The1976 Idaho Vandals football team represented theUniversity of Idaho in the1976 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by third-year head coachEd Troxel and were members of theBig Sky Conference, then inDivision II. They played their home games at theKibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus inMoscow, Idaho.

With quarterbacks Rocky Tuttle andCraig Juntunen running theveer offense,^[3][4] the Vandals were7–4 overall and5–1 in theBig Sky.^[5][6]The only conference loss was toMontana State inBozeman;^[7] the Bobcats went undefeated in the Big Sky and won theDivision II national championship.^[8]

The season opened with a road win overBoise State,^[9][10] the three-time defending conference champions, in the debut ofJim Criner as head coach of the Broncos.^[11] Originally scheduled for November 27, it was moved to the opener at BSU's request, so as not to interfere with the Division IIplayoffs.^[12] In theBattle of the Palouse, the Vandals suffered a ninth straight loss to neighborWashington State of thePac-8, falling45–6 atMartin Stadium inPullman on October 2. The Cougars were led by quarterbackJack Thompson and fullbackDan Doornink.^[13]

Outside of the1971 season (8–3), the Vandals' 7–4 record in 1976 was the best since1938(6–3–1).^[5] It was Troxel's only winning season as head coach; Idaho slipped to3–8 in1977 and he was fired in late December.

CenterJohn Yarno ofSpokane was selected to theAP All-American team,^[14] which included a prime-time appearance onBob Hope's Christmas show onNBC on Monday, December 13.^[15][16][17] The All-America team was headlined byHeisman Trophy winnerTony Dorsett ofPittsburgh.^[18] Yarno was also selected to play in theEast–West Shrine Game and theSenior Bowl.^[19] His number 56 was retired the following year.^[20][21] Selected in thefourth round of the1977 NFL draft, he played six seasons with theSeattle Seahawks, the last five as a starter.

Future actorBill Fagerbakke ofRupert was a sophomore defensive lineman and was ticketed toredshirt, but was called into action in the fourth game.^[22] Head coach Troxel planned on moving him to the offensive line in1977,^[23] but a knee injury in spring drills ended Fagerbakke's athletic career, which turned his focus to theater.^[24]

Through1977, the Big Sky was a Division II conference for football, except for Division I member Idaho, which moved down to I-AA in1978. Idaho maintained its upper division status in the NCAA by playing Division I non-conference opponents (and was ineligible for theDivision II postseason).

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	6:30 pm	atBoise State	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID (rivalry)	W 16–9	20,549	[25]
September 18	7:30 pm	atPacific (CA)*	Pacific Memorial Stadium Stockton, CA	W 31–28	11,769	[26]
September 25	11:30 am	atOhio*	Peden Stadium Athens, OH	L 0–35	13,710	[27]
October 2	1:30 pm	atWashington State*	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse)	L 6–45	20,000	[28]
October 9	8:00 pm	New Mexico State*	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	W 33–6	10,166	[29]
October 16	8:00 pm	Weber State	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	W 45–17	15,607	[30]
October 23	12:30 pm	at No. 7Montana State	Reno H. Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	L 14–29	5,400	[7]
October 30	7:00 pm	atIdaho State	ASISU Minidome Pocatello, ID (rivalry)	W 6–3	9,625	[31]
November 6	12:00 pm	atColorado State*	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, CO	L 14–31	17,536	[32]
November 13	8:00 pm	Montana	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID (rivalry)	W 28–19	9,396	[33]
November 20	8:00 pm	Northern Arizona	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	W 31–14	7,160	[5][6]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game All times are inPacific time

Source:^{[2][34][35][36]}

Senior center John Yarno was the Big Sky offensive player of the year and one of six Vandals selected to the all-conference team.The other three on offense were running back Robert Brooks, guard Clarence Hough, and tackleWil Overgaard. The two defensive players were linebacker Kjel Kiilsgaard and endChris Tormey, a future Vandal head coach(1995–99). Second team selections were tackle Greg Kittrell, noseguard Tim Sanford, and linebackerJohn Kirtland.^[37][38]

One Vandal was selected in the1977 NFL draft, which lasted 12 rounds (335 selections).

• Gem of the Mountains: 1977 University of Idaho yearbook – 1976 football season
• Idaho Argonaut – student newspaper – 1976 editions

• 1976 Big Sky Conference football season
• Idaho Vandals football seasons
• 1976 in sports in Idaho

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