25 questions to Vandalize

What is their body of work?

They are 4-5, and lost four of their last five games.  Given that they won 3 games total the last two seasons, they are pretty high on their season, I would expect.  They did pick up an early win in DeKalb against NIU.

What is their best result?

Their wins over NIU and a 6-7 Hawaii team.  Their other five wins are against teams that won 4 or fewer games.

What is their worst result?

Losing 52-49 at home to Utah St.

What is their turnover ratio?

They are -9, which is unusual for a team with a winning record.

Offense:

How is their QB Play?

Very good.  Nathan Enderle is a junior and is the second most efficient QB in the WAC behind Kellen Moore, which is pretty good company.

What was their scoring and yards per play?

They are 4th in the WAC in scoring offense, but second in yards per play (6.9, a figure anyone would drool over).

Can they run the ball?

While running is not their calling card, they do have a solid running game.  They average 4.6 yards per carry, which is 5th in the conference.  They have used a three-headed attack, with DeMaundray Woolridge and Princeton getting more than 100 carries at 5.7 yards per carry.  Deonte Jackson carried 83 times at 4.3 yards per carry.

Do they pass the ball?

They are 11th in the nation in passing offense and 10th in passing efficiency.  BG is 8th in passing offense, so we can expect that they will bring the same firepower that BG does.  Nathan Enderle is a very good QB (see above).  Max Komar is their leading receiver with 62 catches and 10 TDs, and they have 4 additional WRs between 28 and 38 catches.

How is their run/pass balance?

This is very interesting.   They obviously can run the ball and pass the ball.  Unlike most teams we run across, however, their play mix is strongly titled toward the run--with 53% of total plays.  The implication of that is that the Idaho passing offense is going to be more downfield focused than the typical offense we face.

Do they convert on 3rd Down.

Yes, they are second in the WAC with 47.9%, which is very strong.

Do they score in the red zone?

3.5 red zone trips per game is not especially strong, and neither is 4.3 points per trip.  They have 4 turnovers in the redzone, including 3 fumbles.

Do they protect the quarterback?

24 sacks was 5th in the WAC, which is probably pretty average.  Yes, they don't have a pass-rich play mix, but they do throw upfield more, which obviously exposes your QB to a sack more than a bubble screen-style passing offense.

Clearly, this is a very strong, multi-faceted offensive football team with good skill players.

Defense:


Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

Here the story turns a little bit south for the Vandals.  They were last in the WAC in scoring defense and tied for 5th in yards per play allowed (6.5).

Do they defend the run effectively?

This is the stronger of the defensive attributes, with 4.6 yards per carry, which is in the top half of their conference.  They don't see as many running plays as most teams because of their problems defending the pass, but they are respectable against the run.

Could they be passed on?

Yes.  They are eighth in the WAC in pass defense and pass defense efficiency.  The pass defense efficiency is 117th out of 120 in FBS, and they were particularly porous in their struggles down the home stretch.

Did they get off the field on 3rd down?

They are dead last in their conference, allowed 52.6% of 3rd down conversions.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They are soft in the red zone.  They are allowing almost 5 points per red zone trip, which means when you get there, you are likely to get a TD.  They have only 6 FG attempts against them in the red zone.  They allow 4 red zone trips per game.  This is also not a strong point.

Do they pressure the QB?

They have only 14 sacks in 12 games.

Special Teams:

Punting?

Their punting is very average, at 34 net yards per punt.  In addition, they were blocked twice, which should be good news for our improving block game.

Punt Return?

They have only 14 returns, which means they fair catch a lot.  When they do return, they are 3rd in the WAC with no TDs.

Placekicking?

Their kicker is very solid, more than he might appear on paper.  He was 13 out of 19, but tried 3 of his misses were outside 50, (mostly unmakable for a college kicker) and he did hit 2 from beyond 50.  54 was his long.  He was 7-8 inside 40.

Kickoff?

Their kickoff coverage is very typical at 42 yards, which means that a team starts on their own 28 following a kickoff.  They have allowed 1 TD.

Kickoff Return?

Not especially strong, with a 44 yard net and 1 TD.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

In general, you have 2 very good offensive teams and 2 teams who do suffer on the defensive end of the field.  My hope is that BG is just slightly better on the defensive end, and will get enough stops to win what should be an offensive shoot out...but who can tell.  This is a good match up for us, however, and I do like our chances at grinding out the win.

One big thing in Idaho's favor is that they will have a good home crowd and will be playing a home game from that perspective.  We have played on the blue like they have, so I think that advantage is negated, but they will have a home field type advantage.

BG clearly comes in playing better football, winning 6 out of 7 as opposed to losing 4 out of 5.  The long layoff does seem to negate that advantage, but I do hope to see our players have some additional confidence, especially after a couple nice wins at the end.