacks handled Sacramento State, a ranked FCS squad at the time. 

Earlier this season, NAU led Arizona of the Pac ... er, Big 12, in the third quarter before falling. 

“This team definitely caught our attention,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. 

First-year NAU coach Brian Wright went 33-8 in four seasons at Pittsburg State, including a pair of NCAA Division II playoff appearances. 

“This is a very good team,” Eck said of NAU. “This was a team I suspected might improve a lot. Coach Wright did a great job at Pittsburg State, which is in a very competitive D-II league. He’s been around the Big Sky, used to be a coordinator at Montana State. I suspected he may turn it around, and he’s turned it around pretty quick.”

NAU’s quarterback is Ty Pennington (not the guy from “Extreme Makeover”), who came with Wright from Pittsburg State. Pennington is completing 65 percent of his passes with the Lumberjacks, for 843 yards and six touchdowns, with no interceptions. 

“I think they play with some tempo, and that’s something we have to focus on,” said Eck, noting the last two teams the Vandals played, Abilene Christian and UC Davis, hurt Idaho when they went up-tempo. 

Idaho is looking to bounce back from last week’s 28-26 loss at UC Davis in the conference opener. 

“I have a lot of confidence in this team,” Eck said. “We’re a very good team, and we got beat by another good ranked team, on the road. And now we’ve got another ranked team coming in.  

"We went from two straight FBS teams to four straight ranked teams (in FCS). But we’ll be ready to go.” 

Eck said redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Wagner, who was injured late in the UC Davis game and didn’t finish, should be ready to go today. Wagner took over in Week 2 from Jack Layne, who suffered a broken collarbone in the season opener at Oregon.  

After Wagner left the game last week, redshirt freshman Nick Josifek nearly led the Vandals back from an 11-point deficit in the second half, misfiring on a two-point conversion in the final minute that would have forced overtime. 

Also on the injury front, Eck said defensive linemen Keyshawn James-Newby and Dallas Afalava, limited last week due to injury, are “farther along” this week.  

The Vandals lost tight end Jake Cox for the season with a knee injury. Cox is the son of former Vandal great Mike Cox, who played high school ball at Bonners Ferry and Coeur d’Alene.