BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS...June 4, 2004, 20 years ago today:
Idaho’s exile in the Sun Belt Conference finally has an end, as the Vandals are invited to join the WAC beginning in 2005. They enthusiastically accepted, filling a spot vacated suddenly by UTEP’s departure to Conference USA a month earlier. Still, Idaho’s future had remained in doubt until North Texas rejected overtures from the WAC, electing to stay in the Sun Belt. The Vandals had been cast off to no-man’s land in 2001 when the Big West dropped football. And they were coming off a four-year period under coach Tom Cable that saw them go 10-35.
Idaho played football in the WAC for eight seasons (the conference dropped the sport after the 2012 campaign). The Vandals went 26-71 overall during that stretch and were 15-46 in WAC games. Things looked promising in 2006, when Dennis Erickson, who had kicked off the golden era of Idaho football in 1982, returned to coach the Vandals to a 4-8 season. But Erickson left for Arizona State after one season, and Idaho had to hit the reset button yet again.
The 2009 season was a shining exception in the WAC era. Idaho notched its first winning season of the 21st century at 8-5, went .500 in conference play, and picked up a heart-stopping 43-42 win over Bowling Green on ESPN in the Humanitarian Bowl when coach Robb Akey elected to go for a two-point conversion with four seconds left. The Vandals had driven the length of the field in 20 seconds, capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Enderle to Max Komar. Enderle then hit Preston Davis for the winning points.
The Vandals played as an independent in 2013 in an effort to stay in the FBS while they weighed their options. They eventually returned to the Sun Belt in 2014, and they put together another winning season in 2016, with the 9-4 campaign culminating in a wild 60-50 victory over Colorado State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. But Idaho was forced out of the Sun Belt after the 2017 season. That paved Vandals football’s path back to the Big Sky.
Idaho’s start in their old stomping ground was not optimal—15-26 overall from 2018-21—but the past two seasons under coach Jason Eck have changed the narrative in Moscow. The Vandals have gone 7-5 and 9-4, respectively, making the FCS Playoffs each season and advancing to the quarterfinals last December. The Kibbie Dome is rockin’ again.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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