Lehigh travels to Idaho to face the No. 8 Vandals in the second round of the FCS

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After earning its first FCS playoff win in Richmond since 2011, Lehigh returns to Idaho for the first time in 31 years, where the Mountain Hawks will face No 8th seed Idaho will compete. A 65-yard touchdown rush over Jaden Green and a 54-yard scoring pass from Hayden Johnson To Geoffrey Jamielcombined with a strong defensive performance in the second half, helped Lehigh erase a 16-7 fourth-quarter deficit in the win at Richmond. The Patriot League champion Mountain Hawks now face a team from Idaho that earned a bye at 9-3. Two of the Vandals’ three losses came to teams ranked No. 1 in the country (FBS No. 1 Oregon and FCS No. 1 Montana State).

The winner of the Lehigh-Idaho game will face the winner of No. 1 Montana State and UT Martin in next weekend’s quarterfinals.

In Lehigh’s first-round win at Richmond, the Mountain Hawks trailed by nine points with 10:36 left. touchdowns from Jaden Green And Geoffrey Jamiel turned a 16-7 deficit into a 20-16 Lehigh lead. It was the first time since the 2013 season opener that the Mountain Hawks won a game in which they trailed by more than a point in the fourth quarter. On September 7, 2013, Lehigh trailed Central Connecticut State 37-17 with 10:46 left and won 51-44 in the second overtime. The fourth-quarter comeback was the Mountain Hawks’ first since Lehigh erased deficits of five and then four points in a 36-33 home win over Colgate on Nov. 12, 2022.

Lehigh’s 11-man wide receiver group includes eight first-year players. Junior Geoffrey Jamiel has emerged as a leader in the receiver room. Jamiel led Lehigh with 53 catches as a freshman in 2022 and was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year. That was followed by 43 catches and a team-high four receiving touchdowns in 2023. Jamiel, Lehigh’s top receiver this season, had a great day in Richmond, setting a career high with 10 catches for 137 yards and his 54-yard touchdown catch to give the Mountain Hawks the lead for good. He has 56 catches for 701 yards and eight touchdowns, with three 100-yard receiving games and two touchdown attempts against Bucknell and Colgate. Jamiel received his first all-league honor with second team selection.

Defensive backs Jordan Adderley And DJ Brown were named to the Academic All-Patriot League team on November 27 for their respective academic and athletic pursuits. Adderley, a starting cornerback, has a 3.73 GPA as a journalism major, while Brown has a 3.90 GPA in political science as part of Lehigh’s safety rotation. Of the players on the 2024 roster, 34 Mountain Hawks have an overall GPA of 3.0 or better, with 25 above 3.2 and 12 above 3.5. The top three cumulative GPAs on the team all belong to members of Lehigh’s secondary. Junior CJ Wood has a 4.0 GPA in accounting, followed by Brown, who has a 3.9 GPA in political science and then a senior Harrison Jenkinswho has a 3.85 in mechanical engineering.

Lehigh has a whopping 36 first-year student-athletes on its roster, and recent history shows that many can be counted on to contribute right away. Fourteen first-years appear on Lehigh’s depth chart at quarterback Hayden Johnsonoffensive lineman Sammy Ayache and punter/kickoff specialist Connor Poole listed as planned starters. Nine of the 14 first-year players on the depth chart are on the offensive side of the ball. 23 first-years appeared in at least one game, including 17 who started against Wagner. Eight first-years participated in each of Lehigh’s 12 games, including running back Jaden Greenis the two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week (September 23 and October 28), and quarterbacks Johnson and Matt Machalik. Poole, Ayache and offensive lineman also appeared in all 12 games for the Mountain Hawks Colby Reprun back Aaron Crossley and security Mekhai Smith.

Lehigh’s second-round game at Idaho will be its fourth ever indoor contest, with the Kibbie Dome being the first indoor facility the Mountain Hawks will visit twice. The first indoor game for Lehigh was its 1993 visit to Idaho. The Mountain Hawks won 14-7 at the UNI-Dome in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs. Lehigh’s last indoor game was the 2011 NCAA quarterfinal loss to North Dakota State at the Fargodome.

At 9-3, Lehigh enters the second round of the playoffs with its best record since the team went 9-3 in 2016. A win at Idaho would give the Mountain Hawks their 11th 10-win season and their first since the team finished 10-1 in 2012. Lehigh has won 10 or more games in the following seasons: 1888, 1977, 1979, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Lehigh’s program record for wins in a season is 12, tied with the Division II national champions of 1977 (12-2) and 1998 (12-1) and 2000 (12-1) squads. The 1998 team also won at Richmond in the first round of the playoffs.

Idaho secured an at-large berth and a first-round bye in the Big Sky Conference after going 9-3 in the regular season. The Vandals defeated rival Idaho State 40-17 in their last game on November 23rd. Idaho’s three losses came to FBS No. 1 Oregon, FCS No. 1 Montana State and FCS No. 5 UC Davis. The Vandals also earned an FBS win against Wyoming. Fifteen Vandals received postseason Big Sky honors, including seven players who were selected to the first team. Defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, while first-year receiver Mark Hamper is a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award.

This will be only the second meeting ever between Lehigh and Idaho. The Vandals defeated Lehigh 77-14 at the Kibbie Dome on November 13, 1993, while the Brown and White took a fortuitous trip west late in the season. Lehigh rebounded from its loss and defeated rival Lafayette 39-14 the following Saturday to capture the first of its leading 13 Patriot League titles.

Saturday’s game begins shortly after 6:00 p.m. PT (9:00 p.m. ET) at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with audio coverage on FOX Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 12:30 p.m. and LVFOXSports.com starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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