MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho Vandals are riding high following a 41-13 demolition of UAlbany in an FCS quarterfinal rematch on Saturday.
Cornerback Andrew Marshall was named the Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week following his 47-yard punt return for a touchdown on Saturday.
Now, the Vandals prepare to face an Abilene Christian team that has won its last two games and put up 51 points on Big 12 opponent Texas Tech in week one.
"Their quarterback is very good," Idaho head coach Jason Eck said. "They throw [it] for 344 yards per game and have not thrown an interception, which is impressive for a team throwing it over 40 times per game and their defensive line is very, very good."
Coach Eck was complimentary of his offense which he said took a step forward last week against the Great Danes, but he says he would like to see more efficiency especially in the pass game.
"We are still not completing as many passes at a high enough completion percentage where we would like to be," Eck said. "That is an area we need to keep growing in, but I thought the offense has made steady gains and improvements and they need to keep doing that because you need to be sound in all phases in order to be a championship team."
The Vandals must also prepare for the dry Texas heat on Saturday as temperatures in Abilene, Texas are forecasted to reach the mid 90's.
"We need to do a great job of hydrating and keep with our plan we had through Oregon and Wyoming to play a lot of guys, which we have been able to," Eck said. "Keeping guys fresh when playing in the heat is important and we need to make sure we don't exert too much energy pregame warming up. You need to get warm, but when it's 90 degrees at kick off, you don't need much to get warm."
Idaho and Abilene Christian will kick it off at 5 p.m. pacific time on Saturday. That game can be viewed on ESPN plus.