‘December in Moscow is about playoff football’: Idaho anticipates physical game against Lehigh in FCS second round

MOSCOW, Idaho – It is the playoffs. Everyone still competing has done enough good things to be here.

And Idaho coach Jason Eck is mindful that a year ago Albany, from the Colonial Athletic Association, traveled across the country from New York to Moscow to end the Vandals’ season in the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

But riding a five-game winning streak and beneficiaries of a first-round bye, the Vandals are eager to get the championship season started Saturday against Lehigh (9-3) which emerged from a six-hour bus trip to upset CAA champ Richmond, 20-16, in the first round.

“December in Moscow is about playoff football,” Eck said at his weekly news conference Monday. “You might think it is about getting ready for Christmas. But it is about playoff football.”

The Mountain Hawks have pretty much spun off a dime after finishing just 2-9 a year ago, and they are led by a freshman quarterback, Hayden Johnson. But Eck expects to face a fundamentally sound team that regularly runs for about 200 yards per game but can stretch the field with its customary three wideouts, and against Richmond Lehigh turned back the Spiders twice near the goal line and forced them to settle for field goals.

“They are a resilient team,” said Eck.

“They are a tough, physical team. You are going to have to beat them. Teams aren’t going to lay down against you in the playoffs.”

Johnson has thrown for 1,229 yards and 10 touchdowns. Geoffrey Jamiel is listed at 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, but the junior wide receiver has 56 receptions for 701 yards and eight touchdowns.

“He is tough to tackle,” said Eck. Freshman running back Jaden Green is also physically unimposing; however, at 5-9, 175 pounds he has run for 763 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Lehigh’s defense is anchored by 300-pound noseguard TJ Burke, who has 9.5 tackles for loss and six sacks this year, and graduate linebacker Mike DeNucci, who has 80 tackles, including 10 for loss, with 5.5 sacks. DeNucci missed the Richmond game with an injury but is expected to return against Idaho.

Cornerbacks Aidan Singleton and Jordan Adderley are dependable in the secondary, says Eck.

With the Vandals having faced undefeated and Football Bowl Subdivision top-ranked Oregon and Montana State, the Big Sky Conference champion and top-ranked FCS team, Lehigh “is not the fastest team we have played all year,” Eck acknowledged. Nonetheless, “they are sound, really sound,” he says. “We are going to have to make plays.”

The Vandals expect to have senior edge rusher Keyshawn James-Newby available. Despite battling a persistent shoulder injury, he is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, honoring the FCS defensive player of the year. He leads the Big Sky with 9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss.

“Our defensive line is probably better than the average Patriot League line,” Eck says.

Most of Idaho’s running backs have also recovered from injuries, with the possible exception of Nate Thomas, according to Eck, and the Mountain Hawks could have their hands full trying to keep receivers like Jordan Dwyer, Mark Hamper and tight end Mike Martinez in check. Quarterback Jack Layne missed seven games with collarbone and wrist injuries. But in the five games he has played he has been impressive, throwing for 915 yards with nine touchdowns and only three interceptions. Layne will be playing in his first playoff game against Lehigh, but Eck says he has told Layne simply “you be you.”

The Vandals are undefeated at home this year, for the first time since 1996, and Eck wants to keep that streak intact against the Mountain Hawks.

“This is a legacy game for our seniors,” he says.

A member of that 1996 team, running back Joel Thomas, who set Idaho’s career rushing record, 3,929 yards and helped lead the Vandals to a 1998 Humanitarian Bowl win and who is now an assistant coach with the New York Giants, has been in contact with Eck this week, as have former Vandals like 1994 Walter Payton Award winner Doug Nussmeier, former quarterback Eric Hisaw, who started 13 games in 1994-95, and kicker Mike Hollis, who starred at Idaho in 1992-93 before a nine-year NFL career.

Those are storied names from the last time Idaho was a Big Sky Conference power and frequent participant in what is now the FCS playoffs. The Vandals’ three-year playoff run under Eck has stirred up old memories as Idaho chases the 2024 championship, beginning Saturday against Lehigh.

“A lot of old Vandals really care about it,” Eck said.