UI wants to exit ‘06 a winner

MOSCOW, Idaho – Chances for a winning season are long gone, dreams of a bowl game evaporated last week and now there’s only one goal left for the University of Idaho football team.

Send off its 12 seniors with a win.

If the Vandals do that today at 2 in the Kibbie Dome against resurgent San Jose State, they’ll actually be accomplishing a couple other goals in the process.

A victory would:

“Give Idaho (4-7, 3-4 WAC) five wins for the first time since Tom Cable’s first season in 2000.

“Give Idaho its best conference record since 2000.

“Stop an unsightly four-game losing streak and give the program some momentum entering the off season.

“It would be a nice springboard into the winter conditioning program and recruiting,” Idaho head coach Dennis Erickson said. “You always want to end the season on a positive note.”

San Jose State (6-4, 3-3) is well-positioned to end its season in a bowl game. The Spartans are already bowl-eligible and they’ll be favored to win their last two regular-season games.

San Jose State hasn’t been bowling since 1990. The WAC has four bowl-eligible teams and three bowl tie-ins – in Boise, Albuquerque and Honolulu – but Boise State is poised to qualify for a BCS bowl if it defeats Nevada. For geographic reasons, the Spartans could be a good fit as an at-large team for the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.

“We’re trying to get (win No.) 7; that guarantees us a winning season and gives our bowl chances a better opportunity irrespective of what Boise State does,” said Spartans coach Dick Tomey, an assistant for Erickson with the San Francisco 49ers in 2003. “It’s fun to be at the end of a season and have a game that is meaningful in terms of a winning season, bowl game and all those things.”

Erickson admits he was having a lot more fun near midseason when the Vandals were riding a three-game winning streak. Idaho has been stomped in its last three games by a combined score of 147-17 and really hasn’t been the same since failing on a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter of an eventual loss to Boise State.

“It’s been a long month for us,” he said. “We’ve been very ineffective offensively. We haven’t run the ball like we need to to win. We’re not making plays in the passing game, so it creates problems. Defensively, we’re on the field a lot, but then again, defensively we’re not playing very well, either.”

The Spartans are on a two-game slide, but they boast accurate passer Adam Tafralis (67 completion percentage), speedy running back Yonus Davis (6.7 yards per carry) and two of the WAC’s top receivers in James Jones (53 catches, 613 yards, seven touchdowns) and John Broussard (43-567, 4 TDs).

Idaho’s first task is to contain Davis, which won’t be easy considering the damage inflicted on the Vandals defense in the last month by BSU’s Ian Johnson, Hawaii’s Nate Ilaoa, Nevada’s Luke Lippincott and Fresno State’s Dwayne Wright.

“He’s the fastest of all them if you’re talking pure speed, quickness and change of direction,” Erickson said of Davis.

Notes

Middle linebacker Jo Artis Ratti (knee), who has missed the last four games, and defensive end Ben Alexander (ankle) have practiced this week and could see action today. … Idaho’s Stanley Franks leads the nation with nine interceptions. San Jose State’s Dwight Lowery has eight picks.