Oct. 21—MOSCOW, Idaho — Wallowing in a four-game losing streak, Idaho may find hope in the return of starting quarterback Joshua Wood.
Coach Thomas Ford Jr. made the encouraging announcement Monday that Wood may be able to play Saturday when the Vandals (2-5, 0-3 Big Sky) host the Portland State Vikings (0-7, 0-3) at the Kibbie Dome.
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Wood was injured in Idaho’s 41-30 loss to Montana Sept. 27 and played the second half with a knee sprain. He subsequently sat out losses to Northern Colorado, 49-33, and Eastern Washington, 21-14.
The Vandals and Vikings are both desperate to win. It is PSU’s best chance to pick up a victory, and the Vandals still have a glimmer of hope of making the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs if they can run the table in their final five games and pick up wins against nationally ranked Northern Arizona (20th in Stats Perform poll and 22nd in AFCA poll) and University of California Davis (6th in both polls).
“They will do everything in their power to win,” Ford said of the Vikings. “We are in the same situation.”
With Wood in charge, Idaho went toe-to-toe with Washington State and San Jose State of the Football Bowl Subdivision, losing late to the Cougars, 13-10, and the Spartans, 31-28, and the Vandals beat Utah Tech, 20-6, and St. Thomas, 37-30. For the season, Wood has completed 78 of 130 passes for 927 yards with six touchdowns and an interception, and he has rushed 46 times for 346 yards and six scores.
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Portland State is expected to come at the Vandals with quarterbacks John Keawe Sagapolutele and Tyrese Smith. Keawe Sagapolutele has completed 97 of 169 passes for 1,034 yards and three touchdowns. But he plays fast and loose and has thrown eight interceptions. Smith is a change of pace runner. He has rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
Sagapolutele’s penchant for throwing picks is no doubt good news to a Vandals’ defense Ford said was a bright spot in the loss to EWU.
“I thought the defense played exceptionally well,” Ford said. “They gave up 305 total yards and bottled up an explosive quarterback (Nate Bell, 177 yards passing with an interception and two touchdowns and 134 yards rushing).
“I felt very good about the tackling…For three games, the defense did not play well. Against Eastern, they played very well.”
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For the season, Idaho has allowed an average of 364.3 yards per game, second in the Big Sky, and it has forced six turnovers.
The Vandals will need to find a way to stop the Vikings’ best player on offense, running back Delon Thompson (261 yards on 96 carries with three touchdowns). Idaho will also need to mitigate Vikings edge rusher Spencer Elliott’s impact. He is a worker. Elliott has tallied 23 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two quarterback hurries.
Ford said despite the disappointment of the last four games, the Vandals remain focused forward.
“A four-game skid can be miserable in practice, but that is not the way with our kids. … They are committed to doing the work every day.”
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Heading toward the PSU game, Ford said a goal in practice is to restore the mind set that allowed Idaho to play WSU and SJSU to a near standstill.
“We remind our guys every day how good of a football team we are,” he said, “how good of players we have.”
