1969 Idaho Vandals football team
The 1969 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach Y C McNease and played in the Big Sky Conference. After two seasons in the College Division, Idaho returned to the University Division this year. Due to soil erosion, the wooden grandstands at 32-year-old Neale Stadium in Moscow were deemed unsafe in early August. Without a usable stadium on campus, they played their three home games at Rogers Field at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington. Despite playing their home games in Pullman, the Vandals did not play the WSU Cougars in the Battle of the Palouse. Outside of war years, it was the first break in the rivalry since 1900; Idaho did not field a team in 1918 (World War I) and neither did in 1943 & 1944 (World War II). WSU had to adjust its schedules to include all seven conference foes; the rivalry resumed in 1970 but was skipped again in 1971. In their ninth meeting with Idaho State, the Vandals incurred their first loss to the Bengals in the home opener in Pullman. Without a game in Boise