TUESDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: Idaho needs its fans. Vandal fans need a reason to care

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Sep. 22—COMMENTARY

As of today — Sept. 22, 2026 — it has been 326 calendar days since the Idaho Vandals won a football game.

Almost an entire year has gone by without a win.

The last time the Vandals won was Oct. 31, 2025, in an overtime victory against Northern Arizona.

Idaho has gone 0-7 since, and four of those losses have been by six points or less.

In that time, Idaho has changed all three main coordinators and many position coaches, has entered Year 2 of the Thomas Ford Jr. era and has watched attendance fall to its lowest point in five years.

Saturday's game against Abilene Christian had an attendance of 6,246 fans. That's the lowest-attended game in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome since 2021, which was when Paul Petrino was still the program's head coach.

The Kibbie Dome has a maximum capacity of 15,250 according to the Idaho athletics website.

Here's a list of the lowest-attended games in the past five years:

Sept. 4, 2021 — 5,214 vs. Simon Fraser

Advertisement

Oct. 23, 2021. — 6,059 vs. Montana

Nov. 6, 2021. — 6,082 vs. Southern Utah

Sept. 19, 2026. — 6,246 vs. Abilene Christian

Sept. 17, 2022. — 6,852 vs. Drake

This column is not meant to shame fans for not going to games.

Here's the thing with that attendance — the football team has to give fans and students a reason to show up.

For nearly a complete calendar year, they've given little reason for fans to actually come to games.

During the Jason Eck era, there was a time that Idaho fans were circling their calendars for Saturdays and looking at the best matchups to attend.

While Eck was at Idaho, the average attendance grew tremendously from 8,892 in his first year, 10,862 in his second year and 10,808 in his third year.

When the Vandals were making their playoff runs, the Dome routinely looked like one of the best atmospheres in all of the Football Championship Subdivision. Plus, the building itself is part of the attraction.

That's part of what makes the current attendance numbers so striking. The Dome hasn't changed. The capacity hasn't changed. The location hasn't changed.

What has changed is the product on the field.

The Kibbie Dome is a special place — it's known as the Eighth Wonder of the World for a reason.

But what makes it so special if it's empty?

Ford and the players have talked about the opportunity to "Defend the Dome" and to "Protect the Dome." But that means they have to be true to their word and win a game at home.

The players also appreciate the Kibbie Dome because it is their home field and hope to feed off the crowd.

But there's that paradox again — the players need the fans for the energy and the fans need the players to do well to spark the energy.

From a purely objective point of view, as a fan, would you want to go see your team come so close just to lose in a heartbreaking fashion? For the average person, that's a no. There are better things to do with your Saturday from catching the end of fishing season to hiking Moscow mountain to typical college town extracurriculars.

A fan will lose most of their day attending the game — getting to Moscow or the Kibbie Dome, parking and walking, possibly tailgating, sitting through a three-hour-long game, driving home and not to mention spending money on tickets and food while there.

And what is the Idaho football team selling you right now?

Disappointment.

At the end of the day, college football is just another version of entertainment. And that entertainment has to be entertaining in some way.

And maybe for some, seeing the Vandals just play is enough; seeing that two-point loss, a hardcore fan can appreciate the nuance in that game. But for many casual fans or students, it's just another Saturday where Idaho lost the football game.

In reality, there's no easy way to answer the attendance problem.

The team can't demand a packed Kibbie Dome while giving fans reasons to save their money and just watch it on TV at home.

But I also think fans can't demand a winning football team while refusing to support it during very difficult stretches.

Eventually, that cycle needs to be broken somehow.

For the U of I, that starts with the players on the field.

Idaho football doesn't need to convince people to become die-hard fans.

Rather, it needs to give people who already care a reason to keep caring.

The fans can't control whether the Vandals win, but they can control whether they show up and make the Eighth Wonder of the World rock.

The players and the coaches can control whether fans leave the Kibbie Dome believing that most of their Saturday watching football was worth it.

The Kibbie Dome is still a very special place.

It just needs something worth making noise about.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos