2018 Idaho Vandals football team

The 2018 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Vandals played their home games on campus at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho, and are members of the Big Sky Conference, which they rejoined for football this season. A charter member of the Big Sky in 1963, Idaho was previously a football member from 1965 through 1995. They were led by sixth-year head coach Paul Petrino. They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for ninth place.

2018 Idaho Vandals football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2018 record	4–7 (3–5 Big Sky)
Head coach	Paul Petrino (6th season)
Offensive coordinator	Kris Cinkovich (6th season)
Defensive coordinator	Mike Breske (4th season)
Home stadium	Kibbie Dome (Capacity: 16,000)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Vandals finished the 2017 season 4–8, 3–5 in Sun Belt play to finish in a tie for eighth place. 2017 was Idaho's final year in the Sun Belt and the FBS.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Vandals were predicted to finish in fourth place in the coaches poll and fifth place in the media poll.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Vandals had three players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Noah Johnson – Jr. OL

Kaden Ellis – Sr. LB

Cade Coffey – So. P

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 p.m.	at Fresno State*	Bulldog Stadium Fresno, CA	Stadium	L 13–79	31,170
September 8	2:00 p.m.	Western New Mexico*	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	Pluto TV 242	W 56–10	10,566
September 22	4:00 p.m.	at No. 21 UC Davis	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	ELVN	L 21–44	8,179
September 29	2:00 p.m.	Portland State	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	SWX	W 20–7	10,566
October 6	2:30 p.m.	at Idaho State	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID (Battle of the Domes)	Pluto TV 243	L 28–62	11,015
October 13	1:00 p.m.	at Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	L 23–24	19,177
October 20	2:00 p.m.	Southern Utah	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	SWX	W 31–12	12,798
October 27	12:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	L 14–38	10,023
November 3	2:00 p.m.	North Dakota	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	SWX	W 31–27	7,899
November 10	3:30 p.m.	Montana	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID (Little Brown Stein)	RTNW	L 27–46	14,571
November 17	9:00 a.m.	at No. 15 (FBS) Florida*	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ESPNU	L 10–63	81,467
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

• Source:Official Schedule

Game summaries

at Fresno State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	6	0	7	0	13
Bulldogs	16	28	14	21	79

See also: 2018 Fresno State Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–11	2013	FRES, 61–14

Western New Mexico

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	7	0	0	10
Vandals	7	14	7	28	56

See also: Western New Mexico Mustangs

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	7	0	14	21
No. 21 Aggies	14	13	17	0	44

See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1997	IDA, 44–14

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	0	7	0	7
Vandals	3	17	0	0	20

See also: 2018 Portland State Vikings football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–1	1997	IDA, 46–0

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	14	0	28
Bengals	14	21	20	7	62

See also: 2018 Idaho State Bengals football team and Battle of the Domes

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
28–11	2008	IDA, 42–27

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	3	6	23
Bobcats	7	0	14	3	24

See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–17–1	2016	IDA, 20–17

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	0	0	12	12
Vandals	10	14	7	0	31

See also: 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1994	IDA, 43–10

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	0	7	7	14
No. 5 Eagles	14	17	7	0	38

See also: 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–6	2012	EWU, 20–3

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	7	6	7	27
Vandals	14	0	0	17	31

See also: 2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	2011	IDA, 44–14

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	14	22	7	3	46
Vandals	3	3	7	14	27

See also: 2018 Montana Grizzlies football team and Little Brown Stein

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
55–27–2	2003	MONT, 41–28

at Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	0	3	7	10
No. 15 (FBS) Gators	28	21	7	7	63

See also: 2018 Florida Gators football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

NFL Draft

See also: 2019 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall	NFL Club
Kaden Elliss	LB	7	244	New Orleans Saints

• List of Idaho Vandals in the NFL Draft

References

1. "Eastern Washington Picked to Win the Big Sky".
2. "Doss, Buss Headline Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team".