vision2020
Vandals win Bowl game!
Congatulations to the Vandals magical 9-3 season in division I-A football
and winning the Big West and the Humanitarian Bowl after they were picked
as the worst division I-A team at the start of the 1998 season! I was
happy to be able to attend 9 of their 12 games during the season including
the 42-35 bowl victory over Southern Missippi (ranked 29th in the nation)
and I look forward to next year's schedule that includes games against the
quality opponents of WSU, Wyoming, and Auburn. Buy 1999 season's tickets
and 12th man tickets!
-SD
Commentary
By Howie Stalwick, Coeur d'Alene Press
BOISE - So-o-o-o ... anyone still beggin' and pleadin' for Idaho to jump
back - and we do mean BACK - into the Big Sky Conference?
Thought so.
Idaho's Humanitarian Bowl victory should provide a mondo-boost in exposure,
prestige and money for the school in general, the football program in
particular and the Big West Conference as a whole.
Talk about timing: The most important victory in Vandal football history
was hand-delivered just 31 hours prior to the most important year in Vandal
football history.
Lest we forget during this wondrously giddy time in Spud U annals, but
Cinderella's oven timer is ticking on Idaho's shelf life as an NCAA
Division I-A football school. Idaho must average 17,000 fans per home game
- the most in school history, and almost 4,000 more than this season's
pitiful number - to satisfy terms of a two-year agreement with the NCAA for
ditching the "temporary" label on its status as a full-fledged I-A school.
For at least one season, "home" moves 8 miles west to 37,600-seat Martin
Stadium, since it's kinda-sorta difficult to jam 17,000 fannies into the
16,000-seat Kibbie Dome. If Vandal fans find it difficult to swallow pride
and venture across the border to Washington State to watch the pigskin fly,
let Cougar fans swallow hard on this: Next year's Idaho-WSU tilt counts as
Idaho's home game. And crowd. And bucks.
The cash-starved Vandals again play just four home games next year,
including guaranteed big gates vs. WSU and Boise State. Sez here that
sports fans of our state - a marvelous lot, but too often underappreciative
of what a top college athletic program provides us - can't possibly be
naive/ignorant/insensitive enough to let next year's golden opportunity
pass by without dropping some gold into the Vandals' piggy bank.
The number to call is (208) 885-0221. That's the Vandal Boosters in Moscow.
The office re-opens Monday. Do what you think is right and make a difference.
A lowly sports writer (redundancy?) rarely makes a difference, but let's
give it a shot by tellin' ya:
1. Washington will not steal Chris Tormey away from the Vandals. He's
developed into a great coach who is destined for the big time at some time.
However, the Huskies will be scared off by the fact that (a) he was one
game above .500 at Idaho until this year and (b) he's too nice a guy to
recruit some of the scum that traditionally has helped Washington succeed
at the Pac-10 level.
2. The 1998 Vandal players and coaches were an uncommonly fun but
gentlemanly group off the field. Perfect, no. Exceptional people as a
whole, yes. It may not be worthy of headlines, but it is worthy of mention.
3. The Humanitarian Bowl will continue to struggle at the gate. The Boise
Valley lacks the population base and, all evidence to the contrary thus
far, the late-December weather to lure droves to Bronco Stadium. The best
of the Big West and the (maybe) next to best of Conference USA will rarely,
if ever, be great drawing cards. And when Idaho comes to the bowl, Boise
State fans will forever treat the game like a staph infection.
4. The Humanitarian Bowl is a marvelous idea that will survive for years if
a title sponsor (read: rich guy with money to burn) can be found. Even this
year, organizers say the game will break even or lose far less money than
last year ($71,000, paid for by the two leagues' football schools). That's
a small price to pay for a guaranteed bowl game on national television.
5. The Vandals should three-peat as Big West and Humanitarian Bowl
champions because an incredibly young team will improve with age. The only
question is whether any future Vandal team can approach the remarkable work
ethic, chemistry and senior leadership of this year's crew.
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