MOSCOW, Idaho - The No. 21 Idaho Vandals meet Idaho State in the annual ICCU Battle of the Domes Saturday at 12p.m P.T. at Holt Arena in Pocatello. It is a battle of first-year coaches with Idaho's Jason Eck and ISU's Charlie Ragle. The Vandals are 6-4 and are playing for a shot in the FCS playoff field while the Bengals are 1-9 overall.  

ABOUT IDAHO: Idaho is coming off its lone home loss of the season, a 44-26 setback against UC Davis. Despite the loss, quarterback Gevani McCoy played a stellar game, passing for a career-best 346 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and running for one. Hayden Hatten scored two touchdowns and had 126 yards receiving to move into sole possession of the top spot in the FCS for touchdowns scored at 14. Jermaine Jackson also hit the century mark and now leads the Big Sky in receiving yards at 899. Fa'Avae Fa'Avae is third in the Big Sky averaging 9.0 tackles per game. 

ABOUT IDAHO STATE: Idaho State has lost three straight games and is averaging just 328.9 yards per game on offense while giving up over 450. They are 109th in the FCS in scoring defense and are giving up 36.4 points per game. The quarterback position is a question mark. Game-one starter Tyler Vander Waal has been cleared to play, but Ragle has declined to say who will start between Vander Waal, Sagan Gronauer of Hunter Hays. 
1. QB PERFORMANCE: Gevani McCoy has been outstanding this season. He is 11th in the FCS in completion percentage (67.9%) and fifth in the FCS in efficiency (168.4). When you include just FCS games, those numbers jump to 69.4% completion percentage and 175.1 efficiency rating.  In just six games, he passed for more yards (1,359) than any Vandal player a year ago. He is the first Vandal to pass for more the 2,300 yards in a season since current WR coach Matt Linehan threw for 3,184 yards in 2016. McCoy was named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List and was the Big Sky Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Vandals to the win over Montana. Idaho still has a pair of quarterbacks with game experience to back him up in CJ Jordan and J'Borre Gibbs. True freshman quarterback Jack Layne was given time at the QB position against Drake in a chance to get him playing experience while preserving his redshirt.

2. INTO THE RANKINGS: The Vandals jumped into the FCS Rankings after topping Montana 30-23 on the road in the Battle for the Little Brown Stein. Idaho is now tied for 21st in the FCS stats poll.

3. TURNOVERS: Despite playing games against Power Five opponents, the Vandals are up big time in the turnover margin. Idaho has 17 takeaways to just seven turnovers. Good enough for the seventh-best turnover margin in the FCS. In just five games, the Vandals topped the takeaway number from a season ago.  Combined with the best time of possession mark in the FCS, Idaho is controlling the ball. Paul Moala and Tommy McCormick have four interceptions each, tied for third in the FCS and Idaho is the only team in the FCS with two players to have four or more interceptions. Murvin Kenion III is right behind them with three. 
 
4. IMPACT TRANSFERS: Six transfers are listed on the Vandal defensive two-deep, two transfers are listed on the offensive list and one special teams player. Paul Moala, a linebacker transfer from Notre Dame  forced a fumble against WSU, made a goalline stop against Indiana and has four interceptions on the season. Juliano Falaniko, a defensive end transfer from USC had 29 tackles, including 4.5 TFLS and two sacks.  Mathias Bertram a safety from New Mexico has 42 total tackles. Former NAIA All-American Jason Hahlbeck, a transfer from Morningside College, has missed games due to injury.  Junior college transfer Ricardo Chavez is 12-15 on the year for field goals and is among the leaders in the FCS in made field goals and percentage. JC transfer Murvin Kenion III has three interceptions and a forced fumble this year and led Idaho in tackles against Portland State.

5. RECEIVERS: Hayden Hatten scored two touchdowns against UC Davis and is now tied for first on the single-season touchdown record book and tied for third on the career mark. He is now has the top spot in the FCS for TDs this season. Jermaine Jackson He is second in the Big Sky in yards per reception at 19.54. Jackson is  second in the Big Sky in Yards per game and Hatten is first. Terez Traynor and Jordan Dwyer have all had big impacts, but have had injuries that have limited their availability. 

6. NEW BUT VETERAN STAFF: With the coaching staff change, head coach Jason Eck changed the entire staff. Among the 10 assistant coaches, seven have served as a coordinator in a college football setting and running backs coach Thomas Ford is a former DII head coach. Stanley Franks Jr. and Matt Linehan both had outstanding careers as players at the University of Idaho.