Drew is out today as he's expecting his second bundle of joy. Hopefully the baby comes soon and without complications. We wish you the best, Drew.
That means that I'll be your Know Your Enemy host this week and it's a doozy. This week we take on none other than that sorry sack of a team to the north. Granted, they did have an amazing 2009 campaign (for their standards) going 8-5 and winning the Human Bowl on a 2-pt conversion.
But, this season they came crashing back to earth. They currently sit at 4-5 after a 63-17 rout by Nevada last week. To become bowl eligible and win that highly coveted berth in the Human Bowl, they'll need to win 2 games out of their final 4 that includes Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State and San Jose State.
Now, let's get to the factoids and childish jokes about this mental midget team to the north.
Ten things you may already know but desperately need to be reiterated
- Idaho's original "stadium", Neale Stadium, was condemned in 1969 due the structural issues of the wooden grandstands. Then a supposed arson burned it down a few months later. The Vandals used WSU's Rogers Field to play their 2 home games. Less than 5 months later, another suspected arson took out part of the Rogers field grandstands. The reduced capacity forced WSU to move their home games to Spokane, but the lack of capacity for Idaho was no problem. They played their four 1970 games at the damaged Rogers field.
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Robb Akey likes news coverage of himself. Last year after the Human Bowl, Akey called into the Scott Van Pelt show on ESPN radio after Van Pelt had been playing various sound clips of who Akey sounded like. Robb Akey is the anti-Chris Petersen.
- In the 80's the minimum drinking age in Idaho was 19. Every weekend, WSU students would make the short 8 mile drive from Pullman, WA to Moscow to get drunk and then drive back making that stretch of highway one of the dangerous in the country. Idaho's drinking age was raised to 21 in 1987 forever removing any good reason to visit Moscow. I'm thinking the nasty and inebriated tag was around a long time before Kustra mentioned it this past year.
- Idaho's longest tenured coach in their history was John G. "Pinky" Griffith, who coached for 10 seasons in Moscow and went 28-22-2. Griffith left Idaho to coach at Iowa after the 1906 season but returned as Vandals coach in 1910 and took over the University of Idaho's Entomology Department. Prior to coaching, Griffith was a fullback and team captain for the Iowa Hawkeyes' football team.
- Tom Cable was the Vandals head coach from 2000-2003 amassing a 11-35 record. He was the first coach to be fired from Idaho. In 2008, Al Davis named Tom Cable the interim head coach after Lane Kiffin was fired. I'm really not sure if all of this says more about Idaho Vandals football, Al Davis or Lane Kiffin.
- Last year in order to create a "bowl-minded" team, Akey invited his team to his house and served them steak out of bowls. I assume they couldn't use their hands.
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Two famous alums of the Vandal football team are Jerry Kramer and Bill Fagerbakke. Kramer went on to fame and fortune as the Intermountain Gas spokesman after his playing career in Moscow was over and Fagerbakke went on to become a starfish. Ok, Kramer was pretty good.
- Idaho's most vocal fan may be alum Mark Schlereth. He has an alter ego as Roc Hoover which has made an appearance on the Guiding Light. And, yes, Roc Hoover existed before his appearance on the Guiding Light.
- The Vandals nickname reportedly came from the student newspaper after a writer referred to the basketball team as vandals because of their ferocious play. Vandals apparently refers to a "Germanic people who [sic] in 455 sacked Rome". That's much better than this definition: "One who willfully or maliciously defaces or destroys public or private property."
- Idaho has an all-time record of 434-541-26. Sure they, won 12 straight against the Broncos in the 80s and 90s, but that was much more anomalous than anything they've experienced before or since. They've never won a national championship, notched an undefeated season or even made a dent in the Division 1-AA playoffs. Despite their "streak", the Broncos lead the all-time series with the Vandals 21-17-1. Just remember all this when your revisionist Vandal co-workers try to reminisce about the "good old days".
Your Turn
Do you have any fun facts about the University of Idaho, Vandal fans or the city of Moscow? Does this "rivalry" matter to you anymore? What's your best memory from past games?