Lentils and Football Part 254: Myrick Let’s it Fly as Vandals Sky Over Mountaineers
The first two games of the season for the Idaho Vandals have sent a clear message to the College Football world, and that message is “pick your posion, but either way you’re gonna die.” A week after they ran for all 7 of their TDs against Arizona State, the Vandals and Junior QB Kellen Myrick flipped the script and notched five out of their 6 scores this week through the air as Idaho soared to a 45–17 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers in their first trip to Morgantown, WV in over 20 years.
Welcome to Lentils and Football, an alternate history of the Idaho Vandals. In the early 2010s events began that lead to the Vandals to be the first college football team to voluntarily drop from FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) to FCS (Football Championship Subdivision); Lentils and Football imagines a world where these events went very differently with the hiring of fictional coach Merlin Gibbs. This story is told via the NCAA 14 video game and a bit of imagination.
It was the first trip ever for Idaho Head Coach Merlin Gibbs to Milan Puskar Stadium, but the foreign soil was not intimidating for his top ranked team. The Vandals would roll with the punches and worked past a lack-luster 2nd quarter to reach the end that everyone was sort of expecting.
The Mountaineers clearly watched the tape from Idaho’s last week’s game against Arizona State as they spent most of the energy trying to stop the Vandal’s rushing attack. Judging by the numbers I suppose you could say they succeeded as both Kellen Myrick and RB Cleveland Goolsby were held under 100 yards, but part of that may have also been Coach Gibbs and Offensive Coordinator Will Morris choosing to take advantage of a clear and sunny day by putting the ball in the air.
We’ve seen the Vandals have an amoeba-like offensive approach for quite some time under Coach Gibbs, but I’m not sure it’s ever been so prevelant during a two week strech like this. Though if you listen to the coach, it’s not as deliberate as it may appear.
“I wish I could say that it was all my idea. It’s not like I was bored and am just going out there week after week and trying to entertain myself. When you have the talent that we do on offense, it’s hard to hold everyone down. Some weeks the defense we’re going up against has a plan of what they want to make us do, and I feel like it benefits us to sort of play into their hand for a while and see how it feels. It’ll give our opponent the illusion that they’re dictating to us how things are going, then they’ll look up at the scoreboard and realize they’re down by two scores. I’m sure there were parts of today where they felt like their plan was really working, and they did some stuff with their offense and really made us work, but I bet they would have preferred a different result.”
The little hiccup in the 2nd quarter really was a surprise after what the Vandals put together to start the day. It looked like West Virginia was gonna die a death of 1,000 cuts as Kellen Myrick was picking the Mountaineer defense apart with some quick completions. If the field were 30 miles long I think the Idaho would still be out there working on their opening drive gaining 8 yards at a time, but lucky for all of is this was a regulation size playing surface. A busted coverage by West Virgnina helped bring the game’s opening drive to an end when TE Billy Swinton was left uncovered, and Myrick would find him for a 36 yard catch and run that resulted in the Senior TE’s first score of the season.
It wouldn’t stay 7–0 for very long as the first Mountaineer drive got off to a good start, but then QB Marcus Hill bit off a little more than he could chew when he tried to test Freshman Idaho DB Deande Smart. A deep ball into the endzone would get plucked out of the air by Smart, giving him an interception for the second straight game to start his career and putting the red-hot Vandal offense back on the field.
Although Coach Gibbs said he doesn’t get bored, it seemed rather unimaginative for him to call for a deep shot of his own right after West Virginia’s misfire. The 36 yard completion to WR Bo Preston did the job of getting the Vandals away from the shadow of their own goal post. Then a 35 yard connection to Desmond Novak on the next play put Idaho in the redzone, and few plays later it would Myrick-to-Novak once again for an easy 3 yard TD that put the good guys out in front by a score of 14–0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
The two sides would swap field goals early in the 2nd quarter, with the Mountaineers getting a 45 yarder from Dan Winston while the Vandals had to settle for a 38 yard try by Bobby Cannon after Kellen Myrick was sacked on 3rd down. West Virginia would keep ramping up the defensive pressure and forced an interception by Kellen Myrick on the next Idaho possession. Then their offense would have their best drive of the day as they converted five straight 3rd downs and milked every last bit of clock before Marcus Hill would hit WR Leon Smith for a 7 yard TD with :05 remaining in the 1st half.
Coach Gibbs will be the first to admit that 17–10 is not your typical halftime score for an Idaho Vandals football game, but as always for the coach, it’s about how you finish.
“The best part about playing a less-than-stellar 1st half is that you have another one to go out there and redeem yourself. At a certain point you stop playing against whoever your opponent is and you’re really just battling yourself. We’re very comfortable in that position because of how we practice. I don’t want to dismiss West Virginia or whoever else it could be, but sometimes if we want to run a certain play then we’re gonna run it. Line up your defense however you want, but we’re gonna find a way to be successful and you will not stop us. That’s what happened in the 2nd half. They kept doing the same stuff they had been doing for the first 30 minutes and we kept doing our stuff. We just found a way to do it better.”
The Coach was right. That is exactly what Idaho did from the moment the 2nd half began. The Vandals scored the first 28 points after halftime to let everyone know that the boys were not only back in town, but they never really left in the first place.
Barely a minute had come off the clock to start the 3rd quarter when Myrick would connect with Desmond Novak for a 33 yard TD, and as the Vandals continued to trek forward the Mountaineers we’re stuck in the mud. West Virginia finished with a total of -30 (NEGATIVE THIRTY) yards rushing on the day thanks to 7 sacks and another three tackles for loss by the Idaho defense. For the all the fight and fortitue they showed in the 1st half, the Mountaineers appeared to just run out of gas.
Myrick would toss two more TDs on the next two Idaho possessions, including his third of the day to Desmond Novak from 4 yards away. Then the other WR Bo Preston would get in on the action with a 7 yard scoring grab early in the 4th quarter for his first TD of the year. Myrick even made sure that the only non-throwing score of the day for the Vandals would belong to him as well as he scampered in from 11 yards away, making the score 45–10 and bringing the Vandals to their final resting place of the day.
There was a garbage time TD for the Mountaineers as Marcus Hill would find Marcus Winston with a 7 yard TD pass in the game’s final minute, but it really was a tale of two halves for West Virginia.
Despite finding the endzone just the one time, it was still a productive day for the Idaho run game on offense. Cleveland Goolsby led the way with 84 yards on 14 carries with Myrick working his way up to 65 yards on 12 attempts. There was a even a combined effort from RB Justin Weisbecker and Freshman FB Curtis Stanley would put up 35 yards. The big day by Kellen Myrick did come at a cost, as his 313 yards and 5 TDs passing came along with his first interception and first sack taken of the year.
Desmond Novak made it two straight weeks finishing as the leading receiver for the Vandals, grabbing 10 passes for a 131 yards to go with his 3 TDs. Bo Preston and Billy Swinton both had a TD as well among their combined 6 catches and Freshman Raymond Scruggs made himself availble to Kellen Myrick to the tune of 46 yards on 4 receptions.
The defensive unit for Coach Gibbs is starting to take shape. After getting a 3-sack game from DE Darius Wilson last week, we saw the other DE Brandon Humphrey do the same as he brought Marcus Hill to the ground three times on Saturday. Wilson wasn’t completely silent though as he notched another 2 sacks and SS Reuben Jefferson had a sack as well among his team-leading 6 tackles. Freshman Deandre Smart continues to see extensive action in the secondary, and he’s producing beyond his years with another interception and 5 tackles today and both Titus Watts and Tim McKnight had 4 tackles.
“Some ups and downs today, for sure. Just gotta keep chipping away the rough stuff and get down to the good parts. Just keep showing up and things will get better. I like what I’m seeing out of some of the young guys. I’m trying to work them in and give them all a little taste, but a few of them have been put in the some big spots and they’ve really delivered for us. That’s encouraging and I think it serves as a nice reminder to the rest of the team. Your chance is coming. Be ready. Lentils and football. Rock and roll.”
News and Notes: The season rolls along next week and Coach Gibbs will keep his team on the road. It’s a short trip however as the Vandals will trek south to take on the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV. Another first-time matchup of the Coach Gibbs era.
