Davitch retained the veer option on offense, but the progress was slow in his first two seasons. In his third season in 1980, the improving Vandals went 6–5 with walk-on redshirt freshman Ken Hobart at quarterback, with a record in conference play. Expectations were high entering the 1981 season, and the "Gold Rush" Vandals were picked as one of the top five teams in Division I-AA by The Vandals lost close games and then were hit by injuries; they lost their final six games to finish at and were winless in conference. (Mercurial Idaho State won the Big Sky and the Division I-AA title in 1981.)