Go Vandals!!

Over at ESPN.com, Pat Forde has a great little writeup about the Vandals in his recent column. Here is the writeup in its entirety:

Miracle In Moscow

With each passing victory, The Dash becomes an even bigger bandwagon fan of resurgent Idaho (31), the punch-line-turned-powerhouse of the WAC. (Or, if not powerhouse, at least respectable member of the WAC. That's pretty much a first in its own right.)

If you missed it -- and shame on you if you did -- the Vandals improved to 5-1 with a comeback victory at San Jose State on Saturday, 29-25. It was damn near enough to make The Dash endow a blocking sled at a school that hasn't been this good through six games since 1994, when it was an FCS program.

The Vandals also improved to a league-best 2-0 in WAC play, with both victories coming on the road. Given the embedded history of woe at Idaho -- eight straight seasons with at least eight losses, including 21 defeats the previous two years -- these are giddy times in Moscow.

Jesse Beals/Icon SMIRobb Akey and the Vandals are 5-1 and 2-0 in the WAC.

"We've woken up the place a little bit," said The Dash's current Coach of the Year, Robb Akey (32).

Akey traversed the eight miles across the Palouse from Washington State two years ago to become the latest head coach at Revolving Door U. He's the fourth coach this decade, following alleged staff-puncher Tom Cable (Oakland Raider), I'd-rather-be-an-assistant Nick Holt (who returned to USC after two years) and loyalty-is-overrated Dennis Erickson (who fled after one for Arizona State). And here in Year 3, Akey's methods are paying dividends.

"It'd been rough for the kids, because they'd had so many head coaches," Akey said of his first two years, which included one WAC win. "We had to make football be fun for them and give them a reason to believe in us."

When Akey got the job, it was Christmas break. He sat down with a media guide and a list of phone numbers and began calling every player to introduce himself.

"A couple of guys had the courage to say, 'Why are you any different from the last guy?'" Akey said. "And they were right. We had to prove we cared about them and that we could help them."

Part of that included weeding out a healthy number of players who weren't into Akey's way of doing things. Another part was playing a lot of young guys early in their careers and taking lumps. The third part was upgrading the talent.

Part of the upgrade was Washington State transfer running back DeMaundray Woolridge (33), whose measurements read like fiction: 5-9, 241 pounds. The human bowling ball carried five times on the game-winning drive for 28 yards, including the last 5 yards for a touchdown.

(Not all news is good news for the Vandals, however. The WAC reprimanded linebacker Tre'Shawn Robinson (34) for throwing a punch during the game against San Jose State, an act that earned him an ejection from the game and carries with it the threat of suspension if he acts up again.)

Idaho has four of its final six games at home as it strives for its first bowl bid since 1998. The Vandals also get a road shot at Boise on Nov. 14 -- and if things get really haywire, the two teams could be a combined 18-1 at that point. Could there be anything stranger than the national media descending upon Boise for Broncos-Vandals?

Rhetorical question.