PREVIEW OF LEHIGH AT IDAHO, 2nd ROUND OF THE 2024 FCS PLAYOFFS – As Mountain Hawks Hit National Stage, Skeptics Question Lehigh’s Ability To Keep Up With Vandals

“I think Idaho will smoke Lehigh. I think it will look like an FBS team versus an FCS team.” – Kylor Neale, FCS Fans Nation Podcast

BETHLEHEM, PA – Not many people thought Lehigh could do it.

Formulas didn’t predict it. Rating systems didn’t predict it. Most national FCS talking heads didn’t predict it.

Recent Mountain Hawk history against the CAA didn’t predict it. Heck, even recent Lehigh history against Richmond didn’t predict it.

Yet Lehigh’s still here.

It’s Lehigh who earned the opportunity to practice for another week at Lehigh’s Rauch Field House and outdoor practice fields, thanks to their gritty 20-16 win over seeded Richmond in the first round of the 2024 FCS Playoffs.

It was little Lehigh, out of the Patriot League, who would be chartering a flight out of Bethlehem to land in at Pullman-Moscow regional airport this weekend.

With two players injured and carted off the field during the game, Lehigh shut out Richmond during the last ten minutes of the game and scored two late touchdowns on big plays to beat the nationally-ranked Spiders.

“It was one of the most emotional football games I’ve ever been a part of,” head coach Kevin Cahill said this week on the Happy Hour podcast at LV Fox Sports. “It was one play at a time, and how we win this play. We say all the time that we can control the outcome by how we respond to certain events, and the kids did a great job, keeping us in it in the first half, then finding a way to win it in the second half.”

“We’re just so focused on having a next-play mentality,” Lehigh WR Geoffrey Jamiel said after the game. “It wasn’t so much of a big turn for us. We just try to play one play at a time and try to stack up plays and we looked up and we had the lead.”

And Lehigh’s (9-3) reward is to take a long flight to Moscow, Idaho, close to the Eastern Washington border, to face off against one of the best FCS teams in the nation in the Idaho Vandals (9-3).

For those of you that don’t follow Big Sky football, or have vague memories of playing Idaho as part of the Big West in NCAA Football 95, the biggest thing you need to know is that they are the No. 8 seed for a reason – and before the selection show, some thought they should have been seeded much higher than No. 8.

Part of the reason was due to the performance of the Vandals on August 31, the day after Lehigh lost to Army 42-7 at Michie Stadium.

On that day Oregon, who currently is 12-0 and is a mortal lock for the FBS Playoffs, was threatened by a nearly 50 point underdog in Idaho.

As the clock was ticking down in Autzen Stadium, Idaho’s defense forced Oregon into a fourth and 7 in their red zone, only down 17-14. On fourth down, Oregon drew Idaho offside, and then QB Dillon Gabriel found WR Tez Johnson for the clinching touchdown in the Ducks’ 24-14 win, as the more than 57,000 fans in attendance exhaled.

“What was touted as a lopsided bloodbath in the waiting between an FBS powerhouse and a lowly FCS team, looked like a top-10 battle of two disciplined teams,” Idaho’s game recap accurately recounts. “The No. 7 ranked (FCS) Idaho Vandals gave the No. 3 ranked (FBS) Oregon Ducks everything they wanted and more.”

Like Lehigh’s opening game, Idaho’s close call with a Top 25 FBS team would be a valuable touchpoint and lesson for the Vandals – who would play disciplined against another FBS team the following week in Wyoming – and win 17-13.

“This team has unbelievable belief, and we have a great defense,” Idaho head coach Jason Eck said after that game. “Our defense was tremendous, especially in the second half.”

What might be even more amazing is the fact that by the end of the Wyoming game, Idaho had lost not one (QB Jack Layne) but two (QB Jack Wagner) quarterbacks to injury, meaning their last three drives had their third-string quaterback leading the Vandals.

Despite the injuries, the Vandals would go a perfect 5-0 at home in the loud Kibbie Dome, with plenty of wins against teams that have spent time in the FCS Top 25 during the season. Their only two losses, a narrow defeat at UC Davis and a more comprehensive defeat at Montana State, came against the two Big Sky teams ranked ahead of them in playoff seeding.

One of the more impressive aspects of Idaho is that they have been impressive at home and done so well despite the fact that most of the season they have had injuries at the quarterback position.

As the 8 seed in the playoffs, the bye couldn’t have come at a much better time. All the concerns at QB all season that Idaho fans have been worrying about week to week are basically gone since both QB Jack Layne and QB Jack Wagner are finally back, fresh and ready to attempt to make a magical run through the playoffs, with a likely revenge match against Montana State possibly in the quarterfinals.

That’s a testament to Eck and a very, very talented Idaho squad.

It’s also why nationally, nobody is giving Lehigh much of a chance to win on the road against one of the big teams of the Big Sky.

“I don’t see how Lehigh can win this game.”

“It’ll be too much Idaho here.”

“I think Idaho will smoke Lehigh.”

To his credit, Idaho head coach Jason Eck was saying the right things in the run-up to this week.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to play a good Lehigh football team,” Eck said. “One of the fun things about the playoffs is playing teams that you’re not familiar with and you really have to dig into the tape. I hadn’t seen Lehigh on TV this year, but they’re a really well-coached team. Coach Cahill and his staff have done a tremendous job turning that program around in just a couple of years.”

Yet I can’t help feeling like the Mountain Hawks are being underestimated here.

Most national pundits seem to have taken away from the Richmond game that the Spiders were looking past Lehigh, and I don’t think that’s true. While Lehigh overcame some big challenges on defense with injuries, this Mountain Hawk defense to me is the real deal. They are not your typical FCS squad where the middle linebacker has 200 tackles and give up 40 points a game.

The Mountain Hawk defense held Richmond to three field goals in the first half, and gave up one singular touchdown after a long delay after their teammate got carted off the field. Like Idaho’s offense this year, they suffered real adversity and responded. I don’t think that was the result of Richmond being asleep.

In that way, I feel like Lehigh and Idaho are similar. Both teams have defense as their calling cards, and both teams like to stop the run. You can bet Lehigh will want to establish the run with their two great running backs RB Luke Yoder and Jerry Rice award finalist RB Jaden Green, and it won’t be easy.

Early in the year, my biggest worry about the Mountain Hawks was that they are young, and might make youthful mistakes. But they’re not young anymore. They have gotten better in leaps and bounds, especially since losing to Ivy League co-champions Yale in late October.

This Lehigh team has played in front of big games before. QB Hayden Johnson played in front of 20,000 fans at Army to start the season, and in front of 15,000 fans two weeks ago in Lehigh’s big Rivalry game with Lafayette.

In a way, the extremely low expectations Lehigh has nationally works to their advantage – they fly to the Pacific time zone, not expected to win, playing in a league with which many Big Sky fans are not familiar. People think this Lehigh team just fell off the turnip truck. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While coach Eck will do his best, I find it incredibly hard to believe the players and fans won’t have next week’s possible opponents, either Montana State or UT Martin, on their minds when the game kicks off.

And this Lehigh team has been playing in a pressure cooker all season since they lost in overtime to Bucknell in a game they frankly should have had in early October. Most fans of Idaho probably don’t realize that not only did Lehigh have to win out to win the Patriot League, Holy Cross had to come down from three scores to beat Bucknell just to put the Mountain Hawks in this position.

For Idaho, the playoffs really begin this week. For Lehigh, they’ve been going on since October. That matters, I think.

The Mountain Hawks will be flying to Pullman-Moscow to show the larger FCS football world that they’re nobody’s patsy. They will do what they do, which is to win each play one play at a time. And this team has a lot of belief in what they do, will play hard and will not be intimidated.

They will represent Lehigh well. And as the rest of FCS Nation will realize, it makes them much more dangerous than they might seem at first.

FCS PLAYOFFS SECOND ROUND
LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (9-3, PATRIOT) AT IDAHO VANDALS (9-3, Big Sky)
WHERE: Kibbie Dome/Moscow, ID, Saturday, December 7th, 9:00 pm EDT (6:00pm PDT)
STREAMING: ESPN+
TV CREW: PxP – Shawn Kenney; Analyst – Marcus Ray
RADIO: BROADCAST (Fox Sports Lehigh Valley 94.7 FM/1230 AM; LVFoxSports.com):
RADIO CREW: PxP – Matt Kerr; Analysts – Jim Guzzo, Connor Brown

That One Other Time Lehigh Played At Idaho, Which Didn’t Go Well

You might be looking at this picture above and wonder why QB Scott Semptimphelter was playing football on a high school gymnasium’s basketball court, but in fact in 1993 he and the rest of the Brown and White traveled to Idaho in Lehigh’s first and only other trip to the Kibbie Dome, a 77-14 shellacking.

Facing off against QB Doug Nussmeier, the Walter Payton award winner in 1993 and a future NFL quarterback, Idaho started off the game with a four-play touchdown drive with a pass to WR Keith Neal for the Vandals’ first score. Then, a roughing the passer call against Lehigh had Idaho kick off from their 50 yard line, giving them essentially a free onsides kick – that they converted.

“After the 15-yard penalty we had a perfect opportunity for that play,” Idaho head coach John L. Smith said afterwards. “I think getting off to a fast start took the wind out of their sails.”

It got worse.

Playing at a speedy pace that Lehigh had trouble adjusting to, the Mountain Hawks fell behind 35-0 before finally scoring on a TD pass to WR Brian Klingerman. But Idaho’s offense was literally unstoppable with Nussmeier getting five touchdowns – four passing, one rushing – as the Vandals had a 56-7 lead at halftime.

“I had all the time I needed in the pocket,” Nussmeier said. “Lehigh was unable to stop the run, which enabled us to do pretty much what we wanted. To tell you the truth, I thought it was going to be a lot closer than this.”

Idaho’s team in 1993 was arguably one of their best at the FCS level, only losing to Jim Tressel‘s Youngstown State team in the I-AA semifinals. And Lehigh wasn’t the only team Idaho was beating by large numbers – the week after beating the Brown and White, they’d pound their bitter Big Sky Rivals Boise State at home 49-16 in front of 15,085 fans.

LFN’s Drink of the Week

One of the joys of writing these previews is previewing a team I’ve never previewed before, and finding out which drink to highlight. Another joy is that this is one of the rarest of delights for the Lehigh football fan – a night game. No more breakfast mimosas for drinks – it’s time for something that can be enjoyed at an afternoon tailgate.

With some help from Twitter, I was pointed to the Idaho Dimetapp cocktail, which is said to be Idaho’s official state cocktail. I’m willing to accept this – and I’m even willing to accept grape pop, I mean soda, in the drink – but where I draw the line is having Malibu in there, which makes it way too sweet for me.

So here’s my version of the Idaho Dimetapp:
* 1 part vodka
* 1 part dark rum
* 1 part club soda
* 2 parts grape soda

Combine the vodka and rum in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well and strain into a highball glass. Add the chilled grape soda and serve.

Scouting Idaho

Jason Eck’s team this year has been a team of survivors. They have survived a M*A*S*H unit of injuries across the entire offense, and no seeded team in FCS benefited more from the bye week than Idaho because so many of them either return this week or got a much-needed week of rest.

Probably Idaho’s most impressive, comprehensive win was their 41-13 win over Albany, which probably is what most Idaho fans are picturing will happen this week to Lehigh. A revenge game after their shock playoff loss to the Great Danes in 2023, the Vandals jumped out with an early pass from QB Jack Wagner to WR Jordan Dwyer for a 12 yard touchdown, and then steamrolled Albany to go up 41-3 before calling off the dogs.

Idaho’s offense is similar to Lehigh’s in that they rotate running backs and then beat you with play-action passing. While they don’t really have one lead back, it’s misleading since they have seven different position players with rushing touchdowns, each quite athletic in different ways, running behind a strong offensive line led by OL Ayden Knapik. In that sense Idaho resembles more of a Missouri Valley team, which befits Eck, who was formerly an assistant at South Dakota State.

Having said that, RB Nate Thomas had a monster game against Idaho State, with 171 yards rushing in big chunks. If one back gets a hot hand, Eck won’t hesitate to call his number repeatedly. They will be physical, and will play fast, and attempt to beat you in waves.

It’s Idaho’s defense, though, that keep opposing offensive coordinators up at night.

Five members of Idaho’s defense were all-Big Sky, DE Keyshawn James-Newby, DT Dallas Afalava, LB Jaxton Eck, DB Tommy McCormick, and DB Andrew Marshall. The four man defensive front is the strength of the team, and like Lehigh, get a lot of sacks from that front unit, with James-Newby the effective speed rusher that leads the team in sacks. Their four man front’s effectiveness opens up the secondary to get interceptions and for Eck, the the head coaches’ son, to mop up the middle and beat runners and passers up physically.

The more you study Idaho, the more you see the similarities with Lehigh and the more you realize both teams want to do the same thing – run the ball, minimize mistakes, take some home run shots, and not beat yourself. More than most folks, I could really see this game evolve into more of a chess game than people think – as long as Lehigh hold up physically. Cahill and Eck are really, really good head football coaches.

LFN’s Keys to the Game

1. Play Lehigh Football. Lehigh seems to have a winning formula with their focus on winning each play and playing within themselves, and that strategy should still be in effect versus Idaho. I believe good things will happen if they keep doing what they’ve been doing.
2. Shush The Dome With An Early Lead. If Kevin Cahill wins the coin toss, if I were him I’d be very tempted to get the ball first and try to jump to that early lead to shush the dome. Winning a game like this involves putting the fear of God into the other team through a quick lead and forcing them to respond.
3. Winning The Battle of the Uglies. In order to win this game, Lehigh’s offensive and defensive lines may have their toughest assignments of the year in trying to win that battle of the “big uglies” on the offensive and defensive lines. The winner of this battle will likely be the winners of this game.

Fearless Prediction

The FCS Playoffs are hard. It’s not easy to hop on a flight to win a football game against an opponent you’ve only scouted for six days. For the away teams, it is a huge challenge to win on the road, especially after the home team has been sitting at home getting healthy. There’s a reason the Top eight teams almost always advance to the quarterfinals – they have a huge built-in advantage.

That doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, though, and while Idaho has a ton of great athletes, cross-pollinated with a good dose of Missouri Valley coaching, there is something that seems beatable about them.

This isn’t 1993, or even 2017.

Lehigh has a chance to really showcase what they are about nationally. They have a chance to define what Lehigh will be. Lehigh is here, in the second round playoffs. They’re still here. It’s a chance few Patriot League football teams have had.

“We have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” OL George Padezanin told me during Patriot League Media Day back in August. “I understand we haven’t proven anything, but we are dying to prove to this league, and to each other, really, who we really are on the field, and what we strive to be.”

This chip has served Lehigh very well this season, and will serve them well again in the Kibbie Dome. If they hold up to Idaho physically, they will have a real chance to win this game. This team has proven a lot, and has a chance to prove even more on a national stage. That thought alone will make this a battle.

Idaho 27, Lehigh 23