MOSCOW, Idaho ? Deonte' Jackson ran for an Idaho freshman-record 214 yards and the Vandal defense came up with four big turnovers as the Idaho football team outran the Cal Poly Mustangs to take a 20-13 victory in their home opener Saturday.

Jackson, who carried 30 times for 214 yards ? a 7.1 yards-per-carry average, said he didn't expect that many touches, but still wanted the ball all day long.

“As a running back, you dream of having that many carries in one game,” Jackson said. “You want to be fed, and I was hungry all game. Every carry, I just acted like it was my first one and ran as hard as I could.”

The Vandal defense was hungry for the ball, too. Five different players forced fumbles, with Siua Musika causing two, and the team recovered four.

The biggest one may have been the first, when the Mustangs were driving down the field on their very first possession and looked like a lock to score. As quarterback Jonathan Dally wheeled to the right on an option roll-out, senior linebacker Brandon Ogletree came flying out of nowhere to hit Dally just as he pitched, sending the ball flying back to the 28, where lineman Taylor Rust dove on it to end the scoring threat.

Head Coach Robb Akey wasn't too pleased with the yardage the Mustangs accumulated ? 346 total yards with 171 coming on the ground ? but he quickly pointed out the most important part of the game.

“The scoreboard is what matters, the yardage doesn't matter,” Akey said. “I can't say enough about those guys taking the ball away from them all those times.

“I like what our defensive coaches did. We gave up a lot of offensive rushing yards today, but what we did do well was take the ball away.”

“Bend but don't break” is an all-too-common football cliché, but the Vandal defense played in exactly that fashion. The team buckled down to hold Cal Poly to just a field goal in the first half, despite playing without rest for most of the first half.

The Mustangs ran the ball 33 times in the first half alone, accumulating 109 rushing yards and eating up over 21 minutes of possession time. Even with all those impressive numbers, there was one number that was even more important ? three. That's all the points the Vandals gave up in the first half.

While Akey was impressed with the victory, he still recognized the need to improve all facets of the game.

“I feel like we took a step forward today, but we're nowhere near where we need to be or where we can be,” Akey said. “This football team doesn't know how good it can be just yet and we've got to keep pushing them.”

Idaho got going quickly and looked like they were firing on all cylinders when they drove 75 yards in seven plays on the opening drive, capped off with a 36-yard touchdown hookup between Nathan Enderle and Max Komar.

After the big turnover, the team started driving again, only to have it fizzle at the Cal Poly 34. On came kicker Tino Amancio, who nailed the 51-yard field goal with just a few feet to spare and gave the Vandals a 10-0 lead to start the game.

The Vandals defense came out strong in the third quarter. After a few halftime adjustments, the team stuffed the Mustang offense, allowing just 34 yards and forcing the game's second turnover. The offense came out in the third and put up 67 yards of offense and added a second Amancio field goal.

The Vandals entered the fourth quarter with a 13-3 lead and gave the Mustangs a taste of their own medicine, rushing for nearly a hundred yards in the final quarter alone on a steady diet of Jackson rushes. In the fourth quarter, Jackson got 13 of his 30 carries and 88 yards, including his first career touchdown on an 11-yard run with a sweet spin move to break free from a Cal Poly tackler at the five yard line.

After Cal Poly connected for a 69-yard catch and run touchdown to come within seven points with 4:40 left in the game, Idaho turned once again to their own workhorse, who took eight of the final nine carries to run out the clock and seal the Vandal victory.

Three Vandals had double-digit tackles, as David Vobora had 13, Aaron Lavarias had 12 and Ogletree had 10, including two for loss. Stanley Franks came up with his patented big plays as the Mustangs tried three red-zone lobs to their 6'6” wideout Ramses Barden. Franks answered the challenge and knocked each pass away. Shiloh Keo came up big for the defense, totaling seven tackles, with one for loss, recovering one fumble and knocking away a pass on a deep fade route.

For the offense, Enderle came up with just 101 passing yards on 7-of-22 passing, as many balls were just off the mark or just out of reach. Lee Smith led all receivers with 41 yards on 4 catches, while Komar had one catch for 36 yards and the touchdown.

Fullback Jon Hall of Cal Poly had quite a day as he ran for 114 yards on 20 carries running the triple option dive.

Next up for the Vandals is the showdown on the Palouse, which is made even bigger this year as Akey returns to the Washington State sidelines to face his former team. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Martin Stadium.