YPSILANTI, Mich. - Players of the game were everywhere for Idaho Saturday afternoon at Rynearson Stadium as the Vandals ended a four-game skid and gave Nick Holt his inaugural head coaching victory in dramatic fashion.

            The Vandals (1-4) fell behind by two touchdowns early, rallied for a two TD lead and finally thwarted a last ditch Eastern Michigan effort for the 45-41 non-conference victory.

            Junior quarterback Michael Harrington had his best outing as a collegian as did true freshman running back Jayson Bird. So, too, did senior receiver Bobby Bernal-Wood. The list of heroes grows with the additions of junior defensive end Mike Anderson, junior linebacker Cole Snyder and true freshman safety Daniel Dykes as big-time contributors.

            Holt passed the credit deeper still by tipping his hat to his assistants, who kept together a young team that endured a brutal preconference schedule and the angst brought on by the death of teammate Eric McMillan less than two weeks ago.

            "It wasn't pretty," Holt said, "but we're leaving a lot happier than we have been."

            The not so pretty part of the game came early and was uncomfortably reminiscent of three of the Vandals' previous four games. Less than five minutes into the game, the Vandals trailed 14-0 after a length-of-the-field drive on the Eagles' first possession and then on a short-field possession set up by J.R. Ruffin's fumble of the kickoff return.

            "It was just a matter of a couple minutes and we were down 14-0," Holt said. "We hadn't even broken a sweat yet. But we came together and started to play football."

            This time the response was to dig deep and attack. The result was three-successive scores - two by Bird and the other by another true freshman back, Rolly Lumbala - and the lead. And the oh-so-precious psyche boost.

            The Eagles (1-4) came back to tie the game but the Vandals were settling into a rhythm that led to Harrington completing 77.8 percent of his passes - 12 to the sure-handed Bernal-Wood - and Bird churning his way to a 125-yard rushing game, which he complemented with another 42 off five receptions.

            Idaho reclaimed the lead with slightly less than eight minutes left in the first half when Lumbala scored his second TD. The Vandals added to that and built a 35-21 halftime edge on Bird's 34-yard run with 3:13 to go in the second.

            But, as has been the case all season, the Vandals struggled in the third quarter.
Mike Barrow accounted for their only points in that period with his 43-yard field goal. EMU countered with two TDs and one field goal to tie the game at 38 with 1:46 to go in the quarter.

            The Eagles regained the lead four seconds into the fourth when Andrew Wellock connected on a 36-yard field goal.

            Lumbala, who like Bird scored three times, surged through the line from the one with 8:57 left in the game for what would be the final score - albeit not the final dramatics - of the game.

            "Offensively, we did what we needed to," Holt said. "There were a lot of peaks and valleys but they showed great resiliency. It was a great effort by our kids. They never gave up.

            "They hung in there until the last play."

            EMU was driving on its final possession of the game but an incomplete pass on fourth-down-and-seven at the UI 27 ended their hopes and ignited the celebration on the UI sideline.

            "The defense rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter," Holt said.

Notes: Bernal-Wood's 12 receptions tie for sixth best on the UI single-game list ... Bird's 125 yards rushing and 167 all-purpose are career highs ... By halftime, the Vandals had scored more points than they had in their previous four games combined ... Also by late in the first half, they had more total yards than they had in any of their previous four ... Harrington's 28 completions and 318 yards were career bests ... The Vandals are home next Saturday for Dads' Weekend and Ag Days against Louisiana-Monroe. Kickoff is 2 p.m.