Idaho

I have a good feeling y’all

The enthusiasm for the program is high. The stadium is nice, the team has depth, and the conference, even if only in name and reputation, is more prestigious. The future is bright and Danny Mac is wearing shades, etc.

The Opponent

Idaho’s 2012-2013 season was apparently so forgettable that the NCAA star book refuses to link to it.

Fret not, however, CFBStats has you covered in any case. Upon browsing that terribleness you’ll learn that Idaho averaged 15 ppg while giving up 42 and only beat a horrible New Mexico State. Paul Petrino, brother of Bobby of cheating-with-his-employee-and-wrecking-his-motorcycle fame, has now taken over this mess. Paul coached offense or wide receivers or both pretty much wherever Bobby went, including that unpleasant stay in Atlanta in 2007.

His is a mountain of a task. Idaho not only has the same program troubles any small-conference, isolated school located in a sparsely-populated region has, but it has to overcome them after Boise St already did. There are few reasons to go to the state of Idaho to play college football but if you had to it seems like you would choose Boise over Moscow.

In any case, his rebuilding (is it not just building?) project begins Saturday at Apogee against a man in year three of a fixer-upper assignment of his own: Unleashing the much-discussed (yet never realized) potential of the University of North Texas football program.

A sure sign of McCarney’s progress is the fact that Idaho is a 15-point underdog. There are teams obviously worse than North Texas now; that is something that was not always true under the previous regime.

It is worth addressing the frequent references to the Dodge Era by this blog, and by the fans. The thing is that it was the worst era in the history of the program. Seriously. Look it up. It probably is a good thing that it happened in retrospect. Todd Dodge was a cleansing fire, purging the remaining unhealthy ties to the bleak eras-post Hayden Fry, the Bear Bryant-like figure of UNT.

I realize I sound like Ra’s Al Ghoul in saying this. In that case let me just continue by saying that the Darrel Dickey period just postponed the necessary cleansing.

Now the entire administration seems to be realizing that running the program cheaply won’t bring success despite the heroics Dickey performed (under conditions he loudly protested against.)

Long story short: The ship has a capable captain and an administration that isn’t so stingy. I mean just look at the athletic budget. That’s why we’ll win 42-24.

That said, this beer is telling me that we’ll slaughter them 70-3.

GO MEAN GREEN