Miscues cost Vandals at Davis

DAVIS, Calif. — Idaho had been careful with the football through the first four weeks, with just two turnovers in four games. 

The Vandals, ranked No. 4 in FCS, committed three turnovers Saturday night, allowed No. 14 UC Davis momentum from late in the first quarter through the third, and fell to the Aggies 28-26 in the Big Sky Conference football opener for both teams at UC Davis Health Field. 

Jack Wagner, who had not been intercepted all year, threw two interceptions for Idaho, and the Vandals threw a pick on a flanker pass.  

“Hat's off to Davis, they made a few more plays than we did,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “We got up 14-0 and they didn’t flinch. Turnovers really hurt us, especially in the red zone.” 

In the third quarter, Idaho drove to the UC Davis 5 down 21-17, but threw incomplete in the end zone on fourth down.  

Wagner was then intercepted on the next two possessions, the second time on fourth-and-4 at the Aggies 48. 

Wagner was injured during the game, and was replaced in the second half by Nick Josifek, who nearly led Idaho back from an 11-point deficit. Josifek, a redshirt freshman from College Place, Wash., connected with Emerson Cortez-Menjivar on a 19-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left. Needing two to tie, Josifek rolled left and, under pressure, overthrew the receiver in the right corner of the end zone. 

“He was a Warrior; he gave us a chance,” Eck said of Josifek, who was 9 of 19 for 96 yards in relief. 

"We came out fast, and a bad team would have rolled over,” Idaho junior offensive lineman Nate Azzopardi said. “But credit to them, they're a good team, they fought back, when we tried to make our comeback at the end, they held belief, and pulled through.” 

Idaho (3-2) jumped out to a 14-0 lead after 11 minutes. Cortez-Menjivar took a pop pass from Wagner and rounded the corner for a TD from nine yards out. 

Nate Thomas then ran it in from 4 yards out. 

UC Davis came back with a pair of scores, with Lan Larison, the former Vallivue High of Caldwell star, running it in from a yard out to tie it at 14. 

Cameron Pope hit a 43-yard field goal, and Idaho led 17-14 at halftime. 

UC Davis took control in the third quarter. On the first drive, Larison ran a wheel route down the left sideline and hauled in a 26-yard TD pass from Miles Hastings.  

Hastings threw another TD pass late in the quarter to put the Aggies up 28-17. 

Then the Aggies got cute, eschewing a field goal on fourth and 2 and the Idaho 15, and trying a gadget play that didn’t work. 

Josifek marched Idaho down the field, and the Vandals pulled within one score on Pope’s 22-yard field goal with 4:28 left. 

Idaho eventually got the ball back, and Josifek drove Idaho to another score. 

After the pass for two failed, the Vandals had to try an onside kick, but Larison recovered and UC Davis kneeled it out. 

Eck was pleased the Vandals held Larison, voted the preseason offensive player of the year to 48 yards on 14 carries. But he did catch a TD pass and ran for one score, in addition to sealing the game by recovering the onside kick. 

“They did a good job with their tempo early,” Eck said of Davis. That’s two weeks in a row teams have hurt us going fast.” 

Hastings threw for 248 yards for UC Davis.  

Idaho outgained the Aggies 459-312. 

“If you would have told me we’d out-rush them 185 yards to 26, I would have thought we  won the game,” Eck said. “But that tells you how valuable turnovers are, and special teams.” 

Zach Johnson (Lake City) had a team-high eight tackles for Idaho, including six solo, including one tackle-for-loss. 

UC Davis is now 5-0 vs. Idaho since the Vandals returned to the Big Sky in 2018, including 2-0 vs. Eck, in his third season at Idaho. 

Idaho plays host to Northern Arizona next Saturday.

Idaho     14    3    0    3    —    20 

UC Davis    7    7    14    0    —    28 

First quarter 

IDAHO — Cortez-Menjivar 9 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 11:27 

IDAHO — Thomas 1 run (Pope kick), 4:00 

UCD — Davis 10 pass from Hastings (Ridley kick), :38 

Second quarter 

UCD — Larison 1 run (Ridley kick), 8:35 

IDAHO — FG Pope 43, 5:17 

Third quarter 

UCD — Larison 26 pass from Hastings (Ridley kick), 14:18 

UCD — Williams 13 pass from Hastings (Ridley kick), 1:45 

Fourth quarter 

IDAHO — FG Pope 22, 4:28 

IDAHO — Cortez-Menjivar 19 pass from Josifek (pass failed), :44 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Idaho, Cummings 11-72, Josifek 6-55, Thomas 12-41, Cortez-Menjivar 1-9, Wagner 4-8. UCD, Larison 18-46, Perez 5-14, Hastings 5-(minus 31). 

PASSING — Idaho, Wagner 13-25-2-178, Josifek 9-19-0-96, Harste 0-1-1-0. UCD, Hastings 25-32-0-248, Larison 3-3-0-38. 

RECEIVING — Dwyer 8-114, Moore 4-40, Cortez-Menjivar 4-33, Hamper 2-48, Harste 2-25, Thomas 1-9, Cummings 1-5. UCD, Tompkins 7-33, Larison 4-54, Williams 4-54, Hutton 3-48, Gale 3-40, Gbatu Jr. 3-21, Davis 2-31, Perez 2-5.