MOSCOW, Idaho ? There was an air of disappointment in the interview room after the University of Idaho's Saturday afternoon 30-24 loss to San Jose State.

True, all the Vandals gave credit to the Spartans, who came into the Kibbie Dome and left Moscow as the Western Athletic Conference's No. 2 team with a 6-3 overall mark, 4-1 in the league.

True, the Vandals battled to the end and showed improvement over earlier games.

But, there is no solace in simply improving for the Vandals anymore.

“Our objective is to win the game, whether we're getting better or not,” senior h-back Eddie Williams said. “We come out to win, no matter what the opponent is and we didn't accomplish our goal, so it hurts us.”

That was a sentiment conveyed by coach Robb Akey only moments earlier.

“At this point in time,” Akey said, “I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in the outcome of this game. They took advantage of their opportunities and I feel like we created some of those opportunities.”

One particularly telling moment was, with just seconds remaining in the first half, the snap to Nate Enderle skidded across the turf and wound up in the hands of San Jose State's Vincent Abbott. Instead of possibly scoring in the waning seconds, Idaho instead yielded a 37-yard field goal that pushed the Spartans ahead 20-10.

All in a game that began with such promise. Idaho marched 80 yards on its first possession to score on a leaping Lee Smith TD reception from 18 yards out. San Jose State answered to even the score at seven and then went ahead by three early in the second half on the first of three Jared Strubeck field goals.

After trading possessions, Idaho matched San Jose State when Tino Amancio's 30-yard field goal was good with 4:33 left in the second quarter. The Spartans made it 17-10 when David Richmond beat the coverage and romped 63 yards to score with 2:39 left in half.

That was one bugaboo that troubled the Vandals; another was the Spartans' uncanny ability to convert on third down.

“At critical times, we weren't good enough in our pass coverage and third-down conversions,” Akey said. “I don't know what the numbers were, but I knew they converted too many on us and that hurt us. That's my disappointment.”

Nevertheless, there is a lot of never-quit in the Vandals. San Jose State built a 30-10 lead going into the final minutes. The Vandals took advantage when, with players converging on him, SJSU punter Philip Zavala shanked his kick for what wound up a 12-yard effort.

Idaho made the most of the field position with Princeton McCarty carrying on all three plays and the Vandals benefiting from an unsportsmanlike conduct call for the TD that cut the lead to 30-17. Idaho stopped the Spartans on their next possession but this time the punt ? with Strubeck first showing field goal, then punting ? was downed at the two and the Vandals weren't able to dig their way out of the hole.

T.J. Conley boomed a 61-yard  punt to back up the Spartans and this time the Idaho defense held and returned the ball to the Vandals at their own 34 with 3:38 to go in the game.

Enderle hooked up with Max Komar on a 44-yard pass play to move the ball to the Spartans' 22. A pass interference call moved the ball to the seven and, after an incompletion and a four-yard pass to Williams, the Vandals scored when Enderle hooked up with Williams who bulled his way into the end zone for the three-yard TD. Amancio made it 30-24.

The Vandals, who have shown tremendous success on onside kicks, tried again but this time the Spartans covered the ball and ran out the clock.

“We had every opportunity to come back from it,” Akey said. “It was a 10-point game at halftime. It's a score and a half and we got it down to a one-score game and we've been pretty good on those onside kicks and we didn't get that thing covered and I was disappointed in that.

“There were some good things that were in there, but the outcome is what's the important thing.”