COMING UP: vs. MSU-Northern, Saturday, 1 p.m.
78 YEARS OF COYOTE FOOTBALL IN THE BOOKS: The 2022 season will mark the 78th year of Coyote football as a collegiate program (C of I competed as an Academy from 1905-16 against high school and local town teams), recording an all-time record of 307-290-28. The Yotes had a football program every season from 1905-77 (minus the 1917 season, due to World War I, and the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons due to World War II). The team was disbanded following the 1977 season, with the squad returning to the gridiron in 2014. C of I has now logged 5-straight winning seasons (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), including the record-setting 11-1 campaign in 2019.
SUCCESS AT SIMPLOT: With the win over Eastern Oregon in the home finale in 2021, the Yotes have posted a 25-14 record at Simplot Stadium since football returned to the College in 2014 – including a 3-2 mark in 2021. Dating back to their first game at the facility in 1964, the Coyotes have an all-time recocrd of 45-50-2 at the venue.
FRONTIER CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: Despite a loss at Carroll College in the final game of the 2021 season, the Yotes earned a share of their third-straight Frontier Conference title, thanks to a Montana Western win over Rocky Mountain. C of I has won 10 all-time conference titles, including the first two Northwest Conference crowns in 1926 and 1927, adding the 1948 title on their way to a Pear Bowl victory. The Coyotes won four-straight NWC titles from 1952-55 – including the 1953 season, where the team lost to Sam Houston State in the Refrigerator Bowl. Since joining the Frontier in 2014, the Yotes won the 2019 title outright and shared both the 2020 and 2021 titles with two other teams.
FINAL POLL: For the fourth-straight season, the Yotes ended 2021 ranked in the final NAIA Top-25 Coaches Poll, earning the No. 25 spot in the ranking. C of I ended the 2018 season ranked No. 22, finished the 2019 season at No. 5 and the 2020 season at No. 15.
THANK YOU FANS: For the fifth-straight season, the Yotes led the Frontier Conference in attendance – averaging 3,331 fans per game. For the first time since 2016, C of I led the entire NAIA in attendance average – finishing just ahead of Georgetown (3,309), Montana Tech (3,070), Indiana Wesleyan (2,850) and Taylor (2,548). The Coyotes are well ahead of every Division III Northwest Conference team – including Linfield (1,682), George Fox (1,632), Whitworth (1,546) and Puget Sound (1,138), with the remaining five teams in the league averaging less than 900 fans a game. C of I ranks ahead of 24 NCAA Division I FCS teams – including Portland State (3,329) – along with Division II Western Oregon (2,507).
WINNING SEASON: C of I's win last season on Oct. 30 at Southern Oregon guaranteed a .500 or better season for the Coyotes – the fifth-straight season with a .500-or-better record (33-15 during that stretch). It marks the first time C of I has recorded 5-straight seasons at .500 or better since 1951-55 (a combined 33-12-1 record). The longest streak of .500 or better seasons was 6-straight seasons from 1924-29 under Hall of Fame coach Anse Cornell.
TURNING THE LIGHTS OUT: Saturday's opponent Montana State-Northern has yet to defeat the College of Idaho in the previous eight meetings. The 8-0 mark against the Lights is just one of four teams in program history that College of Idaho has an undefeated mark.
MARTINEZ BREAKS 100-TACKLE MARK: It was a year of firsts for
Dylan Martinez, as the Coyote linebacker became the first 2-time first-team all-conference linebacker in program history in 2021. The third-year player finished the season with 109 tackles – the second-highest total ever by a Yote, logging the most stops ever by a C of I linebacker. He joins Forrest Rivers (2019), Bill Schow (1971) and Ron Sproat (1965) as Coyote first-team picks. Martinez is one of 16 players in the NAIA this season to surpass the 100-tackle mark, while adding 10 tackles for loss, two sacks and a Frontier Conference leading four fumble recoveries. Martinez enters the 2022 season with 179 career tackles. He looks to become just the fifth Yote in program history to recover over 200 career tackles.
KOUNTING ON KEEGAN: A big season for
Keagan McCoy was capped by his second-straight first-team All-Frontier Conference honor in 2021. The fourth-year defensive end recorded a career-high 47 tackles on the season, posting 10.5 tackles for loss and tied the single-season mark for sacks (7.5) and breaking the mark for most yardage lost on tackles for loss (65). McCoy holds the school record for sacks with 20.5 and is among the Top-5 in tackles for loss (30.0). Fourth on the list is current Yote assistant coach
Landon Clark-Gammell, who racked up 10 sacks in his career in the purple and white.
TACKLES NAMED TO SECOND TEAM: The bookends to the Coyote offensive line were honored by the Frontier Conference in 2021, as
Garrett Rehberg and
Ryan Halford were named second-team all-league selections. Rehberg started eight of the 10 games at left tackle, handling the blind-side of the C of I quarterbacks, while Halford started 9-of-10 games at right tackle, earning his second-straight second-team honor. The Yotes have had at least one lineman honored by the FC each year since 2015.
AIRING IT OUT:
Ryan Hibbs enters the 2022 season seventh all-time in passing yards with 1,991. He threw for a career-high 299 yards against Montana Western, last year on October 23. On that day, the Boise product completed 30 of 35 passes to lead the 'Yotes to a 48-42 win overtime win over the Bulldogs. His 30 completions were a career-high and he had a career-high 44 pass attempts against Carroll on November 13.
