No. 21 Utah overwhelms Idaho
- Story byMoscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho
- No. 21 Utah overwhelms Idaho
Sep. 4—The way the game started told the story of the contest.
On the third play from scrimmage, Idaho senior quarterback Joshua Wood fired a pass that was intercepted by Utah senior linebacker Trey Reynolds at the Idaho 29-yard line.
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That led to a touchdown pass just four plays later, and after the extra point, the Utes led 7-0 with 12:42 left in the first quarter.
This was the only time Idaho was within seven points for the rest of the game.
Idaho went into the game as a 34.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel. Utah outperformed that line as the Vandals fell to the Utes 66-14 on Thursday in front of an announced sellout crowd of 51,444 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Utah, the No. 21-ranked team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, looked the part. The Utes didn't seem affected by the Vandals' defense and allowed little from the Idaho offense.
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Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said that the team did not quit on each other in the game and that he was proud of the players' resolve.
"Obviously not the performance we were looking for," Ford said in a postgame radio interview. "I felt like we took some good swings, especially early, and I never thought the group stopped fighting. But we just did not play well enough to stay in the game with a very, very good football team. ... That's a Big 12 team, and they're a ranked team in the top 25 in FBS for a reason. And that talent gap was definitely noticeable at the end of the game."
Idaho standouts and scoring plays
Wood passed 9-for-27 for 111 yards and had one interception with no passing touchdowns. He also led the Vandals in rushing, running the ball nine times for 41 yards with one touchdown.
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Wood's touchdown came on a scramble play in which Utah brought a lot of pressure. Wood scrambled to the right side, escaped and scampered for a 22-yard touchdown to the right pylon.
The touchdown cut the Utes' lead to 45-14 after the extra point with 1:21 left in the third quarter.
It was Idaho's last score of the game.
Idaho's first score came off a Hayden Kincheloe 3-yard run up the middle for a TD. The fifth-year running back's rushing score cut Utah's lead to 17-7 after the PAT with 9:40 to go in the second quarter.
Kincheloe was second on the team in rushing with 37 yards on seven carries. Freshman running back Kenny Golston had the third most rushing yards on the team with 24 on six carries.
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Junior tight end Noah West-Baranco led the Vandals with 44 receiving yards. He gained it all on one catch when Wood escaped a sack attempt to find West-Baranco crossing the field. The catch and gain helped set up the Wood touchdown.
The Vandals brought in their backups in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Local connections
Utah junior running back Wayshawn Parker, formerly of Washington State, scored three times in the game — two receiving touchdowns and one rushing.
Parker ended the game with 12 rushes for 71 yards and three catches for 23 yards.
Parker spent his freshman year at WSU, when he started seven games and played in 12. He rushed the ball 137 times for 735 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns and caught 11 passes for 108 yards and one more score with the Cougs in 2024.
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Utah had another person familiar with the Palouse in Luther Elliss, the Utah defensive tackles coach, who spent five seasons (2017-21) as the Vandals' defensive line coach.
Elliss has five sons who play football: Kaden Elliss, a former Vandal (2014-18), who now plays linebacker for the New Orleans Saints; Christian Elliss, another former Vandal (2017-20), and now a linebacker for the New England Patriots; Jonah Elliss, a former Moscow Bear, who is a linebacker for the Denver Broncos; Noah Elliss, a former Vandal (2019-2021), a current NFL free agent, last playing for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024; and Elijah Elliss a junior linebacker at Utah, who had four tackles and 1/2 tackles for loss in the game.
Utah's offensive dominance
Utah scored 14-or-more points in every quarter of the game.
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The Utes outgained the Vandals in yards 633-225, and had 33 first downs compared to Idaho's 13. Idaho also had two turnovers to Utah's zero.
The Utes' starting quarterback, senior Devon Dampier, finished the game 13-for-18 with 176 yards and three passing touchdowns. Dampier also ran the ball six times for 31 yards.
Senior receiver Braden Pegan led Utah with 81 receiving yards on four catches and caught a touchdown as well.
Utah pulled many of its starters out of the game in the middle of the third quarter and pulled its second-stringers in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Utah's backup quarterback, sophomore Byrd Ficklin, was 4-for-8 for 93 passing yards and two touchdowns. Ficklin also ran the ball eight times for 70 yards.
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Freshman running back LaMarcus Bell led the Utes with 87 yards on seven carries. He also scored a 34-yard touchdown for the final score of the game with just over a minute left.
What's next?
Idaho will next play Lamar at 1 p.m. on Sept. 12 at home in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.
Lamar is currently ranked as the No. 14 team in the Football Championship Subdivision, according to the Stats Perform FCS Poll.
"These extra two days will be huge," Ford said. "Getting us back to health will be huge — (we) had a couple of guys get some knickknack injuries, and I think getting those guys healthy (and) getting a jump start on our opponent is going to be exactly what we need to be successful when we get back to the Kibbie Dome on the 12th."
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Utah 66, Idaho 14
First Quarter
UTAH — W.Parker 9 pass from Dampier (Curtis kick), 12:40.
UTAH — FG Curtis 24, 10:40.
UTAH — W.Parker 21 run (Curtis kick), 1:07.
Second Quarter
IDHO — Kincheloe 3 run (Forsman kick), 9:40.
UTAH — Pegan 7 pass from Dampier (Curtis kick), 4:39.
UTAH — W.Parker 3 pass from Dampier (Curtis kick), :32.
Third Quarter
UTAH — Pegan 12 run (Curtis kick), 13:15.
UTAH — N.Bennee 35 pass from Ficklin (Curtis kick), 4:45.
IDHO — Wood 22 run (Forsman kick), 1:21.
Fourth Quarter
UTAH — H.Andrews 9 pass from Ficklin (Curtis kick), 14:36.
UTAH — Chavez-Soto 5 run (Cragun kick), 9:13.
UTAH — Bell 34 run (Cragun kick), 1:04.
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A — 51,444.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Idaho, Wood 9-41, Kincheloe 7-37, Golston 3-24, Bias 3-6, Miller 4-1, Carter 5-(-3). Utah, Bell 7-87, W.Parker 12-71, Ficklin 8-70, Chavez-Soto 6-35, Dampier 6-31, Helu 3-25, H.Andrews 1-13, Bray 2-13, Pegan 1-12, Rose 2-8.
PASSING — Idaho, Wood 9-27-1-111, Carter 2-3-0-8. Utah, Dampier 13-18-0-176, Ficklin 4-8-0-93.
RECEIVING — Idaho, Harste 2-23, Card 2-6, West-Baranco 1-44, Alexander 1-17, Superales 1-9, Jezioro 1-8, McCraney 1-6, Kincheloe 1-4, Miller 1-2. Utah, Pegan 4-81, W.Parker 3-23, Simmons 2-41, Whittemore 2-27, R.Johnson 2-25, H.Andrews 2-14, N.Bennee 1-35, Carvalho 1-23.
MISSED FIELD GOALS — None.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.
