Nearly everything about the first 45 minutes of Idaho's 44-28 loss to Arkansas State on Saturday looked as if it would lead to a win for the home team. It would've been an ugly, sloppy win but a win nonetheless. Despite five turnovers on offense and special teams the Vandals (1-7, 1-5 Sun Belt) were playing arguably their best game of the season in nearly every facet of the game.
After three quarters, down 30-28 Idaho looked to be in prime position to win a close one but a Chad Chalich interception and a Jerrel Brown fumble turned into 14 Arkansas State points and capped a scoreless fourth quarter meltdown by the Vandals.
"You can't beat bad teams with that many turnovers, let alone a good team," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. "What's sad is when it was 30-28 it was probably the best game we've played since I've been here in two years. You just can't keep turning the ball over, when you do that you don't give yourself a chance to win."
The final period is when it just all fell apart. Ball security continued to be an issue as the Vandals turnover total grew to eight, the offensive line stopped creating holes in the run game and the defensive line stopped getting pressure.
"It reverted big time in the fourth quarter, which is really sad and really hard to see," Petrino said of the line play. "It just really changed in the fourth quarter and that's not good, that cannot happen."
Three takeaways from Idaho's loss to Arkansas State
- Chalich on the rise
With the total number of turnovers and the final passing stats it may be hard to imagine one quarterback having a significantly better afternoon than the other but for a while it certainly appeared that way with Chad Chalich under center. The sophomore QB was just a modest 6-of-9 for 133 yards but the offense did indeed look very crisp with him in command. The threat of Chalich opened up the run game for Elijhaa Penny and Brown, which then opened up passing lanes for Chalich to make plays down the field.
"I'll watch it on tape," Petrino said when asked about Chalich's performance. "He did some good things, he handed the ball off good and moved around good at times but we can't turn the ball over and they both did that."
Chalich's interception in the fourth quarter put on a black eye on what would've been a second-straight solid performance that might have earned him a more serious consideration as next week's starter. In the last two games Chalich is a combined 25 of 42 for 346 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. After the game Petrino wouldn't say if he's considering a quarterback change, though he didn't rule out the possibility of using Chalich more going forward. It didn't help starting quarterback Matt Linehan's case that he committed five turnovers, three interceptions and two fumbles, while completing 11 of 22 passes for 93 yards.
"I'm not going to tell you that regardless," Petrino said of a potential QB change. "We got a whole week of practice and we'll decide that at the end. Matt's been the starter all year, I just put Chad in today to get something going, he played good at times and we'll see how it goes next week."
- Elijhaa Penny and Jerrel Brown make a nice 1-2 punch
The combination of Penny's 6-foot-2, 254-pound power running and Brown's ability to make plays between the tackles and bounce it outside makes for a decent running back duo. The holes Saturday were pretty much open everywhere on the field, allowing Penny to run 16 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Brown had his second straight impressive outing on the ground, carrying the rock 15 times for 98 yards with two scores of his own. On both of his two scores - of eight and 16 yards - he practically went in untouched because of great offensive line play. In his last two games Brown has rushed for 249 yards on 38 carries, an impressive 6.5 yards per attempt.
"They were running good for a while but we just couldn't continue to do it and we didn't stay on the field long enough to do it," Petrino said. "Usually when we ran the ball well it's because we stayed on the field, got first downs, moved it and wore them down then ran it well. When you turn the ball over you don't give yourself a chance to stay on the field and wear them out."
If the quarterback situation continues to be in flux, it'll be nice for the Vandals to know they have a run game to rely on going forward.
- Dominance up front
Part of those 45 minutes of sound football for the Vandals included very strong play from Idaho's front seven. For the first couple of Arkansas State (5-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) drives of the day gave the impression the Red Wolves' read option with Fredi Knighten and Michael Gordon would give the Vandals fits, especially after Gordon broke free for an untouched 44-yard touchdown run down the left sideline early in the first quarter.
But with the exception of that run, Gordon - and Knighten - were pretty much held in check. Without that initial touchdown run Gordon only had 69 yards on 16 carries and 45 yards receiving, though 35 of those yards came on one play. Knighten racked up just 73 net yards on his quarterback runs on 26 attempts and was sacked four times.
Idaho linebacker Marc Millan was at the forefront of the defensive attack with a team-leading 18 total tackles including five tackles for loss and a sack. Safety Tom Hennessey recorded 11 total tackles of his own while safety Bradley Njoku and tackle Quayshawne Buckley tallied eight a piece. As a team they managed 12 tackles for loss, often times blowing up those read options in the backfield.
Saturday the defensive front that people expected to see before the start of season finally showed up and going forward that's a good sign for the Vandals - if they can keep it up for four quarters, that is.
Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at (208) 883-4629, or by email to mdugar@dnews.com.
