Good Morning Vandal Nation: Dec. 2, 2009

The day breaks with some local and national props for Idaho’s comeback football season, as ESPN’s Pat Forde and the Idaho Statesman both name Robb Akey their WAC Coach of the Year.

The Vandal women opened a four-game homestand on the wrong foot last night, falling to Colorado State, 65-55. They’ll hit the Memorial Gym hardwood again tomorrow against undefeated Wyoming.

There were two WAC men’s games last night and the conference went oh-fer at home — NMSU folded up like a house of cards against arch-rival UTEP, while Pacific upended Fresno State. A year that started with such promise for WAC hoops is looking grimmer by the day.

Now for the links:

Basketball

• Same old, same old for the Vandal women — a first-half hole was too deep to climb out of against Colorado State, as Ilya Pinchuk reports. SID Spencer Farrin counted 10 missed Idaho layups in a 10-point Idaho loss.

• We talked with Idaho men’s coach Don Verlin about tomorrow’s road trip to Cal State-Northridge, a dangerous squad that took the Vandals to the wire at home last year. We’ll have a complete game preview today.

• Utah State fans love their Aggies. Students have been camping out in line for two days before tonight’s rivalry battle royale against BYU, Jay Patrick of the Logan Herald-Journal reports. Shawn Harrison previews the game, which is Utah State’s oldest rivalry. Of course, The Refraction has its take, too.

• The unexpectedly-slumping New Mexico State Aggies took another body blow, as Sam Wasson of BleedCrimson.net reports on their worst home loss to UTEP since 1963. Shooting a stone-cold 29 percent from the field and 15 percent from downtown… yikes. Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News has his own take on the debacle.

• Fresno State has now lost four straight, as the Bulldogs couldn’t hold off Pacific. The Fresno Bee’s Marek Warszawski says Steve Cleveland’s offense just couldn’t get in sync.

• Dayton Morinaga of the Honolulu Advertiser previews tonight’s Hawaii/UC Irvine game, which the Rainbow Warriors will have to play short-handed.

• The Idaho Statesman’s Nick Jezierny looks at the big hoops games coming up for the Vandals and the Broncos.

Football

• ESPN’s Pat Forde bestows his WAC Coach of the Year crown on Robb Akey, after the third-year leader of the Vandals brought as many wins to Moscow this year as in the previous three season combined, plus the team’s first bowl since 1998. He also calls the Vandals’ last-minute comeback win over Louisiana Tech the conference’s Game of the Year.

• The Idaho Statesman gets in on the action, saying of the Vandals’ turnaround, “Anyone outside of Moscow who says they saw this coming is lying.” Robb Akey is the Statesman’s WAC Coach of the Year, while NFL-bound guard Mike Iupati and do-everything safety Shiloh Keo get spots on their All-WAC Team.

• First-year New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker talks to Las Cruces Sun-News writer Teddy Feinberg about his incoming recruiting class.

Good Morning Vandal Nation: Dec. 1, 2009

It’s yet another Vandal Gameday morning here in Moscow, as Idaho’s women are set to begin an epic four-game non-conference homestand with a contest against the Mountain West’s Colorado State Rams. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Memorial Gym, and we’ll have all the action for you on Vandal Nation Live, with pregame starting at 6:30.

It’s been officially announced: Sunday’s game between #25 Portland and our Idaho Vandals will be in Memorial Gym. We strongly urge students to pick up their hard tickets ASAP, because seating is very limited and they’ll go fast. Stop at the Kibbie Dome ticket office and show your card to get yours. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — the last time a nationally-ranked non-conference team traveled to Idaho was in 1963.

Now for the links:

Basketball

• We’ve got a commentary on the Portland-to-Memorial-Gym saga — while the decision can’t be faulted, it points to Idaho’s immediate need to improve its basketball facilities. If we expect to keep top talent and top coaches, we can’t do this kind of thing to our hoops program.

• With the craziness of November behind us, we put together our first WAC Hoops Power Rankings of the young season. Yes, Idaho is atop the charts.

• It’s rivalry week in Las Cruces, and the Aggies are hoping it’s the tonic they need to jumpstart a disappointing season. BleedCrimson.net talked to New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies about his team’s progress. Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News previews tonight’s NMSU/UTEP battle.

• The Spartans put up a valiant fight against WCC powerhouse Saint Mary’s, but couldn’t quite seal the deal. Still, it’s another sign of improvement in San Jose. Spartan Hoops has the story.

• Tonight, the Colorado State Rams hit the Memorial Gym hardwood against Idaho’s women, and The Coloradoan’s Sean Duff says they’ll be looking for their first road win.

• The Mid-Majority selects a future Idaho opponent as their Baller of the Week: Seattle stud Charles Garcia.

• True Blue A takes a look at this week’s Utah State/BYU rivalry brawl.

Football

• The Vandals are considered all but a lock to go bowling in Boise at the end of the month, and the Idaho Statesman reports their likely opponent in the Humanitarian Bowl is… Bowling Green. Fitting.

• Idaho journalism students have been putting together great highlight reels from football games all season, and here’s their take on the Utah State game.

• The Red and Black Attack isn’t particularly enthused about the idea of an Idaho/Northern Illinois rematch in the H-Bowl.

• Nevada’s stud rusher Luke Lippincott will sadly miss the Wolf Pack’s bowl game, as he required surgery on a broken toe. The Reno Gazette-Journal’s Dan Hinxman wonders if Hawaii’s bowl hopes could change Nevada’s destination.

Good Morning Vandal Nation: Sept. 21, 2009

After our usual recovery-Sunday hiatus, there’s a big pile of WAC news from the weekend that was, so let’s get right to it.

First, though, comes the news that Vandal linebacker JoJo Dickson has been named WAC Defensive Player of the Week.

Dickson brought the house down with his spectacular, 74-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter of Saturday’s Idaho Vandals/San Diego State Aztecs game. That opening score gave the Vandals a lead they would never relinquish. Dickson also contributed six tackles on defense, including three solo takedowns.

Football

• In The Argonaut, I’ve got a game story on the Vandals’ 34-20 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs.

• The Moscow-Pullman Daily News’ Sandra Kelly has another gamer.

• The Spokesman-Review’s Josh Wright has yet another gamer — feeling the flow here?

• Over on his blog, the Lewiston Tribune’s Jesse Baumgartner has some insightful postgame commentary — and an admission that he was wrong to pick SDSU!

• The San Diego Union Tribune’s Kevin Gemmell says the Aztecs “gave away” the game with mistake-ridden play. Not giving much credit to the Vandals, is he?

• The Daily Aztec’s David Pope also gives Idaho no credit in his gamer, saying that “on paper,” the Aztecs “should beat Idaho.” Too bad they don’t play football on paper.

• The Daily Collegian of Fresno State reports on the Bulldogs’ home loss to the all-conquering Boise State Broncos.

• GoVandals.net has a great photo gallery from the game.

• The Las Cruces Sun-News’ Teddy Feinberg says the NMSU/UTEP rivalry game was “unwatchable.”

• BleedCrimson.net also has a recap of the ugliness in El Paso.

• The Reno Gazette-Journal’s Dan Hinxman calls the Wolf Pack’s loss at Colorado State “a debacle” and says QB Colin Kaepernick must take much of the blame.

Volleyball

• After a strong start, Vandal volleyball has now dropped six consecutive games. Idaho’s athletic site has the gory details on the losses to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

Soccer

• Idaho’s athletics site has an official report on the Vandals’ loss at Gonzaga on Sunday.

Tennis

• Idaho’s athletics site says the Vandals had a successful outing in their first tournament of the season.

Cross country

• Idaho’s athletics site wraps up the Vandals’ reasonably successful trip to the Sundodger Invitational.