We've got our mid-week Idaho football story for tomorrow's paper all ready to go. You can read it here. The focus is on the Vandals' offensive line, which has been far from consistent but seems to be improving. UI's biggest game of the season comes Saturday night, when it travels to face Fresno State. This is essentially an elimination game for the Vandals -- lose and they'll be out of the bowl picture with a week left. "If we want another one (after next week)," tailback Deonte Jackson said, "we’ve got to win this one."

See below for more.

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Here are some assorted quotes that didn't make it into my story on the O-line.

DEONTE JACKSON

On how he assesses the line: "The same way as I always have: They’re a great group of guys, and they’ve just been working their tails off since the fall — since last fall and through the spring. It’s been hard. They’ve been having setbacks through injuries and (personnel) changes, seeing who fits best. I think they’re really starting to come into their own, even with the changes going. They’re starting to get the feel for one another, no matter who’s in there. They’re really starting to jell together. I think they made big steps this past weekend, and their confidence is really boosted."

On how good last week felt: "It definitely felt great for me to those guys just doing their jobs. Something I told them all year, ‘We don’t have to have big, old holes. Let’s just be assignment sound, get a hat on a guy and I can make something happen. I’ll squeeze through there, I’ll break around the edge.’ They finally starting believing, finally made it start happening."

On importance of establishing a run game against Fresno State: "We’re definitely going to have to be a well-balanced attack team this week. We’re going to have to be able to block and give Nate time to throw, but also need to establish the run to keep those linebackers true and those safeties true and give our receivers opportunities to have one-on-one looks. With us being able to run the ball … it’s definitely one of our main focuses coming in."

OFFENSIVE LINE COACH DAN FINN

On last week: "We did a lot better job last week. Played a little bit more consistent. You know, we ran some of uphill looks, but kind of the game plan coming in was, 'Hey, screw it. Let’s hand the ball off and try to help our whole team out. Keep the clock going, the ball rolling.' "

On the importance of building confidence: "It can help a lot. Anytime a player or a group of players or even a side of the ball … has a good week, it helps you roll into the next week a little more excited, a little more eager to play. I’m hoping that’s what happens with the guys up the front and they get the job done this week."

On the seasonlong issues: "We were experienced going into this year. Matt (Cleveland) was the only guy that had played. Tyrone (Novikoff) had a played a little bit. We had some injury issues, going all the way back to spring ball. Just trying to have the same group of guys playing as a unit all the time has hard. Just week to week, it seems every week some guy is going out or somebody gets hurt. It’s kind of hard to get a cohesive unit together week after week after week. It hasn’t happened yet this year. The interior three, that’s almost been a rotation every week as far who’s in, who’s out, who’s healthy, who’s out. A few times in games, we’ve had guys get dinged up or had to come out. Matt’s gone down, Tyrone’s gone down, be it for a series or whatever. Since last year we didn’t have any and this year it seems like we have one or two (every week)."

On last week's pass protection: "Yeah, I think they pressed their blocks a little bit more. We kept our heads on a swivel.  … Blitz hasn’t been our big problem this year. Our problem has been getting beat one-on-one or with the two-man game. ... We moved the pocket a lot more than we had. Ran a lot more nakeds and things like that. Moving the pocket around a little bit and moving the quarterback’s launch point I think helps out tremendously."

On short-yardage blocking: "We have Henry (Aseuga) playing fullback now and I think that helps us out. Trying to generate a little more push, trying to simplify it. Hey, screw it. We’re going to run what we do best and let Henry go in there and be a lead blocker and be a battering ram for us."

TYRONE NOVIKOFF, RIGHT TACKLE

On what Coach Finn has preached all year: "Just really play physical — all the way to the whistle. He’s really been stressing that. Even today, we stressed it all last week."

On the injuries and other issues the group has dealt with: "You’ve got to grind through it, and you’ve just got to bring everybody along. When you’re switching guys along and people are getting injured, that just gives other people opportunities to step up. And yeah, those guys are second string for a reason because maybe they’re not physically there or mentally, but when they get there, they’ve got to go."

On what he took from last year's line: "Oh, just their work effort. They played hard everyday. Not just in games but in practices. They came out and they would grind. You can’t take days off. (You can say), 'Oh, I’m tired today. I’m not going to come out and play,' because you get beat and it shows in practice. There’s an old saying that says, 'The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.' If you’re having a day where you’re slacking off, coaches see that and you see it in meetings. I know personally it’s embarrassing. It shows up. Last year you could just tell those guys worked really hard everyday."

 

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