MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho football travels to Greeley, Colorado, for the just the second time in program history as the Big Sky leading Vandals face the 0-8 Northern Colorado Bears in a game of two teams with contrasting fortunes. Idaho is coming off of the biggest win of the season, a 24-21 win over No. 2 Montana State while UNC is facing a nine-game losing streak stretching back to last season. The two teams have played just twice, with the home team winning both previous meetings. 

ABOUT IDAHO: Idaho controlled the clock and held the prolific Montana State rushing attack nearly 200 yards short of their season average to earn a 24-21 win over the Bobcats to move to 6-2 on the year. Gevani McCoy is one of the most efficient passers in the FCS and is among the leaders in the Big Sky for passing yards and touchdowns. Hayden Hatten is among the leaders in the FCS in receiving yards. Anthony Woods is third in the nation in rushing TDs and leads the Big Sky in a bevy of categories. The Vandal defense is a solid unit, among the leaders in FCS in passing yards allowed and total defense. Tre Thomas leads Idaho with 45 total tackles. Keyshawn James-Newby has a team-high five sacks, but missed the MSU game with an injury. 

ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO: The Bears fell 40-0 to Montana last week, compiling just 94 yards of total offense and not making it inside of the red zone, while giving up two interceptions and 455 yards of offense. Jacob Sirmon leads the UNC offense with 1,355 yards passing, eight TDs and eight interceptions. David Afari has 510 yards rushing on the year and two TDs. Blake Haggert has a team-high 377 yards receiving and a touchdown. Jordan Knapke leads UNC with 56 tackles. Marcus Howard has a team-high four sacks. 
1. ECK'S VANDALS AGAINST RANKED TEAMS: Idaho picked up its third win over a top-5 team in head Coach Jason Eck's  20-game tenure as a head coach. The Vandals controlled the time of possession, limiting Montana State to just 27 offensive plays and won all three phases of the game to pick up the 24-21 win over then second-ranked Montana State Saturday. Idaho previously won games over No. 3 Montana last season and No. 4 Sacramento State  earlier this year. Idaho is 3-1 against top-5 teams in 2022 and 2023, with his only loss coming in a last-second loss to #2 Sacramento State a season ago. Against ranked teams, Idaho is 4-2 in the same span. Prior to Eck's arrival, Idaho was 2-10 against ranked opponents and 0-4 in games against top-5 foes since returning to the FCS. 

2. RECORD SETTING FORM: Hayden Hatten's two fourth-quarter touchdowns against Montana gave the redshirt junior the Idaho Career Receiving Touchdown Record with 28. He broke Jerry Hendren's mark of 27 which was set in 1969. Hatten now holds the single-game (four), single-season (16) and the career receiving touchdown records. He is also now sixth in the career total touchdown top 10 and third on the career receiving yards list. He added an additional touchdown against Montana State for a career-total of 29. He is just 150 receiving yards from surpassing 3,000 for his career. 

3. IMPACT TRANSFERS: Eleven transfers joined the Idaho roster since the conclusion of last season. Eight of the 11 transfers are listed on the Vandal two-deep and three players, edge rusher Tylen Coleman, linebacker Tre Thomas and edge rusher Keyshawn James-Newby are listed as starters (James-Newby is out with an injury) for the Vandals. Jahkari Larmond has made his presence felt with disruptive play in the middle of the Vandal defense. Thomas brings three-years of starting experience from South Dakota and James-Newby racked up nine sacks and 14.5 tackles, leading the NAIA's Frontier Conference while at Montana Tech. Turon Ivy Jr. started game two and took the opening pass 75 yards for a touchdown.  

4. STURDY SCHEDULE: Massey Ratings has Idaho's current schedule listed as the fourth-toughest schedule in all of the FCS. The Vandals have played five road games so far this season, including two against FBS teams, going 1-1 in those games. The three home games so far were played against top 10 opponents in Montana State, Montana and Sacramento State and played a ranked Eastern Washington team on the road. Idaho still has two road games on the schedule against Northern Colorado and Weber State and a season-ending game against Idaho State in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

5. MORE BEEF IN THE TRENCHES: The biggest difference year-to-year on the offensive line and defensive line for the Vandals may be improved strength and weight. Of the nine returners on the Vandal two-deep for the offensive line, the weight gain is over 11 pounds on average per player. Last year, not a single player who started a game at defensive tackle weighed over 270. This season, not a single player on the defensive line two-deep weighs less than 275. 

6. STAFF CONSISTENCY: With an FCS program that had a winning season, it is not unreasonable to assume that many members of the successful coaching staff would get poached by bigger programs. In the case of the 2022 Idaho Vandals only one coach, safeties coach Tyler Yelk, left and he took an assistant job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Coach Jason Eck hired Bobby Jay, the Defensive Coordinator of the University of San Diego Toreros.