MOSCOW, Idaho » For the Idaho Vandals, the taste was bitter yet familiar.
As the anguished group of young men clad in black and gold trudged past the very goal posts that had defiantly refused to embrace Trey Farquhar’s 53-yard field-goal attempt as time expired, one can only imagine how different it could have been.
What if running back Princeton McCarty had gained that crucial yard on fourth and 1 at the Warriors’ 15-yard line.
Or what if quarterback Brian Reader had found a way to avoid throwing the ball directly into the hands of linebacker Aaron Brown at the Hawaii 5-yard line.
In a season defined by missed opportunities, the Vandals set the bar with miscue after miscue against the Warriors on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.
"I didn’t enjoy it," Idaho coach Robb Akey said of his team’s seventh loss in eight games this season. "Again we’re talking about one play. I feel like a broken record and that’s painful."
Considering that the 2011 Vandals lost to Virginia on a failed 2-point conversion in overtime and came up seven points shy against New Mexico State after taking a sack on fourth and 2 from the Aggies’ 2-yard line with less than a minute remaining, setting a new precedent for heart-wrenching losses at this point in the season is difficult to do.
They’re the hard-luck losers of the WAC. A collection of Rodney Dangerfields with all of the spunk but nothing to show for it.
More so, playing with fire by clinging to a one-point lead against the top scoring team in the WAC is a tenuous position, regardless of how much the Vandals defense harassed Bryant Moniz and Co. for three-plus quarters.
"We came out and we played strong as a defense," said Idaho linebacker Korey Toomer. "We came out and fought hard. They gave us a run. As a defense in pass rushing those guys, we were working the edges. We did as much as we could."
And what the Vandals defense did was push Hawaii out of its comfort zone with six sacks, 12 tackles for loss, nine quarterback hurries, a pair of fumble recoveries and an interception.
More importantly, it gave Idaho a chance to win. A chance to exorcise the demons of missed opportunities past.
However, like many things in life, Idaho’s chance came with an expiration date.
There would come a moment in which both taking care of the ball and execution would become paramount.
Idaho did neither while the persistent Warriors patiently waited for their break.
True to form, the ever-generous Vandals gave them two.
And much like the Cavaliers and Aggies before them, Kenton Chun and the rest of the Warriors willingly obliged.
"It just comes down to that last play every single time," Reader said. "We controlled the ball, it seemed like. We just have trouble finishing. (You) can blame me for that, you can blame anybody on the team for that. You can blame the whole team, but that’s football."
