RENO, Nev. ? Much has been said about Idaho's second-quarter struggles. Saturday afternoon at Nevada, the trouble was in the first quarter and left the Vandals facing a 17-point deficit.

While they rallied, and had a strong showing throughout the remaining three quarters, they again couldn't get over the hump and wound up with a  37-21 Western Athletic Conference loss.

The Wolf Pack took advantage of the short field on its first possession. Luke Lippincott finished the 33-yard drive with a one-yard run with 10:49 left in the first. Brett Jaekle made it 7-0 with his successful PAT kick.

Jaekle made it 10-0 with a 37-yard field goal at the 3:55 mark of the first as he capped another short-field effort by Nevada. This drive was a 10-play, 17-yard drive.

Ezra Butler made the next big play for Nevada when, on third-down-and-eight, Ashley threw under heavy pressure and Butler grabbed the ball at the 11 and ran it in. With Jaekle's PAT, the Wolf Pace led 17-0 with 2:56 to go in the first.

The Vandals went 60 yards on their first scoring drive with Enderle mixing passes with Jackson runs. He hooked up on a 10-yarder to Peter Bjorvik on the scoring play with 10:59 left in the second quarter. Tino Amancio hit the PAT to cut the lead to 17-7.

Eric Hunter set up the Vandals' first score of the second half when he recovered a fumble at the Nevada 31 on the opening kickoff. Enderle found true freshman Eric Greenwood on the left side of the end zone and lofted an 18-yard pass the 6-6 receiver was able to nab over the head of the defender. Amancio's kick closed the gap th 17-14 with 12:26 left in the third.

The remainder of the third quarter was a series of traded punts until the final drive of the period, which began with 3:17 to go, when Nevada marched from its own 13 to ultimately score on Lippincott's two-yard run with 10:01 left in the game. The 18-play, 87-yard drive used 8:16 off the clock and gave the Wolf Pack a 24-14 lead.