The first game of the 1906 season occurred on October 13. This fact is omitted from the official Idaho record books but can be verified through the Idaho Argonaut. The first game of the season was against the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club. The team was essentially an “all-star” team of amateur athletes from the northwest. In addition, the game was to be one of only three home games for Idaho. The other two games would be against Coeur d’Alene High School and the University of Oregon.
The 1906 Idaho football team (top left)
The game against the Spokane team was a hard fought victory for Idaho. In fact, Idaho trailed for most of the game and needed an 80 yard touchdown run to achieve the come from behind 10-5 victory. The game was played in front of a crowd of 350.
The second game of the season was against Coeur d’Alene High School on October 20th. This date is also omitted from the Idaho record books but can be verified by the Idaho Argonaut. Idaho struggled with the high school team but ultimately pulled away as the game wore on and won by a score of 23-0.
The next game was on October 26 against the University of Oregon. The game was to be the biggest game in Moscow of the entire season. By the account from the Argonaut the game was a very hard fought battle with neither team scoring a touchdown. Oregon came on top by a score of 12-0 thanks to three successful field goals. Perhaps in a bit of foreshadowing regarding Idaho’s facilities problems throughout the years, the bleachers collapsed during the pregame dropping about 100 people to the ground. In addition a fight broke out between a Pullman student and an Idaho student with the Idaho student getting arrested.
The annual Battle of the Palouse would follow the Oregon game. This year, the game would take place in Pullman. Idaho came into the game with a record of 2-1 after the Oregon loss. To this point in time Idaho led the series with WSC by a margin of 5-4. Two thousand fans turned out for the big game and saw WSC even up the series by a score of 10-0. The Spokesman estimated that 800 of those spectators came from Moscow for the game. After a very competitive and hard-fought game WSC came out ahead by the score of 10-0 and improved their record to 4-0 making a claim to be the best team in the northwest.
Idaho’s season would continue the following week against Whitman college. Again, the Idaho record book omits the date of the contest, which was November 17 at Walla Walla. Idaho would fall for the third game in a row. This time by the score of 6-5. The Argonaut identified Idaho as having the stronger team but with each team scoring a touchdown and Whitman converting the extra point, Idaho went down in defeat.
The final game of the season would take place in Seattle against the mighty University of Washington. The Argonaut was very complimentary of the Vandal effort suggesting Washington needed its best performance of the year in order to secure the victory. The Chronicle reported that 4,000 spectators witnessed the exciting 16-9 Vandal defeat.
Here is a summary of the 1906 season in the Pacific Northwest by Spalding. Idaho finished the season with a record of 2-4 but the prospects for a successful 1907 looked very good.
Go Mighty Vandals 