UI looking for a win on the field and in the stands

The Idaho Vandals return “home” Saturday for the last time this season and they hope to have a lot of company.

Idaho (2-7, 1-4 Sun Belt) is desperate for a win on the field after suffering two consecutive road losses by a combined 60 points. In the stands, the Vandals need roughly 12,000 fans, and possibly more, to meet NCAA Division I-A requirements.

Beginning this year, I-A members are required to average at least 15,000 actual attendance (read: fannies in seats) per home game. The Vandals aren’t quite sure how many fans they need for Saturday’s 2 p.m. kickoff against Arkansas State at Washington State’s Martin Stadium because the final numbers from the WSU-Idaho game are unknown.

The announced crowd for WSU-UI was 34,858, but the only figure that matters in the NCAA’s eyes is actual attendance. Crowd counts can be done three ways – turnstile, ticket stubs or by a clicker. The NCAA requires a school to play at least half its home games at one site, which is why Idaho is playing two of its four home games at Martin Stadium. That enables the Vandals to count the UI-WSU attendance, making it easier to meet the I-A requirement.

“I’m optimistic we can achieve it,” Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said. “It’s our homecoming, right now it appears the weather will be OK and the Cougars aren’t in town. It’s senior day for our kids that have been here so there are a lot of positives to get people to the game.”

If Idaho fails to reach the attendance figure, it would be notified of its non-compliance by the NCAA, which amounts to essentially a probationary period of 10 years. A second non-compliance would put Idaho on restricted I-A membership status, during which time the Vandals would be ineligible for a bowl game, Spear said.

Idaho has no special events planned for Saturday’s game, such as a postgame concert to boost attendance. Middle Tennessee took that approach when hip-hop artist Big Boi performed for ticket-holders following the Idaho game in Murfreesboro two weeks ago.

The NCAA is expected to review the attendance rules by the end of the year.

No rest

Idaho’s no-bye schedule (12 games in 12 weeks) is taking its toll, taxing the Vandals’ already limited depth.

“We haven’t taken a breath at all,” coach Nick Holt said. “The length of the season is starting to get on our guys. We’re getting banged up and we don’t have a week to catch a break so we can get healthy.”

Easy pickings

Troy picked off five Idaho passes Saturday, two by Michael Harrington and three by reserve Brian Nooy.

Holt said Harrington made a bad decision on an interception in the end zone in the second quarter. The other interception was caused by a protection breakdown.

“That’s out of character for Mike. He’s been really good about doing things that don’t hurt us,” Holt said. “We put Brian in to see how he could do and he wasn’t any better. In fact, he was worse with the decision making.”

Winner and still champion

The Sun Belt is known for parity and it’s reflected in the standings – outside the top spot, that is. North Texas has won 22 straight conference games, a remarkable streak considering its number of narrow victories.

The streak led to an interesting weekly conference call Monday. UNT defeated Louisiana-Monroe 45-30 Saturday, but Indians coach Charlie Weatherbie didn’t sound overly impressed.

“I felt like we basically gave them the game,” he said. “They’re good, I don’t want to take that away from them, but talent for talent we measure up to anybody in the conference. I have a hard time with this mystique of winning 22 in a row. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”

Weatherbie added, “North Texas plays not to get beat and teams beat themselves against them.” While lauding Mean Green freshman Jamario Thomas’ running ability, Weatherbie added that “a lot of big schools recruited him because he’s a learning disability young man, but North Texas was able to get him in school.”

UNT coach Darrell Dickey responded sharply. “He could have gone to any school in the country. He qualified under every academic standard set by the NCAA.”

Notes

North Texas visits Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday. ESPN2 will televise the game. … Utah State has allowed 18 quarterback sacks in its last two games. … Middle Tennessee’s Kerry Wright is second nationally at 7.88 receptions per game. Idaho’s Bobby Bernal-Wood is fourth (7.67). Idaho’s Cole Snyder is the Sun Belt’s leading tackler and 13th nationally (11 per game).