Not-same-ol’ Vandals are a playoff team

Throughout the season, we’ve talked numerous times about if this season for the Idaho football team could be considered one for the books.

The Vandals took their bumps and bruises throughout the year, but at the end of the day under first-year head coach Jason Eck, Idaho has done what at one point seemed impossible — make the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Idaho plays at Southeastern Louisiana in the first round of the FCS playoffs at 4 p.m. Pacific on Saturday.

During Idaho’s storybook run, talking about the possibility of an FCS playoff appearance seemed almost taboo or too early to consider. Then, the Little Brown Stein made its way back to Moscow and the postseason was becoming more and more of a reality.

One thing I will say, the atmosphere in the Kibbie Dome up in the Litehouse Suite during the FCS Playoff Selection Show on Sunday was infectious.

From an impartial point of view, I thought the Vandals deserved a spot in the playoffs. However, I’m just a guy who writes for a local newspaper.

When the first side of the bracket got revealed and Idaho’s name wasn’t called, there was a sense of uneasiness that even started to come over me.

Despite the knocks I’ve made on Idaho throughout the season by calling them average at times, they deserved a shot to challenge that theory.

Eck was pacing around the suite during the commercial break waiting for the next side of the bracket to be revealed. That’s when the nervousness turned to excitement and it wasn’t even when Idaho’s name got called, it was when Montana was named.

When the Grizzlies were revealed to be a postseason team, it was obvious that the Vandals were postseason bound as well.

It was almost like Eck knew exactly where Idaho was going to be as he exclaimed “This is us,” and what’d you know, he was right. The nervousness and uncertainty turned into excitement, hugs and celebration.

For a person who’s in his first year covering the Idaho football team, it was hard for me not to smile. I remember in the past as a part-timer at the Lewiston Tribune, I’d hear stories from former reporters on the Vandals beat in the office and let’s just say it wasn’t always pretty. In my first year, I’ve been lucky enough to follow probably the best story in the entire FCS.

All it seemingly took was a coaching staff who could instill some sort of belief into a program that already had talent. Honestly, coaches at every level can take notes on just how much Eck and the boys changed the culture in Moscow.

In the third column I ever wrote on the Vandal beat, I asked the question, are these the “same ol’ Vandals?” I think we’ve found the answer to that question.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.