TUCSON, Ariz. ? A young University of Idaho football team couldn't match the speed and elusiveness of Nic Grigsby or the pinpoint accuracy of Willie Tuitama as the Vandals dropped their season opener 70-0 to Arizona on a warm but wet Saturday night.

“That was a very, very, very poor performance,” coach Robb Akey said. “I am very disappointed. ... There was nothing we did right.”

To wit:

-          Arizona had 521 yards total offense to 112 for the Vandals.

-          Idaho quarterbacks were intercepted four times.

-          The Vandals lost one of two fumbles.

-          The Wildcats scored on an 87-yard punt return that initially was a muffed put deep in Arizona territory. It was the play that pushed Arizona ahead 21-0 and completed the momentum swing.

By halftime ? in a game delayed by 62 minutes because of lightning flashing around Arizona Stadium, the Wildcats had amassed 359 total yards in piling up 49 points, while the Vandals covered just 76 yards and were scoreless. Tuitama accounted for 179 of those yards on 17-of-21 passing; Grigsby toted the ball 19 times for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

“Everything went wrong,” senior center and co-captain Adam Korby said. “Arizona played a great game but we shot ourselves in the foot. ... We didn't show the team we are. We didn't play the game we wanted to play.”

Further compounding the Vandals' woes, offensive tackle Tyrone Novikoff sat out part of the first half and all of the second with a shoulder sprain ? the same injury with the same result sustained in the early going by nose tackle Aaron Lavarias. And tight end Peter Bjorvik was out with a hamstring pulled in the pregame warmup.

“We have a lot to learn from this game,” said safety Shiloh Keo, a junior who shares captain duties with Korby and Eddie Williams. “We didn't play our best. For all the hard work we put in, we didn't show it. I commend them on their efforts and how they played us.”

The Wildcats' 14-point first-quarter was troublesome for the Vandals. The 35-point second quarter, which led to lopsided halftime score, was devastating.

This wasn't the team Akey has been watching grow and develop during fall camp.

“We have to take it from the practice field to the game,” Akey said. “I really feel like we were ready to play.

“It's going to be a long plane ride home. It needs to hurt. It needs to hurt but when we come back to work we need to look at it and see what went wrong then move ahead. We can't change the past.”