Commentary: Santa Claus says those Vandals were good little boys this year
Merry Christmas to all of you in the valley and all around the Quad Cities.
Yeah, I’m sure I’m just the face you wanted to see when you opened your newspaper this morning. I’m sure the thought of putting me up on the dartboard and pulling out your bow and arrow most certainly comes to mind.
But never fear, oh faithful reader. I’m not here to spread discontent, a la Ebeneezer Scrooge. I’m here to play the role of good, old Saint Nicholas, here to give you sports fans not a lump of coal under the tree, but gifts to thee because you’ve all been good little boys and girls (or so my secret elves that reign around my house have told me as much).
It’s the time of year of giving, and what we’re giving you is our list of top 10 stories from the area throughout the year of 2022.
Pulling back the curtain on the process, we ranked our stories from what we thought was the tops in the area to the 10th-best and scored them on a 10 to 1 basis (10 for the No. 1 story and so on).
This year’s top story, at least to me, surprisingly wasn’t the overwhelming favorite, but it also goes to show just how much a few stories made an impact on the area.
But there’s no question to me that the top story was the Idaho football team’s turnaround. It’s been a long time since the Vandals were relevant on the national scene, but the team certainly thrust itself at least into the conversation.
Who knew that two early-season losses to Power Five teams in Washington State and Indiana would have a lot of meaning in the grand scheme of things? But with the way Idaho played in those games against the Cougars and the Hoosiers, there was a distinct different feeling around the program.
But you wouldn’t be blamed if you didn’t believe in this Vandal team. In fact, outside of those in the locker room, no one truly thought (except maybe my beat writer, Trevan Pixley) this team was sniffing .500, let alone the postseason.
That all changed Oct. 15, when the band of merry men from the Palouse headed to Missoula, Mont., and forged an upset for the ages, pounding then-No. 2 Montana into submission and finally injecting life into a fan base so desperately looking for something to cheer about.
That buoyed the Vandals the rest of the way. Oh sure, there were hiccups along the way (see: Sacramento State, Oct. 29 and UC Davis, Nov. 12), but it would have taken an act from God for this team, led by rookie coach Jason Eck, not to make the postseason.
And when Idaho got there ... it almost performed a Christmas miracle. Down 10 points just seconds into the fourth quarter in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Nov. 26 at Southeastern Louisiana and looking like they had just ate the entire Thanksgiving turkey, the Vandals — just like they had done all season long — rose from the dead with two touchdowns in almost five mintues to take the lead.
Not five minutes after that, Idaho was down 10 once again, and again, the Vandals fought back with a quick-strike touchdown, held the Lions, drove to the Southeastern Louisiana side of the field and had a shot to force an overtime period.
But Ricardo Chavez’s 39-yard field goal sailed wide (he made the original, but the Lions had called a time out) with six seconds left and thus the magical carpet ride ended.
However, what this Vandals team did this season I’d say rivaled the famous 2016 season, in which Idaho last had a winning campaign and had to hold off a hard-charging Colorado State team to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise.
While there were several other stories definitely worth mentioning to be in the top spot (the deaths of legendary coaches Ed Cheff and Mike Leach, Lapwai’s boys basketball team winning its second straight Idaho Class 1A Division I title, etc.), there were none that brought an entire base of fans together such as the Vandals did this year.
Walden may be reached at (208) 848-2258, dwalden@lmtribune.com, or on Twitter @waldo9939.
