JONESBORO - Less than 24 hours after a 61-14 loss to Fresno State last Saturday, Paul Petrino put his Idaho football team back to work.
At least, some of them.
Petrino held a lengthy scrimmage Sunday night for his freshmen and sophomores. Even if they had played against Fresno State, his younger players spent a few dozen more plays going through what they had done the previous day.
The lone exception was redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Chalich, who was sacked six times by Fresno State and has been sacked 30 times this season, more than any other quarterback in the FBS.
“Anyone without the name of Chad,” said Petrino, who is in his first year as coach of the Vandals after serving as Arkansas’ offensive coordinator in 2008-2009 and 2012. “We went out there and scrimmaged.”
The workout provided a bit of a bright light in the midst of what has been a dark start for Petrino, whose Vandals are 1-5 heading into Saturday’s match up against Arkansas State at Liberty Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
He is already looking beyond what can be accomplished in his first year after taking over for Rob Akey, who went 20-54 in six seasons.
“It kind of gives you life, it gives you hope,” Petrino said. “It’s good for the players, for me, it’s good for our assistant coaches because you walk off the field really excited about the future.”
It’s hard to get excited about the present.
Petrino was announced as Idaho’s coach Dec. 3, less than two weeks after a disappointing 4-8 season at Arkansas came to an end, and called his first head-coaching job a “dream come true,” But it’s been more like a bad dream so far.
He walked into an Idaho program that has had only one winning season since 1999, and was left on the outside looking in during the conference realignment shuffle over the past three seasons. The talent deficiency was so severe that it has forced him to play nine true freshmen this season.
“There’s no one else to play,” Petrino said.
ASU Coach Bryan Harsin remembers when that wasn’t the case. He remembers when Petrino helped Idaho advance to the NCAA I-AA playoffs each season while serving as an assistant under John L. Smith in 1992-1994, and he remembers Idaho making the playoffs 10 times from 1985 to 1995.
Harsin grew up in Boise, Idaho, and spent 15 seasons as a player or assistant coach at rival Boise State. The two schools made the jump from I-A to I-AA around the same time, and for a brief time were relative equals. In Harsin’s five seasons as a backup quarterback for the Broncos (1995-1999), Idaho beat Boise State three times.
“A tremendous, tremendous amount of pride that those people have,” Harsin said. “They’re tough, hard nosed players. They always play hard. They play the entire time. I’ve never been in a game where that team has ever quit.”
Still, the Vandals had trouble keeping up with Boise State. While Boise State blossomed, Idaho lost games and changed coaches. Their 8-5 finish in 2009 under Akey, which ended with a Humanitarian Bowl victory over Bowling Green, is their best season since 1999. Since that bowl victory, Idaho has won 10 games, six of them in 2010.
Petrino, is Idaho’s fifth head coach since 2000 and its sixth since moving to I-A in 1997.
With 11 freshman or sophomore starters, Idaho lost 40-6 at North Texas, 42-10 at Wyoming and 42-0 at Washington State before last week’s meltdown against Fresno State, a loss Petrino referred to as “embarrassing.”
Idaho hasn’t been able to score points, averaging just 15.2 points a game to rank 118th in the FBS. It hasn’t been able to stop teams, either, allowing an average of 42.3 points per game which is 120th in the FBS. Petrino points to a 42-35 loss to No. 23 Northern Illinois and a 26-24 victory against Temple as encouraging signs, but those have been sporadic.
None of which is surprising to Petrino, given Idaho’s current situation.
“Being realistic, you’re going to have those peaks and valleys this year,” he said.
That is why he is looking forward to when his young players are a bit more seasoned and to Idaho getting back in a conference. The Vandals had been a member of the Western Athletic Conference since 2005 before the league decided to forgo playing football after last season. The Vandals are playing as an independent this year and will rejoin the Sun Belt as a football-only member next season.
Saturday’s game against ASU marks Petrino’s first return to a state where he spent three seasons as an assistant under his brother Bobby at Arkansas. His program may not be where he wants it just yet, but it doesn’t sound like he is sweating his return to the state.
“Arkansas was great to me,” Petrino said. “My kids have a lot of friends that are still there, my wife has a lot of friends that are still there. … Just a lot of great people that I still stay in touch with.”
Up next IDAHO AT ARKANSAS STATE
WHEN 6 p.m. Saturday WHERE Liberty Bank Stadium, Jonesboro RECORDS Arkansas State 2-3; Idaho 1-5 SERIES Tied 4-4 COACHES Arkansas State: Bryan Harsin (2-3 in first season); Idaho: Paul Petrino (1-5 in first season) RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro;
KKSP-FM, 93.3, in Bryant/Little Rock INTERNET ESPN3.com
Sports, Pages 19 on 10/10/2013