MOSCOW, Idaho – The Eastern Washington offense opened the second half with a 16-play, 7:48 drive to the one-yard line with the chance to take the lead, but a fourth-down throw to the flat was sniffed out and stuffed for a loss by Jhamell Blenman and Dwayne McDougle.
 
The Vandals took the ensuing drive 98 yards, culminating in a one-yard Deshaun Buchanan touchdown run to take a 10-point lead, and the 11th-ranked Vandals kept the Eagles at arms' length the rest of the way for the 38-28 victory at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome Saturday evening.
 
The two teams traded touchdowns on their first possessions. Idaho scored on a four-yard TD on a pass from Jack Layne to Alex Moore. Eastern Washington responded with a touchdown of their own, but that would be the last time EWU would see the end zone until the fourth quarter.
 
Layne found Jordan Dwyer for a 15-yard score early in the second quarter to give Idaho a 14-7 lead. EWU added two field goals in the second while Idaho added one of their own to take a 17-13 lead into the break.
 
Eastern's long, time consuming drive to start the third ended in no points, but Idaho scored back-to-back touchdowns to take a 31-13 lead after a Rocco Koch three-yard rush at the start of the fourth quarter.
 
Eastern found the end zone with 8:18 to play to cut the lead to 31-21, but Idaho responded with another Buchanan score with 5:06 to play to extend the lead to 38-21.
 
Eastern Washington added a 100-yard kick return touchdown on the ensuing kickoff, but it would not be enough as Idaho closed the game with an 11-play drive that ended in the victory formation.
 
Layne was outstanding in his return from injury. He was 17-28 for 235 yards and two touchdowns, and the Vandal rushing attack racked up 235 yards. Buchanan led the way with 116 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries. Dwyer had a team-high 78 yards receiving and a touchdown on four receptions.
 
The Vandal defense held the potent Eastern offense out of the end zone for more than two quarters and gave up just two touchdowns to EWU, the other coming from the kick return TD.
 
Tommy McCormick had a career-high 18 tackles to lead Idaho while Jaxton Eck added 10 and a tackle for loss and Keyshawn James Newby added seven, two tackles for loss and a pair of QB hurries.
 
The Vandals move to 5-3 on the year with their losses coming against teams who are a combined 23-1. EWU is now 2-6 on the season. The Vandals have now won three straight against Eastern Washington and retain the Che-Scow Cup. 
 
Idaho is 4-0 at home for the second time in three seasons, but the Vandals have the chance to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1996 when they host Weber State on Nov. 16. Idaho has a bye week next week before traveling to Portland State on November 9.