Conference Big Sky Conference Head coach Don Robbins (4th year) Defensive coordinator Tom Roth (1st year) | 1973 record 4–7 (3–2 Big Sky) Offensive scheme Veer | |
Offensive coordinator Don Matthews (1st year) | ||
The 1973 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1973 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by fourth-year head coach Don Robbins and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in Division II. They played their home games at new Idaho Stadium, an unlit outdoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
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Season
With quarterbacks Rick Seefried, Dave Comstock, and Dennis Ballock running the veer offense, the Vandals were 4–7 overall and 3–2 in the Big Sky.
In the Battle of the Palouse, Idaho suffered a sixth straight loss to neighbor Washington State of the Pac-8, falling 51–24 at Martin Stadium in Pullman on September 29.
In their third game with new rival Boise State and first in Moscow, the Vandals fell at home 47–24 on September 15; this was the only outdoor meeting in Moscow in the series. The Broncos went on to win the first of three consecutive conference championships. Idaho did not schedule Northern Arizona until 1975 and both played only five games in conference.
At the conclusion of the season, Robbins' contract was not renewed. He was succeeded by Ed Troxel, a Vandal assistant coach since 1967 and also the head coach of the track team.
Division I
Through 1977, the Big Sky was a Division II conference for football, except for Division I member Idaho, which moved down to I-AA in 1978. Idaho maintained its upper division status in the NCAA by playing Division I non-conference opponents (and was ineligible for the Division II postseason).