Vandals’ strong third quarter aids UI victory

MOSCOW — It was not exactly the rebound coach Jason Eck was looking for, but it was a win nonetheless.

The No. 13 Idaho Vandals survived a shaky first half and a late comeback attempt by Cal Poly to earn a bounce-back victory over the Mustangs, 34-29, on Saturday at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

“Good to find a way to win. I didn’t like how we played in the first half,” Eck said. “I thought the Cal Poly coaches (did) a better job having their guys ready to go than I did in the first half. They were playing harder and playing with a little bit more want to and fire.”

Art Williams fumbled the ball as Idaho (5-3, 2-2) was attempting to ice the clock and Cal Poly’s Kai Rapolla returned it 71 yards for a touchdown. It forced the Vandals to recover an onside kick, which Alex Moore successfully accomplished, to avoid a late-game collapse.

Idaho was without quarterbacks Jack Layne and Nick Josifek as well as running backs Eli Cummings and Nate Thomas and it showed in the first half.

Layne was in uniform and went out with his fellow captains for the coin toss, but donned a headset for the game.

Cal Poly (2-5, 1-3) outgained Idaho 207-126 in the first half and had 12 first downs compared to four for the Vandals. The Mustangs shocked the 8,873 in attendance with a 14-6 halftime lead.

“If we kept playing the way we were playing in the first half, we were going to lose the football game,” Eck said. “I thought we responded well on both sides of the ball and did some good things.”

The Vandals outgained the Mustangs 453-357 because of a strong second-half performance in which Idaho scored 28 points with four scoring drives in the first five drives of the half.

Freshman quarterback Jack Wagner finished the day 17-of-23 passing for a career-high 347 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.

Wide receiver Mark Hamper had four receptions for 103 yards. Jordan Dwyer had seven catches for 87 yards and a score. Williams led the depleted running back room with 15 carries for 93 yards.

Cal Poly controls first half

Idaho had five drives in the first half and was only able to muster 126 yards and a pair of field goals. Both scoring drives were halted by Vandal penalties and the Mustangs led 14-3 at the break.

A holding call along with an illegal-man-downfield penalty put Idaho in a third-and-long situation and the Vandals were forced to settle for a 44-yard field goal by Cameron Pope.

Two Idaho drives later, the Vandals were inside the 10-yard line after wide receiver Tony Harste got behind the secondary for a 65-yard pass from Wagner.

After multiple attempts to score near the goal line, Idaho was looking at a fourth-and-goal from the 2. A false start pushed the offense back 5 yards and the Vandals settled again for a Pope field goal, this time from 25 yards out.

Cal Poly and quarterback Bo Kelly had no problem going for the easy throw against the soft zone look from Idaho’s defense.

Kelly was 14-of-18 passing for 126 yards and a touchdown in the first 30 minutes of the game. The sophomore’s lone score came in the second quarter when Kelly found Giancarlo Woods open in the middle of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Mustangs struggled on the ground for most of the first half, but wide receiver Michael Briscoe broke a 50-yarder to set up a Cal Poly score.

The big run allowed backup quarterback Richie Watts, who sporadically entered in behind center, to find Alek Marshall for a 3-yard touchdown pass after two Idaho defenders collided into each other.

Idaho responds in second half

The Vandals went for a pair of deep strikes to start the third quarter. Wagner underthrew both passes, but his receivers were there to make a play.

Hamper juggled the ball as he fought with a defender to get it back. The freshman got a lucky break as the ball fell right into his gut as he hit the ground for a 29-yard completion.

On the very next play, Dwyer came back to make a catch-and-run for 45 yards.

The drive ended on an 8-yard pass to tight end Mike Martinez. Fourth-string quarterback Rocco Koch entered to run in the 2-point conversion and tie the game 14-all.

After a Cal Poly three-and-out, Eck went to his bag of tricks. Wagner handed it to Dwyer who ran to the sideline before he turned to throw it back to Wagner. The quarterback looked down field and when no one was open, he threw it back to Dwyer for an 8-yard reception.

A 34-yard strike to Hamper set up a 2-yard Koch quarterback keeper for a touchdown.

The ensuing PAT attempt was blocked and returned by Brian Dukes Jr. of the Mustangs to give Cal Poly two points.

Idaho caught a break when a punt attempt went haywire. Cal Poly punter Jesse Ehrlich chased down a ball that was snapped over his head. The punter was able to grab it, spin and kick it away.

Harste attempted to retrieve the punt on a bounce, but could not handle it. It looked like the Mustangs jumped on the ball, but the ball squirted away and Idaho was able to avoid a turnover.

Three plays later, the Vandals went for a double reverse pass that ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar from Wagner to give Idaho an 11-point lead.

Keyshawn James-Newby, a play after getting called for being offside, got to Kelly and disrupted a pass attempt. The ball hung in the air for UI linebacker Isiah King to come down with it.

Wagner connected with Dwyer for a 21-yard touchdown on the following Idaho drive and it looked like the Vandals had put the game out of reach, up 33-16.

“We had some good conversations at halftime. I really liked how they responded,” Eck said. “I thought they came out and played really well in the third quarter building the lead. We have to go a little cleaner down the stretch. We have a 17-point lead. We’ve got to put that game away."

Nearly a late-game collapse

It looked like an innocent junk-time touchdown when Kelly found Woods for a 4-yard score with 2:39 remaining. The score cut the Vandal lead to 11, but Cal Poly only had one timeout remaining.

The Mustangs went for an onside kick, but Lewiston native Cruz Hepburn jumped on the ball.

Idaho got a first down on a big run by Williams after two false start penalties and an offsides call had stalled the game. On the next run by Williams, he put it on the turf and Cal Poly returned it for a touchdown to cut the lead to five.

Idaho recovered another onside kick and escaped with the win.

Cal Poly 0 14 2 13—29

Idaho 3 3 21 7—34

First quarter

IDA — FG Pope 44, 1:38.

Second quarter

CPU — G. Woods 17 pass from Kelly (Serna kick), 9:49.

CPU — Marshall 3 pass from Watts (Serna kick), 5:30.

IDA — FG Pope 25, 2:02.

Third quarter

IDA — Martinez 8 pass from Wagner (Koch run), 12:08.

IDA — Koch 2 run (kick blocked), 7:05.

CPU — Dukes PAT return, 7:05.

IDA — Cortez-Menjivar 21 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 3:13.

Fourth quarter

IDA — Dwyer 21 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 6:11.

CPU — G. Woods 2 pass from Kelly (Serna kick), 2:39.

CPU — Rapolla 71 fumble return (run failed), 1:02.

RUSHING — Cal Poly, Briscoe 1-50, Hall 7-18, Watts 4-13, Ramos 7-12, Kelly 3-(minus-4); Idaho, Williams 15-86, Buchanan 7-24, Koch 5-16, Wagner 6-(minus-17).

PASSING — Cal Poly, Kelly 29-41-1-268, Watts 2-2-0-12; Idaho, Wagner 17-23-1-347.

RECEIVING — Cal Poly, G. Woods 8-102, Garrison 5-58, Booher 7-52, J. Woods 3-20, Hall 3-19, Ramos 1-14, Briscoe 3-12, Marshall 1-3; Idaho, Hamper 4-103, Dwyer 7-87, Harste 1-65, Moore 2-36, Mini 1-27, Cortez-Menjivar 1-21, Martinez 1-8.

Missed field goals — Cal Poly: Serna (52).

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.