THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Vandal football: 'Doom and gloom,' or 'we're close'

Do you look at the glass as half-full? 

Or half-empty? 

The Idaho Vandal football team sits at 0-4, with a bye this week, and the defending FCS national championship Montana State Bobcats coming to Moscow one week from Friday. 

"Obviously it feels all doom and gloom at the moment," second-year Idaho head coach Thomas Ford Jr. said last Saturday afternoon, after the Vandals lost 41-39 to Abilene Christian at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow. 

With a little extra time this week to self-reflect, Ford said he chooses to look at the positives, and try to fix the ... well, not-so-positives. 

"If the ball bounces our way, we're 3-1," Ford said.   

But, as former coach Bill Parcells once said, "You are what your record says you are." 

LET'S REVIEW. 

In the season opener at Cal Poly, the Vandals rallied to take the lead with just under a minute left, then lost 38-34 in the final seconds when the Mustangs completed a bit of a prayer of a pass on fourth down. 

The next week was the expected beatdown at Utah (66-14), a ranked Power-4 opponent, with the Vandals receiving (through Venmo?) a $600,000 check for the trouble. 

Then came two home games against two FCS playoff teams from a year ago. 

In the first, with a chance to establish momentum in front of the home fans for the first time, Idaho fell behind 20-3 at the half, before losing 23-17. 

This past Saturday, the Vandals went back and forth with Abilene Christian into the third quarter. 

Then, the visitors turned an Idaho fumble into a scoop-and-score. On the next possession, the Vandals went for it on fourth down in their own territory and failed. On the next play, Abilene Christian scored on a screen pass. 

Ballgame.  

Idaho scored twice, but again fell short. 

"It just comes down to execution, and we have just not executed for four quarters," Ford said. "You can't make the errors that we're making, especially late in the game." 

THE BRIGHT side? 

If there's such a thing, Ford chooses to look at it. 

Quarterback Joshua Wood has been "phenomenal," Ford said, with his legs and his arm. His ability to extend plays by scrambling often leads to wide-open receivers. 

Wood is Idaho's leading rusher, which is nice but not ideal. The non-Joshua Wood portion of the running game, almost non-existent the first three weeks, showed signs of life last week. It will need to continue to improve, because relying on the quarterback running is usually not sustainable. 

On the defense, the secondary is no longer getting burned deep. Still, Ford says the 'D' needs to tackle better, be "more consistent playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage," and take the ball away. 

Montana State (4-0, 1-0 Big Sky) plays host to Northern Arizona this Saturday, before traveling to Moscow. 

The Bobcats beat Nevada and former MSU coach Jeff Choate two weeks ago, but had to rally to put away winless Central Connecticut State at home last week. 

"It's going to be difficult with our next opponent," Ford said. "But we get a bye week, which will be huge for us. And they'll have to play on a short week. We're going to try to take advantage of that as best we can." 

Ford notes the Vandals' conference goals are still in front of them, with eight games remaining, all Big Sky contests — Montana State, at Weber State, at Montana, vs. Southern Utah, at Portland State, vs. Eastern Washington, vs. UC Davis and at Idaho State. 

Longtime Vandal fans got a reminder of the good 'ol days when Jason Eck showed up and guided Idaho to FCS playoff appearances in all three of his seasons in Moscow (2022, '23 and '24). Now he's in his second year at New Mexico. 

The Vandals dipped to 4-8 last year and are off to an 0-4 start this year. 

The fans are starting to get restless.

"At the end of the day, this isn't good enough," Ford said. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.