MOSCOW, Idaho — The fourth ranked Idaho Vandals are flying high following back to back ranked wins over UAlbany and Abilene Christian.
Now it gets no easier for Idaho as they return to the road for a matchup in Davis with 14th ranked UC Davis, a team the Vandals have not beaten since 1997.
"We begin conference play with a challenge against UC Davis," Idaho head coach Jason Eck said. "That's one of the two teams in the conference we have not beaten since I have been here, so that adds a little bit more motivation."
The Aggies are also 3-1 on the season and are undefeated at home with victories over Texas A&M Commerce and Utah Tech.
"They have been drawing well, they have a good team and are 3-1," Eck said. "They have some great players. (Running back) Lan Larison is a great player, Miles Hastings, the quarterback, is a very good player. He was there the last time we played them in 2022. They have a very veteran defensive front, so it will be a great challenge and great opportunity on Saturday."
Coach Eck has a high level of confidence in his defense, especially in clutch time, following Zach Krotzer's forced fumble to seal the victory over Abilene Christian on Saturday.
"I have a lot of confidence in our defense, that is twice this year they have had a two-minute drill on defense to ice the game and they are two for two," Eck said. "I got a lot of confidence in them, I know if I was calling plays, I wouldn't want to call it against our defense in a two-minute drill to win a game."
The Vandal defense will have to deal with the preseason Big Sky offensive player of the year in Larison on Saturday.
"He is a great player, he is the best running back in our conference and he is a guy who you need to know where he is and account for him and you have to try and gang tackle him because he is not a guy you are going to be able to gang tackle effectively," Eck said.
The Vandals and Aggies will kick it off at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Davis.