November 17, 2007
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - There was good reason to believe that the Idaho Vandals (6-5 5-2 WAC) were good. They came into the game riding a 5 game winning streak after starting the season 1-3, had a coach who wasn't afraid to take risks, and got their starting quarterback back from injury just a week ago. Then reality set in, courtesy of the rival #15 Boise State Broncos (10-1 7-0 WAC).

The Vandals started off red hot, and acquired a 14-0 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. An Ian Johnson touchdown run cut the lead to 7 points, and then the Vandals made a costly mistake. As he was getting sacked, QB Nathan Enderle fumbled the ball, and Dallas Dobbs of Boise State returned it for a touchdown to tie the game up at 14 each. 10 unanswered Vandal points to open the second gave Idaho a 24-14 lead with a three and a half minutes left in the first half. The Broncos answer with a drive of their own, which was capped of with a Taylor Tharp touchdown pass that cut the Vandal halftime lead to 3.

Another Tharp scoring pass in the beginning of the third gave Boise State the lead once again, but Idaho scored another 9 unanswered points to reclaim the lead. The two point conversion to make it a 7 point game once again would be denied. Then came the collapse. It started with a 45 yard touchdown pass and failed two point conversion to give Boise the 34-33 lead with 26 seconds remaining in the quarter. Then with the last play of the quarter, an Enderle interception was returned 33 yards to extend the lead to 8 points. A 50 yard field goal with under two minutes remaining in the game seemed to clinch things for the Broncos, but the Vandals wouldn't go down without a fight. With 47 seconds in regulation, Nathan Enderle found Jayson Bird to pull the Vandals within 5 following the failed 2 point conversion. And then Tino Amancio was called on to attempt the onside kick...

...the first Boise player missed the ball, and there it was, laying motionless on the blue turf of Bronco Stadium for one short split second. There would be no storybook ending however as Boise State jumped on the loose football, preventing the Vandal upset.

"Our guys played hard and the fact that we were able to hang around for four quarters with the #15th ranked team in the country shows how far we have progressed through the season. There's not many times you can feel good about a loss but this is one of them. I don't think anybody thought we would be an onside kick away from potentially winning this game," said Coach Ghettoshark.

QB Nathan Enderle passed for a season high 330 yards and threw three touchdowns in the loss. Despite his three interceptions, he was still named the Idaho player of the game.

The Vandals only ran the ball 19 times, even though they had success on the ground in recent weeks.

"I'm confident that if we stuck with the running game, the outcome might be different. But as soon as [HB Brian Flowers] went out for the game with a minor injury, our running game stalled. We need to have more faith in our running game if we are to improve," said Ghettoshark.

The Vandals close out the regular season next week in a home contest against the Utah State Aggies (2-8 2-4 WAC).