The 1977 Idaho Vandals football team represented the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

in the

1977 NCAA Division I football season The 1977 NCAA Division I football season was one in which the top five teams finished with 11–1 records. Notre Dame, which beat top-ranked and undefeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl, became the national champion. The 1977 season was the last ...

. The Vandals were led by fourth-year head coach

Ed Troxel Edward Ross Troxel (November 20, 1925 – January 22, 2001) was a high school and college football coach in Colorado, Idaho, and eastern Washington. His most notable coaching stops were at Borah High School in Boise, the University of I ...

and were members of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

, then in Division II. They played their home games at the

Kibbie Dome The William H. Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center (commonly known as the Kibbie Dome) is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. It is the home of the Idaho V ...

, an indoor facility on campus in

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city in North Central Idaho, United States. Located along the state border with Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 census. The county seat and largest city of Latah County, Moscow is the home of the Universit ...

Season

With quarterbacks Craig Juntunen and Rocky Tuttle running the

veer The Veer is an option running play often associated with option offenses in American football, made famous at the collegiate level by Bill Yeoman's Houston Cougars. It is currently run primarily on the high school level, with some usage at t ...

offense, the Vandals were overall and in the Big Sky Idaho did not play runner-up

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

, but the Big Sky designated a non-conference home game for each to count as a sixth conference game in the standings, with both opponents from The Vandals lost to

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in September while NAU defeated

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

in October. The Vandals suffered a tenth straight loss in the

Battle of the Palouse The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University. The two land-grant universities are less than apart on the rur ...

with neighbor

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

of the

Pac-8 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

, falling at

Martin Stadium Martin Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It is the home field of the Washington State Cougars of the Pac-12 Conference. Its full name is ...

in Pullman on

Boise State

The season concluded with a 30-point home loss to

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

, held two days after

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

. The young

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

took a new step in the fourth quarter, when the Broncos were up and in control. Having thrown the ball sparingly in building its twenty-point lead, second-year head coach

Jim Criner Jim Criner (born March 30, 1940) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Boise State University from 1976 to 1982 and at Iowa State University from 1983 to 1986, compiling a career record of as a college footbal ...

went heavily to the passing game. Boise scored a touchdown with less than two minutes left, then staged a successful

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the o ...

and made a field goal with Boise State went undefeated in the Big Sky, but because of the late conclusion of their regular season, they had to decline a berth in the Division II playoffs, which started earlier Conference runner-up Northern Arizona took their place and was shut out at home, In the previous season, underdog Idaho had won the rivalry game in the season opener before a record crowd in Boise in Criner's debut as At the time, the Broncos were three-time defending conference champions, all under previous head coach

Tony Knap Anthony Joseph Knap (December 8, 1914 – September 24, 2011) was an American football coach. He was the head coach at Utah State University (1963–1966), Boise State University (1968–1975), and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1976–19 ...

. Idaho had agreed to move that 1976 game from up to so that BSU could participate in the D-II playoffs, but the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

ended at in the Big Sky (fifth) and overall.

Division I

This was the last season prior to the creation of

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

, which the Big Sky joined. Through 1977, the Big Sky was a Division II conference for football, except for Division I member Idaho, which moved down to I-AA in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. Idaho had maintained its upper division status in the NCAA by playing Division I non-conference opponents (and was ineligible for the Division II postseason). (Idaho was involuntarily dropped to the College Division then returned to the University Division

Troxel fired

Five weeks after the season concluded, Troxel was asked for his resignation by new university president Richard Gibb on An assistant under the preceding three head coaches and a former head coach of track and field, he had been at UI for an over Very successful at

Borah High School Borah High School is a three-year public secondary school in Boise, Idaho, one of four traditional high schools in the Boise School District. It serves students in grades in the southwest portion of the district. It is named after a prominent ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

Troxel returned to the high school ranks in 1978 at

Kennewick High School Kennewick High School is a public high school located in eastern Kennewick, Washington. It was founded in 1904 to serve the educational needs of the new city of Kennewick. It is one of only a few schools to have its music department honored with t ...

, in the Tri-Cities of

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and built the Lions into winners; he coached through 1990, and died of cancer

Schedule

Idaho did not play

, so a non-conference game was designated to count in the standings for each team. Both were designated conference games were home games against

Pacific Coast Athletic Association The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

team. Idaho lost to Pacific, while Northern Arizona defeated

Roster

All-conference

Defensive tackle Tim Sanford and punter Ralph Lowe were name to the Big Sky all-conference team; Lowe was named to the second team as a placekicker. Also on the second team were tackle Larry Coombs, center Joe Kramer, running back Robert Taylor, linebacker

Chris Tormey Christopher Joseph Tormey (born May 1, 1955) is a former American football coach. Formerly the head coach at and Nevada Wolf Pack football, Nevada and Idaho Vandals football, Idaho, his alma mater, Tormey was an assistant coach for 16 seasons at ...

, defensive end Joe Pellegrini, and defensive back

References

External links

''Gem of the Mountains:'' 1978 University of Idaho yearbook
– 1977 football season
Official game program: Idaho at Washington State
– November 12, 1977

– student newspaper – 1977 editions {{Idaho Vandals football navbox

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

Idaho Vandals football seasons

Idaho Vandals football The Idaho Vandals are the college football team that represents the University of Idaho and plays its home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho. Idaho is a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Cham ...