MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho Vandals capped their spring practice slate with a competitive, back-and-forth spring game Saturday at the Kibbie Dome, with the offense coming out on top over the defense, 27-24. First-year head coach Thomas Ford walked away pleased — not just with the final score, but with the overall health, effort, and physicality his team showed.
“Our number one goal in the spring game is to stay healthy, and I think we did a good job of that,” Ford said after the scrimmage. “We’re short a few O-linemen, so we kind of cut the second half a little bit shorter than originally planned. But I thought there were some really good things.”
The game featured extended drives from the offense and a great stops from the defense, creating a balanced showing from both sides of the ball.
“Anytime it’s a competitive scrimmage, offense and defense, I’m happy,” Ford said. “Anytime it gets lopsided, I get a little bit nervous. It was awesome to see the offense really get it going, put together some long drives, and it was also good to see the defense get a couple three-and-outs. I thought overall the guys played really hard.”
One noticeable improvement came from the offense, which struggled in earlier scrimmages this spring against a defense throwing a variety of challenging looks at them. Ford attributed part of Saturday’s offensive surge to both growth in the system and a more basic defensive approach for the game.
“A little bit more vanilla on defense today,” Ford said. “Coach [Cort] Dennison’s got some good stuff cooked up, but we didn’t want to show too much of that today… That’s gonna help us in the long run. When we see a bunch of tough looks and we’re able to coach it up on film, that’s really gonna help us develop offensively.”
Ford also praised the play of his younger quarterbacks, specifically mentioning redshirt freshmen Rocco Koch and Holden Bea for their strides in the passing game.
“It was good to see our younger quarterbacks have success,” Ford said. “They had to struggle a little bit, especially throwing the ball down the field. And you saw both of those guys complete some stuff 20-plus yards down the field. I thought that group really stood out in terms of guys that have really gotten better over the spring.”
In terms of overall program culture, Ford continues to emphasize competitiveness in everything the team does — something he said was on full display Saturday.
“One of the main things we talk about in our program is competing in everything you do,” Ford said. “If we’re playing rock, paper, scissors, our guys are trying to win.”
When asked to compare this current team to the one he was part of during the start of Jason Eck’s tenure in 2022, Ford noted a dramatic difference.
“I told Coach [Matt] Linehan, this is night and day from 2022,” Ford said. “I didn’t know if we were gonna score an offensive touchdown in 2022. And to see us move the ball really effectively, get in the end zone quite a bit was pretty awesome. We’re definitely light years ahead of when Coach Eck started this thing, but we still have a lot to work on to get back to a 10-win level team like we were last year.”
The Vandals will now turn their attention to summer workouts and fall camp as they continue preparations for the 2025 season and week one against Washington State.
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