I don't care how much the gap has become between BSU and WSU, they are our top rivals. We are looking forward to getting the Lil' Brown Stein back later this year.

Boise State Broncos[edit]

The University of Idaho enjoys an in-state rivalry with Boise State University.[755] The Boise State – Idaho rivalry began with a Bronco victory in the first meeting in 1971. They met every year through 2010, and with the exception of four years, (2001–2004), the matchup was a conference game. The rivalry was dominated by streaks as Idaho won 12 straight years from 1982–1993, while Boise State won the most recent 12 games between 1999–2010, mostly by large margins.[756] BSU leads the rivalry with a series record of 22–17–1 (.563). Since Boise State's move to the Mountain West Conference in 2011, Boise State has refused to play Idaho home and home in football.[757] In response, Idaho has refused to play Boise State at Taco Bell Arena for men's basketball.[757] As of 2017, no future games for football or men's basketball are currently scheduled. To add a humorous and somewhat frivolous twist to the rivalry, current Idaho athletics director Rob Spear refused to board a Horizon Air flight on November 11, 2009 after learning the plane bore Boise State's blue and orange colors.[758]


Idaho State Bengals[edit]

The University of Idaho enjoys another in-state rivalry with Idaho State University.[759] Known as the Battle of the Domes,[760] the rivalry was at its most competitive in the 1970s and 1980s, with neither team three-peating; the most recent conference game was in 1995, ISU's last win. Idaho has won eleven of the last twelve and leads the overall series at 28–11 (.718). The last meeting was in 2008, but the series will be revived in 2018 when Idaho drops back to FCS and rejoins the Big Sky Conference in football (its other sports rejoined in 2014).
The "Battle of the Domes" theme began in 2017, and is applied to multiple sports.[760][761] Idaho State was the first of the pair to play its home games indoors, opening the Holt Arena (originally ASISU Minidome) 48 years ago in 1970. The Kibbie Dome in Moscow was enclosed in 1975, after four years as an outdoor venue; the last two outdoor games in this series were played there in 1971 and 1973, then known as new Idaho Stadium.[762] 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.


Washington State Cougars[edit]

Known as the Battle of the Palouse, the first football game between the University of Idaho and Washington State University was played in November 1894 and resulted in a win for Washington State.[763] The game in 1898 was not played because Idaho had an ineligible ringer from Lapwai, F.J. McFarland, a recent All-American from Carlisle.[764][765][766] 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.[13]
Washington State has dominated the local rivalry, holding a 72–16–3 lead. The record since 1926 is even more dominant, with a 57–5–2 advantage for the Cougars. 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 rivalry became increasingly one-sided as WSU dominated in the 1970s (except for 1974) and the original series ended, following the 1978 game.[767] From 1979 to 1997, the game was played just twice (1982, and 1989) until the 10-year renewal from 1998–2007. Since their last wins in 1999 and 2000, Idaho has been physically outmatched in most of the nine games; the game has been played twice since 2007: in 2013 and 2016.
As two schools are in close proximity, from 1938 to 1968 there was a tradition called The Loser's Walk, where during the week following the game students of the losing school would walk from their own campus to the winners' campus, then receive rides back home from the winning side. This has frequently been misreported as students walking back to their own campus immediately following the game. In 1954, the walk made national news when about 2,000 students from Washington State College made the trek east from Pullman to Moscow after the Cougars lost to Idaho for the first time in 29 years.[768][769][770][771]
In a span of less than five months, from November 1969 to April 1970, both schools' aged wooden stadiums (Idaho's Neale Stadium and WSU's Rogers Field) burned down due to suspected arson. The WSU–Idaho game in 1970 was dubbed the Displaced Bowl, which was held in Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane on September 19. The Cougars won the game (their only win that season), as well as the next ten against the Vandals.[772] The 1970 game was the first in the rivalry played on AstroTurf, which was new to Joe Albi that season. In 1978, the NCAA split Division I football in two: I-A (now FBS) and I-AA (now FCS). Washington State was in Division I-A as part of the Pac-10 Conference and Idaho downgraded to I-AA as part of the Big Sky Conference, whose other football members moved up from Division II. In the late 1970s, I-A football programs were allowed 50% more scholarships and twice as many assistant coaches as I-AA teams.[767] During the years they were in different divisions, the schools met only twice, 1982 in Spokane and 1989 in Pullman. In 1996, Idaho moved back up to Division I-A in the Big West Conference, and Idaho and WSU rekindled their century-old rivalry. Since the rivalry was reinstated in 1998, every game has been played at Martin Stadium in Pullman, except for the matchup in 2003, which was played at Seattle's Seahawks Stadium. 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.[773][774]
After ten years of the renewed rivalry, Vandals head coach Robb Akey, previously WSU's defensive coordinator, said in 2008 that he preferred the game not be played every year, instead saying he would prefer it as a "once-in-a-while thing."[775] Only one game was played during Akey's tenure, in his first season in 2007, and he was fired in October 2012.[776] The meeting in 2013 on September 21 was a one-year revival,[777] but the future of the series under current Vandal head coach Paul Petrino is unclear; WSU won 56–6 in 2016.[778] The next meeting is scheduled for 2020 in Pullman,[779] and Idaho returns to the Football Championship Subdivision and the Big Sky Conference in 2018.


Montana Grizzlies[edit]

The University of Idaho also enjoys a rivalry with the University of Montana.[780] Known as the Little Brown Stein game, Idaho and Montana first played 115 years ago in 1903 and have played 84 times, and the stein was introduced 80 years ago in 1938,[781][782][783] at the 25th meeting. Idaho has dominated the overall series 55–27–2 (.667),[784] which also includes two Division I-AA playoff wins at home in the 1980s. Montana has had the upper hand since 1991, winning eight of the last ten. Since Idaho moved back up to Division I-A in 1996, the teams have met five times, with Montana winning the last four.[785][786][787] The schools were the only public universities in their respective states for decades, and 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);[788] Montana departed after the 1949 season, and the PCC disbanded in the summer of 1959. The universities were charter members of the Big Sky Conference in 1963,[789][790](although Idaho remained an independent in football until 1965) and their final season as conference opponents was in 1995. While Montana has been in the Big Sky since its inception, Idaho has changed its conference affiliation no fewer than five times since 1995: Idaho moved to the Big West for all sports in 1996, returning to Division I-A after 18 years in I-AA. After the 2000 season, the Big West dropped football. Idaho became a football-only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2001 while remaining a full Big West member. Idaho joined the WAC for all sports in 2005 as part of a major NCAA conference realignment. After the WAC experienced a near-complete membership turnover in the early 2010s, it dropped football after the 2012 season. Idaho football was an FBS independent for one season in 2013, then returned to the Big Sky in 2014 except for football, which rejoined the Sun Belt. Idaho will drop back to FCS in 2018 and resume football membership in the Big Sky.[784][791]