Idaho Vandals football - UI hangs with Oregon before falling 24-14

a battle of a football game I was very proud of our team I I thought we uh believed uh that we could win the football team I thought we win the football game I thought we played extremely hard and competed was especially proud of our defense right they played a ton of plays uh 87 snaps and uh really competed I can see their confidence grow as the game went on so uh very proud of them but uh I told the team you don't you know you don't get rings at the end of the year for playing Oregon within 10 points this is this is only going to be a positive if can be a a starting point to us getting a lot better as time goes on and uh growing as a team and continuing to improve as the year goes on so I'll open it up to question yeah coach I'll just ask you real quick obviously we saw uh Jack Lane go down and leave and go to the locker room what is his status do we have anything on that I don't know yet his arm was just bother him a little bit so you know we got a lot of confidence in Wagner so we threw him in there for the last series you know we were in a you know a tough position down down uh 10 with two minutes left and no timeout so uh you know wasn't worth risking you know something real serious or something keeping him in there and then just kind of stick with that that that injury front I we talk we saw a lot of players going down it look like maybe just cramps defensively you talked about how many plays that they had everyone on the defensive side doing okay we got to do a better job maintaining drives on offense you know we only had 47 plays on offense we played 87 stamps on defense so uh the defensive guys were cramping you know it was really hot here today it was about 90 you know 95 degrees or something um you know we had to keep working on our hydration and you know try to get our legs back next week to play a good Wyoming team other questions trying to let other people talk but I don't know if they want to or not was it your guys's game plan to kind of control Dylan Gabriel I know he had a lot of checkdown passes and stuff but you never let him go over the top is that the the game plan coming in yeah you know I don't want to give up big plays I talked to Coach Jackson throughout the week I thought um you know if we keep them from getting big plays maybe we could get some turnovers and things credit to him he he didn't throw it to us at all I thought maybe he would he' anxious but he's a veteran we got the one turnover where we had the sack fumble that was a great play uh sacked by kesan and then Dallas recovers it but uh yeah we definitely wanted to limit big plays defensively I thought we did a tremendous job of that I mean our longest rush I think we gave up was like 16 yards and I think we gave up like one 24 yard pass so we I thought we did a tremendous job eliminating big plays and keeping the ball in front of us here at five Valley's restoration your view is our view and what a beautiful view it is we are proud to be locally owned locally operated we love our community here in moula and also the full five valleys that we do service we give back to the community we service our community our kids go to school here we live here we play here I guess I'll just keep going obviously the offensive line was a question very tough defensive line that you guys went up against especially that that defensive end for the Ducks how did you think that they were able to perform in their first game this year I thought they played okay you know again it was a tough match up playing a really good D line we we got to keep getting better there you we got to start the game faster uh you I think we um you know our Center you know he's a red shirt freshman he was a little bit rattled early we had a snap that was on the wrong Cadence the first drive and we had uh had one that was a little high so we got to get him settled down I thought he played better and got into the swing of the game but uh you know we we got to keep developing that that's the key for this team you know again this this can only be a positive we can keep building get better throughout the year and improving as time goes on we certainly um yeah that's an area where we need to keep doing that and again that is you know going to be the best D line we play all year so I think we can have some some confidence you know that uh we got battle tested against a really good team and uh you know now when we start playing uh you know teams that are more peers we got to do a uh a great job and hopefully we can you know dominate some of those games up fronty somebody else has something let's just do all of yours Randy you get all your questions and then we'll see if the other guys want to ask in okay I I'll just quickly hit on uh the defensive line obviously is a strong point they caus a lot of Havoc there's a lot of times where you didn't even have to Blitz and you're able to get pressure in there just kind of talk about what like kesan and and those guys were able to do today awesome awesome kesan was awesome uh you know Dallas alava had a sack he said it in our team meeting on Friday he was gonna have a sack and he got one spoken into existence uh played a lot of guys I think we probably played 11 D Lin in the game uh which will be good for the future you know get getting those guys develop some young guys like Matias mlan getting his uh first action Malachi did some good things uh made some big plays and you know kind of kind of what we hope to see from the dline you know our guys are preseason All Conference guys both had sacks and played well and I think that'll really be a strength of our team going forward appreciate you coach what is a Jewelry Design Center jdc is a family owned business with deep roots in Montana why Montana because this community made us made us family made us Artisans made us believe in love made us Hometown Heroes because this community made us shine why Montana because Montana is [Music] home he we have we have Nate as a party go ahead shoot with questions Randy all right hey hey Nate a really fun game for you guys today you and I talked the other day about what the you guys were going to do offensively and you talked about how how upset you were with your performance last year what did you feel about your performance here against the Ducks uh I I can't really put in the words how proud I am of of these guys in this locker room we've we've made a big uh deal these last couple weeks of just coach e and throughout the whole staff talking about the word believe you know coming in as I think a 40 plus Point Underdog number three team in the nation a lot of people counted us out and and I saw nothing but hard out of the guys on this sideline today and uh I just couldn't be more proud of them I love this team uh the the broadcast was really bet or uh giving you guys a lot of credit on that Flea Flicker play for staying in your positions and not going down the field how much have you guys been able to work on that play and and and when did Coach make that call um we found out as soon as uh just as we were going onto the field breaking the Huddle that we were going to run it it's a trick play we've had uh so we've worked on it a couple times in practice uh coach slice is a great play caller I anything he calls I trust and uh was a hell of a job by him and a shout out to my roommate Jay Cox for executing it you know Big Time touchdown there swing the momentum really proud of him too he deserved that moment obviously Guys Don't Come Away with a win but a really great performance against one of the top teams in the country what can you take from this game uh for the rest of the year you know uh coach ekit said it in uh at the end of his speech we're not they're not giving us a ring at the end of the year for playing Oregon to 10 points you know they were a hell of a team and we we fought our ass off chuse my language but uh you know there's a lot to learn from you know we we uh there's a lot that we can get better at and I'm excited to hit the hit the film and learn from this game and I just know that this team has special things in in coming uh I can't wait can't wait man and then look on the other side of the ball kesan what you were able to do with that defensive line uh you guys end up with three sacks you had two of them uh just kind of talk about your guys' performances you made it really tough on that Ducks offense uh you know uh coach Loney talked about it from the get-go he he said Relentless effort that's he says that a lot he says a Relentless effort um that's that's one thing that we focus on a lot you know and the thing is is if you're giv 100% each play we have fresh legs for that as you can see we rotated a lot of guys and yeah no as long as you're given 100% every play that's what he told us we're gonna have fresh legs and guess what you're GNA get right back in the game right after your legs are fresh game Oregon a little bit disrespectfully kept going for it on on fourth down against you guys you were able to stop them twice there in that second half when they would set up offensively on fourth down what were you talking with your teammates about and kind of getting yourself all ramped up to to make those stops so you know and it's funny that you say ramped up I would tell them to focus gotta Focus you got to focus figure out your assignment alignments and then attack you know execute that execute that play whatever play we are given on that fourth down make sure you're executing it at the highest level possible and make sure you're focused and then with with that Focus obviously off laava with with the false start there late in that game you as one of the leaders of the defense what have you've been able to talk to him about about that mistake obviously he had a fantastic game and we're not going to focus just on that but obviously with with that one mistake what do you do as a leader to kind of get him reset for next week you know just calm him down you know that's the only thing could do like you know in those situations you know it happens to everyone you know and it's not just him you know but it does it it happens to everyone so therefore you know just let him know just tell them stay calm you know next play mentality there's nothing to stress about you know yeah it happened but like I told him I said it's in the past we got to move on and we gota we gotta continue to keep playing at a high level like that's all that I told and the last question I'll get for you especially early on they had a camera shot of their offensive line and then your guys' defensive line obviously lined up with them and the size discrepancy on the screen was was intense how were you able to to get through through their size and create so much Havoc you guys play great today um yeah uh that would that you know and that's one thing is funny as it sounds that always you know kind of you know makes you know obviously you think about you know like these guys are a lot bigger you know um and it was funny you know lining up to them and seeing them in person you know they they didn't even look that large you know I was looking at them in the eyes um but no yeah they were some big boys boys and uh you know all you got to do all you got to do and know is just stay low and keep good pad level I appreciate join Town pumps Pump It Up Rewards plus program and never pay full price for fuel again save 5 cents on every gallon every day at any Town Pump across Montana plus earn and redeem points on your favorite in store items to get free stuff with our clubs stop in and pick up a Rewards Card download The Pump It Up Rewards Plus app today or visit Town pump.com rewards to register and start [Music] Saving right down the road it oh yeah