Time to give this one a rest

MOSCOW, Idaho – Well, it looks as if the Idaho Vandals decided to call the rivalry with Boise State quits a year early.

Just as well. This thing deserves – it needs – to be over for a while.

If the Vandals can’t muster a better effort than they did in a 52-14 pasting at the Kibbie Dome on Friday night – and, really, for the past 12 years, they rarely have – then there’s simply no point in these two schools competing in anything other than invective.

At that, they’re well-matched.

This was, you’ll remember, the Nasty and Inebriated Bowl, Boise State president Bob “Bob” Kustra having thrown that verbal grenade at Idaho fan behavior way back this summer. This week, Vandals running back Deonte Jackson parried by characterizing “Bob” as a “blue and orange snot.”

Snot? Really?

Everything Deonte knows about epithets he learned in kindergarten.

But, hey – say anything you want to about “Bob,” just don’t diss his cooking school.

Now there’s nothing wrong with some good, old-fashioned contempt. Entire cable television channels have been built and thrive on the concept. But a little of it goes a long way, especially when we’ve already had to endure the 1st Congressional District election. And sadly, all the Vandals have anymore is indignation.

They certainly seem to have misplaced their game.

Imagine how bad this would have been if they hadn’t so diligently flushed the memory of the 844-yard beatdown they absorbed from Nevada last week. Apparently, these Vandals are mentally tough in the same way that cooked spaghetti makes for good rebar.

“The games we’ve won, to be honest, it was against easier opponents,” said safety Shiloh Keo. “Now that we’re into the strength of our schedule, it’s like, ‘Oh, these guys are better – they’re supposed to beat us anyway. I don’t care. I don’t care about learning from my mistakes.’ ”

Well, that’s brutally honest.

To be fair, the undefeated and fourth-ranked Broncos have done this to all manner of teams – some lousy, some decent, which at the moment is all Idaho can aspire to, having lost four of its last five by an average margin of 33 points.

But as much as this was another reaffirmation of the Broncos’ superiority, it would have been nice if the Vandals hadn’t fainted.

Four plays into the game: Boise’s Chris Potter runs a punt back 76 yards when two Vandals run into each other.

Five plays later: Eric Greenwood goes long, Nathan Enderle throws short – to Boise’s Brandyn Thompson.

Eight plays later: Boise running back Doug Martin pancakes Keo at the goal line.

Two plays later: Enderle puts one right in Broncos linebacker Aaron Tevis’ numbers.

Eight plays later: Idaho, frightful on special teams, has a punt blocked.

You get the idea.

“This football team, we’ve got to force a personality into it a little bit,” said Idaho coach Robb Akey. “Last year that team found out it could win and took on a personality that could overcome anything.”

This one, not so much.

And so now the series goes into hiatus – Boise moving into the Mountain West Conference next year, the Vandals marooned in the Western Athletic Belt, er, Conference. The Broncos have no room on the schedule the next couple of years – darn the luck, you can hear them say – and negotiations beyond that seem to be hung up on a real estate issue.

Akey, naturally, thinks it should be played yearly, with alternating home games. Boise State coach Chris Petersen has graciously offered the use of Bronco Stadium in perpetuity, like your daughter who wants to make a home for every stray dog.

“Most of Idaho’s fans are in Boise, anyway,” he said.

This will be news to the students who go to school in, you know, Moscow.

But at the moment, playing it at all seems irrelevant.

It’s not just that the Vandals have lost 12 straight. Of the last seven, only one has been closer than five touchdowns. Akey noted that the Broncos are “in a different phase of building their program than we are,” which is a little like saying our infantry is in a different phase now than when it carried muskets and looked for the whites of their eyes.

The WAC teams which, to this point, Idaho has been unable to match up with are moving on. That weakens the conference, surely. But perhaps the Vandals can use the opportunity to more firmly establish themselves out of Bigfoot’s shadow – and recuperate from the yearly thrashings.

Doesn’t have to be forever. Any number of Western rivalries where the combatants don’t share a conference have taken a timeout and lived again. Besides, there is other work to be done.

“I hate the fact we don’t get to line up and try and even the score in 365 days,” Akey said. “Very disappointed. But I’m more concerned, to be honest with you, about getting ready for next week.”

And as for this purported rivalry, we’re ready for a respite.