When Idaho scored on the second trick play of Saturday night’s surprise showdown against No. 3 Oregon to pull within three points of the Ducks midway through the fourth quarter, the Vandals appeared poised to pull off the biggest upset in college football history.
The Ducks, who had defeated all their FCS opponents by an average score of 60-13 over the past two decades, were a 45 1/2-point favorite. But dreams of a stunning upset for the Vandals were extinguished after Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson scored on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Dillon Gabriel, sealing a 24-14 Oregon victory.
On paper, the Ducks dominated the game, outgaining Idaho 487-217 yards. But make no mistake: the Vandals gave the Ducks fits. Idaho limited an Oregon team that many predicted would win the national title to fewer than three yards per carry and no play longer than 24 yards. Even more impressive, Idaho fired highly sought-after transfer QB Gabriel three times. Oregon allowed just five sacks last season.
“They won critical situations,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “In the middle eight (the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half) we didn’t score any points, which is unique for us. I thought they also had a good plan: we don’t get hit over the top with shots. We’re going to tackle what’s in front of us, and we’re going to make sure Oregon beats Oregon – we don’t want to do that Idaho Oregon had to beat. They stuck to their identity and did it well.”
The real story of Oregon vs. However, Idaho is about the reality of college football in 2024.
The Ducks, thanks in large part to mega-booster Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, are seen within the sport as the gold standard of NIL thanks to their well-organized, well-funded college collective. Even Georgia’s Kirby Smart joked this summer that he “wished” he could get some of “that NIL money he shares with Dan Lanning.”
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Meanwhile, the Vandals lost seven of their top players to FBS programs through the transfer portal this season. Five of them received NIL deals in the low six figures, Idaho coach Jason Eck said.
“If we had those (five) guys getting paid, I think we probably would have beaten Oregon,” Eck said. “We were fired four times. Our quarterback, who is now at Oregon State, can really avoid pressure and extend playing time.”
Quarterback Gevani McCoy, who transferred to Oregon State, was a 2023 Walter Payton Award finalist after throwing for 5,631 yards, 42 touchdowns and running for five more over the past two seasons. McCoy went 9-for-10 in leading the Beavers to a win over Idaho State last weekend. Cornerback Marcus Harris, a first-team All-American who went to Cal, set an Idaho record with 36 passes defensed and three picks in 2023. He had an interception in his debut for Cal and helped the Bears to a victory.
Anthony Woods, a first-team All-Big Sky running back who ran for 1,155 yards and 16 touchdowns, left for Utah. Linebacker Xe’ree Alexander, who led the Vandals with 75 tackles and two forced fumbles as a true freshman last year, left for UCF. Cornerback Ormanie Arnold, who had 33 tackles and two interceptions, left for Cincinnati.
“They are well coached and are also doing well in the boy identification portal,” Lanning said. “They went to (NAIA) Montana Tech to look for a player (top pass rusher Keyshawn James-Newby) and to (FCS) Weber State (DB-KR Abraham Williams). Eck is doing great.”
Eck, a 47-year-old former offensive lineman from Wisconsin, took over a program of five consecutive losing seasons. He led the Vandals to seven wins in his 2022 debut season before going 9-4 and ranking No. 8 in the country in the FCS last year. Even though he’s only been a head coach for a little over two seasons, the job has changed quite a bit in that time, as it has for all college coaches, especially those in the bottom half of the FBS and in the FCS.
“It has definitely become more difficult than when I took this job and was hired in December 2021,” he said. “NIL had just become legal. You didn’t think that guys would just be recruited from your squad. It’s just a balancing act of trying to do what’s right for the kids because for some it’s life-changing money.
“The one thing we’re going to try to do this year with some of us is, especially guys who are younger players – and we’ve started a lot of younger players in this game – have the mindset of ‘one more year,’” Eck said . “Our guys went to Oregon State, Cal, UCF and Cincinnati, they didn’t go to top destinations. ‘Wait another year. Don’t go to a bottom half Power 4 school. ”
Vandals tight end Jake Cox scored his team’s first touchdown in the third quarter. Photo: Ben Lonergan / The Red / USA Today
Idaho now has a collective and hopes to raise $100,000 when the portal opens in December, Eck said.
Eck knows his team’s performance against the Ducks will likely draw more interest from some FBS programs looking for help. Defensive tackle Dallas Afalava, a 6-1, 290-pound sophomore, gave Oregon problems inside and had one sack; Sophomore cornerback Andrew Marshall made nine tackles and broke up one pass. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Southern California native was an under-the-radar recruit that the Vandals feared a Boise State or Colorado return late in the recruiting process. Now there’s game film of him playing well against a top-five opponent with speedy receivers.
“He’s going to get attention, and our pitch might be: Stay another year (here) and then maybe you can get $500,000 (from a Power 4 school) — don’t just jump for $100,000,” Eck said. There is of course no guarantee for that. “They (Oregon) tested him early and tried to go deep on him. Couldn’t hit it. … He didn’t give up big plays against any of those receivers. They didn’t hit him one on one.”
Idaho cornerbacks coach Stanley Franks Jr. came to the Vandals from Washington State. He saw how the Cougars had scouting staffs who scoured the lower ranks to study players at all conference levels. For many lower-level FCS or FBS coaches, it can be bittersweet to invest in recruits only to see them leave for bigger programs, but Franks understands that for many of those players, the opportunity to get life-changing money to their families is something they can’t pass up.
Before Harris transferred to Cal, he came to Franks’ office to talk to him. “He acted like it was a difficult decision,” Franks said. “I said, ‘This is a no-brainer. Go bless your family.” There was no doubt he could play at that next level.
“We use that as a recruitment tool. We need to recruit Mountain West caliber guys: ‘Come here, develop and play, and then bless your family with your last few years of college.’ You want to train these guys as much as possible. I tell them: we develop cats here. Why go somewhere else where I might be benched just because of a logo? We see it as something positive.”
Eck has always viewed Idaho as a development program. He and his coaches talk to recruits about that, and in this new era, when you have a cornerbacks coach who has developed two players who will probably make $300,000 combined this year, he said, that’s a feather in his recruiting cap. At this level, you have to be the same for coaches, Eck said. Last season they let three coaches leave for FBS jobs: two to San Diego State, one to Oregon State.
“That’s part of our sale: We have to have that for coaches who come here as well,” he said. “We are going to help you get better and get bigger opportunities. Same with players. Hopefully not everyone want to to leave.”
Part of the pitch in hopes of retaining players is to remind them that if you can play in FCS, the NFL will see you. Former Vandal long snapper Hogan Hatten just made the 53-man roster of the Detroit Lions.
“I really don’t think it helps you in the NFL,” Eck said. “As long as you’re an FCS school, every team still comes here to scout. But it’s hard to stop someone from making even $150,000 if their family has no money.”
In Idaho, Eck thinks he can get his top players between $10,000 and $15,000 a year — obviously nowhere near the six figures some Power 4 schools can offer. They were recently able to cover their players’ costs of attendance, which generated about $2,500 per semester.
There is one other potential player that Eck has been thinking about, a young player who had a big game against the Ducks and who may now have passed the radar of some FBS teams: his son Jaxton. Jaxton, a linebacker, had a game-high 14 tackles, including a pair of plays where he was able to rally dynamic Ducks receiver Johnson in space.
“Yes, that will be interesting,” Eck said, laughing. One of the FBS head coaches he knows texted him after the game and mentioned Jaxton. ‘Maybe it was just a joke. We’ll see.”
(Image: Dan Goldfarb/ The athletic; Photos: Jonge Kwak / AP; Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty)