PULLMAN, Wash. – There were glimmers of what the Idaho Vandals can be but turnovers and other bobbles were too much for them to overcome in 56-6 loss to Washington State University in Saturday's drizzly rendition of the Battle of the Palouse.
 
"There were some plays we worked hard on and didn't execute," coach Paul Petrino said. "We have to do a better job of coaching them and getting them ready to go.
 
"But give (WSU) credit for stopping them."
 
The early going was a different story than the latter part of the game.
 
Idaho's defense held the Cougars to a three-and-out on their first drive. The Vandals took over on their own 45. Austin Rehkow capped the drive, which was kept alive by a pass interference call on fourth down, with a 42-yard field goal with 9:47 to play in the first.
 
The Cougars scored their first TD with :22 to go in the first after a 50-yard pass play gave them the ball on the Idaho two. James Williams scored on the two-yard run for the 7-3 WSU lead.
 
Idaho drove to the WSU 13 and set up for a 27-yard field goal but Rehkow's attempt was blocked and the Cougars recovered and scored to make it 14-3 with 7:47 left in the first half.
 
The Vandals' next possession ended when Linehan fumbled at the Idaho 36 to return the ball to WSU, which turned it into a 21-3 lead on a pass from Luke Falk to Gabe Marks with 4:02 to go in the second quarter.
 
Idaho took a nibble out of the WSU lead with an 18-yard field goal by Rehkow with 8:47 left in the third. The Cougars, however, responded with a length of the field drive for a 28-6 edge with 2:50 to go in the third.  WSU went up 35-6 on Falk's 10-yard pass to Robert Lewis with 13:05 to go in the game.
 
The Cougars added three more scores – one on a fumble recovery, for the final tally.
 
Deon Watson was the Vandals' leading receiver with five catches for 62 yards with Callen Hightower also catching five but for 37 yards. Defensively, Tony Lashley totaled 11 sacks – 10 solo, and Jayshawn Jordan had eight along with an interception. Tueni Lupeamanu had two tackles for losses totaling 13 yards among his four total stops.