[5] As a Division I-AA (FCS) program for 18 seasons (1978–1995), Idaho made the playoffs eleven times and advanced to the national semifinals twice (1988, 1993).

On April 28, 2016, university president Chuck Staben announced the football program would return to the Big Sky and FCS in 2018.

This followed the Sun Belt Conference's announcement on March 1 that the associate membership of Idaho and New Mexico State for football would end after the 2017 season.

[8] The Idaho football program began competing 132 years ago in 1893,[3] and was a member of the Pacific Coast Conference from 1922 to 1958.

Because of its hybrid status, Idaho requested to retain its higher allotment of football scholarships (75) than the other conference members (62),[12][16] which was expectedly disallowed.

Idaho experienced its best years in football from 1985 to 1995, when it made the I-AA national playoffs in ten of 11 seasons with four different head coaches, reaching the semifinals twice.

[25] In 2018, Idaho resumed full membership in the Big Sky Conference, which participates in the Football Championship Subdivision.

The Vandals have participated in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs 14 times, compiling an all-time record of 8–14 (.364).

The 1982 and 1990 teams advanced to the quarterfinals, but both lost close road games to the eventual national champions.

To add a humorous and somewhat frivolous twist to the rivalry in 2009, Idaho athletic director Rob Spear refused to board a Horizon Air flight on November 11, after learning the plane bore Boise State's blue and orange colors.

[34][35] Idaho State was the first of the pair to play its home games indoors, opening the Holt Arena (originally ASISU Minidome) in 1970.

[36] In opposite regions of Idaho and in different time zones, the driving distance between the campuses is over 530 miles (850 km), and further if routed through western Montana.

[42][43][44] The schools are about 200 miles (320 km) apart; Moscow and Missoula are on opposite sides of the lower Idaho Panhandle, separated by the Bitterroot Mountains over Lolo Pass.

Both were members of the old Pacific Coast Conference (the forerunner of today's Pac-12);[45] Montana departed after the 1949 season, and the PCC disbanded in the summer of 1959.

[citation needed] The game in 1898 was not played because Idaho had an ineligible ringer from Lapwai, F.J. McFarland, a recent All-American from Carlisle.

[49][50][51] The Vandals' first-ever forward pass was attempted against the Cougars in 1907: it was completed for a touchdown from a drop-kick formation in the fourth quarter and led to a 5–4 victory.

The longest winning streak for Idaho was three games (1923–1925), and has only five victories since that three-peat (1954, 1964, 1965, 1999, & 2000) and two ties (1927, 1950) to offset the 56 losses.

The games were skipped in 1969 and 1971, which was unfortunate for Idaho as the 1971 Vandals posted one of the best records (8–3) in school history, while WSU was 4–7.

The last game played on the Idaho side of the border was in 1966, a come-from-behind 14–7 Cougar victory on a very muddy field to prevent a Vandal three-peat.

He led Idaho to the Big Sky Conference title in 1985 and had two trips to the Division I-AA (FCS) Playoffs (1982, 1985).

The Jerry Rice Award is awarded annually in the United States to the most outstanding freshman player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports information directors.