Idaho’s Jason Eck vows to coach ‘loose and be aggressive’ as massive underdog at Oregon
It is an infinitesimal chance.
But as it prepares to kick off 2024 against Oregon Saturday, Idaho, at least theoretically, can take the first steps toward winning two national championships, one official and the other unofficial.
In the Football Championship Subdivision, the Vandals are seventh in the preseason ranking. They are a team that could win an FCS crown.
If they pull the upset of all time and steal a win from Oregon, who sit third in the Football Bowl Subdivision preseason ranking, and if the Ducks recover from such a mortifying defeat to go on and win the FBS title, wouldn’t that make the Vandals the improbable people’s champion?
Staring at a 44.5 point spread against his team, however, Idaho coach Jason Eck isn’t entertaining such whimsy.
“I don’t think we have any pressure on us in this game,” he said at a Monday news conference. “We could lose by 100, and it is not going to affect us winning a conference championship.”
He said he plans to “coach loose and be aggressive.”
What he wants to see from the Vandals is competent play and to measure his team against a superior opponent.
“We want to make sure we are going to the right people assignment wise,” he said.
“If they make one-on-one plays because they are better than us, I am not going to lose sleep over that.”
The Vandals are going to Eugene with only one key play listed as questionable. Redshirt sophomore linebacker Dylan Lane has a hamstring injury.
Layne and his brother, Jack, Idaho’s starting quarterback, “might be setting the record for tickets they are trying to get for this game,” Eck said. The Laynes are from Lake Oswego and for them and other Vandals from Oregon, like redshirt freshman receiver Mark Hamper, from West Linn, going home to play the Ducks is special.
“They are excited about the opportunity, about taking our shot,” said Eck.
The game is also important for Vandals who hope to play beyond college. Idaho dropped an early -season game to another FBS team, California, last year, 31-17.
“That was the first game the scouts put on when they were looking at guys like (last year’s all-America receiver, who signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks) Hayden Hatten,” Eck said.
Jack Layne might be one such player in a couple of years. As a true freshman, he competed for Idaho’s starting job until a hand injury set him back, and Gevani McCoy became the starter. McCoy transferred to Oregon State after the Vandals compiled a 9-2 record in 2023 and reached the FCS quarterfinals. McCoy was named the Beavers’ starter this week.
“He won our quarterback competition when he wasn’t the leading candidate coming in,” Eck observed of McCoy. “I am proud of him.”
He added it is ironic that McCoy had to transfer to OSU to play Idaho State, which OSU entertains in its season opener. In both 2022 and 2023, McCoy was injured then Idaho played the Bengals, and Layne stepped up in both games to lead the Vandals to wins.
Layne will face the biggest test of his career against the Ducks.
“He doesn’t feel like a new starter, even though he is a new starter,” Eck said. For Layne and his teammates to pull off a monumental upset, “we have to execute in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams, and we need for them to be sloppy,” said Eck. “I don’t see a lot of that on film,” he acknowledged. “The key is we need a ton of turnovers” from the Ducks.
“They don’t do that much.”