No. 11 Idaho pulls away in second half for 38-28 win over Eastern Washington

MOSCOW, Idaho – The elements fell into place in an all-too-familiar order for Eastern Washington on Saturday night at the Kibbie Dome.

A first half with enough good plays but not enough great ones, and a second half in which the great plays came too late.

With three games left in their Big Sky Conference schedule, the Idaho Vandals finished off Eastern Washington for a much-needed 38-28 victory heading into a much-needed bye, and in the process extinguished the Eagles’ faint hopes of earning a playoff spot.

Instead, the best the Eagles (2-6, 1-3 Big Sky) can hope for is a .500 record.

The 11th-ranked Vandals, though, after improving to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big Sky, are very much alive for a playoff spot with games to go against Portland State, Weber State and Idaho State, none of which is ranked.

Idaho welcomed back redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Layne, who played for the first time since nearly leading the Vandals to an upset over Oregon on Aug. 31. He completed 17 of 28 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns and an interception.

The Vandals repeatedly found their way past the sticks on third down (10 of 14) and into Eastern’s red zone, two issues that have plagued Eastern’s defense all season.

Those two factors helped the Vandals carry a 17-13 lead into half.

By then, the Eagles had failed to convert on a surprise onside kick (something they have succeeded in twice this year ), settled for a 24-yard field goal in the red zone and missed on a 53-yard kick just before halftime.

The Eagles also made two key mistakes early in the third quarter. Trailing by four, Eastern failed to convert on a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line when Kekoa Visperas threw to wide receiver Efton Chism III just shy of the goal line. The Vandals prevented him from scoring.

A couple of plays later, Deshaun Buchanan ran 72 yards to get the Vandals away from their end zone.

Soon after, he scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to increase Idaho’s lead to 24-13. Buchanan finished with 116 yards on eight carries.

Visperas, who was hobbled some throughout the game, fumbled for just the second time all season on the next possession. That led to another score by the Vandals, who made it 31-13 with 14:25 to go in the fourth quarter.

Yet as it has in its previous losses, Eastern answered to keep itself around. Jared Taylor led a 13-play, 62-yard scoring drive and capped it with a 3-yard touchdown pass to JP Murphy for the tight end’s first career touchdown. He found Chism for a 2-point conversion to make it 31-21.

Taylor had 61 of Eastern’s 215 rushing yards on 45 carries, a similar line to the Vandals, who rushed 43 times for 252 yards.

Idaho was again able to answer that Eastern score with one of its own, muting the significance of Michael Wortham’s 100-yard kickoff return touchdown – his first at Eastern – that followed.

Visperas finished 11 of 14 for 156 yards.

Most of that went to Chism, who caught seven passes for 114 yards, moving him into fourth place on Eastern’s career receiving yards list.