tOfficial Idaho Vandals News Thread

Cave_Johnson said:

Well....there's this.

Sanders Declares

Seems like he's just testing the waters to gauge interest. If he doesn't hire an agent he can still return if he pulls out of the draft a week or so before it occurs.

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Not exactly what I was afraid of, but definitely in the same boat... Damn

FaCe-LeE-uS said:

Not exactly what I was afraid of, but definitely in the same boat... Damn

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I think he'll be back. Don't see him as a lottery pick and if he's not getting drafted there seems to be no real downside to returning.

Cave_Johnson said:

I think he'll be back. Don't see him as a lottery pick and if he's not getting drafted there seems to be no real downside to returning.

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True. Vandals needs him to come back for next season. Sanders & Callendret would be pretty exciting.

@Cave_Johnson

I've been getting a shit ton of calls, mail & emails from the school's engineering department asking for alumni donations... Haven't looked into it yet, but thinking I should send Staben a thank you letter.

FaCe-LeE-uS said:

@Cave_Johnson

I've been getting a shit ton of calls, mail & emails from the school's engineering department asking for alumni donations... Haven't looked into it yet, but thinking I should send Staben a thank you letter.

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Got the same letter last week. Don't think they have my cell or anything other than my old school email so I've avoided that barrage of spam. Might have to send something in as well.

In the meantime there is this survey going around.

Idaho - Copy

Last question asks about any concerns you may have with the athletic department. I had some real fun with that shit.

Cave_Johnson said:

Got the same letter last week. Don't think they have my cell or anything other than my old school email so I've avoided that barrage of spam. Might have to send something in as well.

In the meantime there is this survey going around.

Idaho - Copy

Last question asks about any concerns you may have with the athletic department. I had some real fun with that shit.

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Oh hell don't mind if I do...

Forgot to bring up the Bills signed Rehkow as an undrafted free agent. Our punter was good in 2015 but not so good last year so Rehkow has a good shot if our current punter continues to struggle.

BoiseStateFan27 said:

Forgot to bring up the Bills signed Rehkow as an undrafted free agent. Our punter was good in 2015 but not so good last year so Rehkow has a good shot if our current punter continues to struggle.

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Yup, saw that. He should have a decent shot to make the team. Rehkow had his worst year in terms of average yards per punt last season but it was definitely his best season overall. Turns out you get more opportunities to pin teams inside the 10 when your offense can move the ball a bit more.

As expected it seems like he'll no longer be covering all specialist duties in the NFL. Hauschka has been one of the league's most consistent kickers even if he had a bit of a down year last season. I'd expect Hauschka will be the kickoff guy. Rehkow was decent at putting the ball out of the back of the end zone on kickoffs but he did it more with line-drive directional kicks to the end zone corners. Hauschka will have likely be able to put more hang time on the kicks which can be just as valuable as pure distance.

Also since we're talking draft, Tueni Lupeamanu was the only other Vandal to sign with an NFL team (the Jags). This was pretty much expected. Glenn Antoine was the only other guy I though might get a UFA deal.

Forgot CFL draft was going on this weekend.

Mason Woods was selected by the Toronto Argonauts in the 2nd round of the CFL draft.

Cave_Johnson said:

Also since we're talking draft, Tueni Lupeamanu was the only other Vandal to sign with an NFL team (the Jags). This was pretty much expected. Glenn Antoine was the only other guy I though might get a UFA deal.

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It was rumored that the Steelers were looking at Antoine, but turned out to be BS. Based off shear size I would have thought he'd get a UDFA contract. Rookie camps are coming up this weekend so he might have gotten an invite somewhere, unless he went into the CFL as well.

FaCe-LeE-uS said:

It was rumored that the Steelers were looking at Antoine, but turned out to be BS. Based off shear size I would have thought he'd get a UDFA contract. Rookie camps are coming up this weekend so he might have gotten an invite somewhere, unless he went into the CFL as well.

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It's a possibility I guess. I knew the CFL was likely for Woods because he's Canadian, and really fucking big Canadian at that. Maxx Forde was another Idaho guy from Canada who didn't get any real NFL looks but found a spot in the CFL. I believe Rolly Lumbala is still playing up there too and I know Aaron Grymes had a lot of success in the CFL before trying his hand in the NFL last year. If he can avoid injury this year Grymes could be a real contributor in Philly.

Pretty good article on Matt Linehan:

Matt Linehan: The Next C.J. Beathard? - Inside The Pylon

Cave_Johnson said:

Yup, saw that. He should have a decent shot to make the team. Rehkow had his worst year in terms of average yards per punt last season but it was definitely his best season overall. Turns out you get more opportunities to pin teams inside the 10 when your offense can move the ball a bit more.

As expected it seems like he'll no longer be covering all specialist duties in the NFL. Hauschka has been one of the league's most consistent kickers even if he had a bit of a down year last season. I'd expect Hauschka will be the kickoff guy. Rehkow was decent at putting the ball out of the back of the end zone on kickoffs but he did it more with line-drive directional kicks to the end zone corners. Hauschka will have likely be able to put more hang time on the kicks which can be just as valuable as pure distance.

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I'm glad we signed Hauschka because even though he was inconsistent last year he still was more reliable than our previous kicker

Liberty and NMSU agree to in-season home and home.

Liberty & NMSU to play a home and home in 2018 & 2019 | A Sea of Red

Not ideal, but Idaho had a similar agreement with NMSU during the year they were both independent. Turned out both schools were eventually able to fill a full schedule.

Just goes to show that an independent schedule would have been more than possible. I imagine Idaho would have had no issue getting Liberty to agree to at least one game in 2018. That would have left the 2018 opponents as:

WMU
UNLV
Missouri
NIU (rescheduled)
NMSU (very likely)
Liberty (likely)
Big Sky Team (very likely)

4 of those were already scheduled at the point the drop down was announced. The bottom 3 would have been almost guaranteed without the need for much work from the AD. That leaves 5 more teams to schedule with at least 1.5 years to get it done. Throw in a strong possibility of a series with UMass, maybe a road game at BYU, and now you're at 3 with again, 1.5 years to figure it out.

Looking at 2019-2020 there were again already 4 FBS games scheduled each year (Nevada, and SJSU cancelled after the drop down was announced and while the road game at Wyoming is still on, the return game has been cancelled). Add in NMSU, Liberty, a Big Sky school, and possibly UMass every year and you're at 4 games those next two year.

One other money game a year was also likely. In total you're looking at 2-3 games a year that the AD would have to do some real work to schedule. Not impossible, and I'm not even counting the possibility of in-season home and homes with some of these teams.

Obviously this isn't sustainable long term, but it's better than quitting before you really have to. See NMSU.

Sun Belt is adding a conference championship game.

Sun Belt announces football divisions for 2018, new collaborative replay system

Makes you wonder how much it would have increased Idaho and NMSU's chances to stay in the league if they still needed 12. Definitely would not have hurt.

Sanders officially returning for his senior season.

Sanders Returns for Senior Season

Cave_Johnson said:

Just goes to show that an independent schedule would have been more than possible. I imagine Idaho would have had no issue getting Liberty to agree to at least one game in 2018. That would have left the 2018 opponents as:

WMU
UNLV
Missouri
NIU (rescheduled)
NMSU (very likely)
Liberty (likely)
Big Sky Team (very likely)

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Just noticed that this was wrong. I listed the 2017 OOC schedule as the 2018 schedule. So the potential 2018 schedule would have been:

Fresno State
Florida
SJSU/Nevada (Can't remember which one was scheduled for 2018. Both of them canceled the series.)
NIU (rescheduled)
NMSU (very likely)
Liberty (likely)
Big Sky Team (very likely)

Doesn't change the point, but now I don't look like as much of a retard.

Cave_Johnson said:

Sanders officially returning for his senior season.

Sanders Returns for Senior Season

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Music to my ears! That team is going to be pretty good next season.

Cave_Johnson said:

Sun Belt is adding a conference championship game.

Sun Belt announces football divisions for 2018, new collaborative replay system

Makes you wonder how much it would have increased Idaho and NMSU's chances to stay in the league if they still needed 12. Definitely would not have hurt.

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I like the new setup with the divisions. The Sun Belt may be low on the totem pole but they now have arguably the best set up of all the conferences. I like the 10 member set up where the competition is pure every year for every member of each division. And you can still pin division champs against eachother for a conference champion.