College football: Southeastern hosting Idaho in playoff game | Colleges

For the second straight season and third time in the past four years, Southeastern Louisiana’s football team will be hosting an FCS playoff game when the Lions meet Idaho at 6 p.m. Saturday in Strawberry Stadium.

The Southland Conference champion Lions (8-3) are ranked No. 17 in the FCS poll, while the Vandals are No. 18.

The winner of the Southeastern-Idaho game will travel to face sixth-seeded Samford in the second round at 2 p.m. Dec. 3.

Southeastern is averaging 33.8 points and 431.4 yards per game.

Splitting time at quarterback for the Lions have been Eli Sawyer, who has completed 121 of 194 passes for 1,605 yards, 11 TDs and one interception, and Cephus Johnson (101-158, 1,146 yards, 10 TDs, five interceptions).

Gage Larvadain (45 catches, 582 yards, two TDs) and Maurice Massey (32-432, 4 TDs) are the top targets in the passing game.

Linebacker Donté Daniels leads the Lions with 79 tackles, followed by Herman Christophe with 74.

Idaho is making its first playoff appearance since returning to the FCS from the FBS before the 2018 season. The Vandals made 11 appearances in the postseason from 1982-95 during its previous stint as an FCS member.

The Vandals finished 6-2 in the Big Sky Conference after closing out the regular season with a 38-7 victory over Idaho State last Saturday.

Idaho is averaging 35.4 points and 430.4 yards per game. Geovani McCoy (2,376 yards, 25 TDs, five interceptions, a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award as the nation’s top freshman, leads the Vandal offense, along with Hayden Hatten (74 catches, 1,000 yards, 15 TDs).