The Vandals hope senior day is historic

The Vandals have an opportunity to do something the football program hasn’t done in 28 years: complete an undefeated regular season inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

Idaho (7-3, 4-2) can accomplish that mission with a win today as the Vandals host Weber State at 5 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on SWX and streamed live on ESPN+. It would be the first perfect regular-season home record for UI since 1996.

The game will also represent Senior Day for Idaho as the team will honor the 11 seniors on its roster. Weber State (3-7, 2-4) beat the Vandals when the two teams met last season and has a major upset on its resume with a road win against Montana earlier in the season.

“You never know how these teams are going to react. We certainly can’t let a team like this play harder than us,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “They’re more in the spoiler role now, while we have tangible things to play for before. … This team was kind of in that role last year, too. They weren’t a playoff team last year, but they spoiled us from winning a conference championship.”

Upset Wildcats

Weber State has struggled to a 3-7 record, but the Wildcats are a team that is no stranger to going into a team with playoff hopes and causing havoc.

On Oct. 5, Weber State went into Missoula, Mont., and upset the Grizzlies 55-48 in overtime. The two teams traded scores throughout the game, and there were 38 combined points in the fourth quarter. Richie Munoz found Damon Bankston for a 7-yard score and the defense came up with a big stop to end the upset.

“Their record is not where they want it to be at 3-7, but you can see what this team is capable of,” Eck said. “When you’re able to beat Montana on the road, that’s a heck of a win.”

The Wildcats have a balanced attack offensively. Weber State is averaging 217 passing yards per game. game and 210.5 yards on the ground per match. Defensively, WSU has given up 170.5 rushing yards per game. competition and has struggled to generate revenue. In 10 games, Weber State has forced just eight turnovers.

Damon Bankston is averaging in the triple digits per game. game rushing for 1,050 yards on 166 attempts. The junior nearly doubled his career total in a breakout season. During his first three years with Weber State, Bankston totaled 1,220 rushing yards, which at the time was good enough for 31st all-time in Wildcat history. Now at 2,270 yards, the running back is seventh all-time for the school. The Katy, Texas, native is 429 yards from breaking the school’s single-season rushing record with two games remaining.

Munoz has thrown for 2,170 yards and 21 touchdowns on 190-of-320 (59.4%) passing. The quarterback’s favorite target is Jacob Sharp with 48 receptions for 728 yards and eight touchdowns.

“Munoz is a good player. Played us last year, beat us last year,” Eck said. “Kept us from playing for a conference championship.”

Who will be the Idaho quarterback?

The story of the 2024 season for second-year quarterback Jack Layne has been a painful one. He broke his collarbone in the season opener against Oregon and missed nearly two months.

In his return against Eastern Washington on Oct. 26, Layne went 17-of-28 for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, the QB suffered a wrist injury on his throwing hand and has struggled to throw the ball deep. It was enough of a setback that Layne missed last week’s game against Portland State.

Jack Wagner handled the position well against the Vikings with a 205-yard performance. The freshman has struggled to work through his progressions and has tended to force the ball deep too often, but he has the physical ability to be solid as a signal-caller.

With Nick Josifek (collarbone) and Holden Bea (lower leg) out for the season and freshman Rocco Koch rehabbing injuries he suffered as a run option at QB against EWU, the Vandals are thin at the position. If Layne and Koch are still out and Wagner were to get hurt, Idaho would be down to the wildcat/option playbook with wide receiver Mark Hamper and running back Art Williams in line to take snaps.

Strong rushing attack with a deep RB space

Running backs Elisha Cummings and Nate Thomas are still working their way back from the injured list, but Eck has had the opportunity to ease them back in because of the play of Williams and freshman Deshaun Buchanan.

Williams has been a solid compliment to Cummings and Thomas’ running style, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. carry.

Buchanan has taken every opportunity presented to him with injuries and run with it. The Chandler, Ariz., native is second on the team with 419 rushing yards on 8.4 YPC. Buchanan has rushed for 328 yards with four touchdowns on just 30 carries in back-to-back breakout performances.