Josh Wright

MOSCOW, Idaho – Back in mid-August, a week into fall camp, Idaho offensive coordinator Steve Axman surveyed the Vandals’ collection of wide receivers and was encouraged by what he saw. “I think we’re on our way of developing a real nice corps of receivers,” he said at the time.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho football team hasn’t won since Sept. 10, and even that victory – against lower-tier North Dakota – is of little consequence at this point. But while the 1-6 Vandals have been “as cold as the damn ice cubes in a freezer,” as coach Robb Akey put it, the rest of the Western Athletic Conference hasn’t been turning heads either.

MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho football fans have scrutinized the erratic play of quarterback Brian Reader in recent weeks, and for obvious reasons. But it’s not just the Vandals’ passing attack that is languishing. Running the ball has proven even less fruitful for Idaho through the first half of the season.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The quarterback play has been nowhere as efficient. The running game is far less productive. And the daring coaching decisions have yet to pan out like they did two years ago. In almost every respect, this year’s Idaho football team doesn’t stack up to the 2009 Vandals, the gold standard that UI fans use to gauge the health and direction of the program.

MOSCOW, Idaho – He’s a bedrock senior and defensive captain, a player who last year exerted so much energy in a blowout loss to Nevada that he was immediately taken to a hospital and treated overnight for dehydration. Tre’Shawn Robinson, if there was any doubt, is fully invested in the Idaho football program. And in his last go-around at UI, he remains confident the Vandals can shed their inconsistency and still compete for a WAC title.

He’s a bedrock senior and defensive captain, a player who last year exerted so much energy in a blowout loss to Nevada that he was immediately taken to a hospital and treated overnight for dehydration.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The opening week of conference play, the Dads’ Weekend crowd, the fact that Fresno State will ditch the WAC after this year – all these factors should help make for a lively scene this afternoon in the Kibbie Dome. And if Idaho dispatches the Bulldogs for the first time in nine tries, the Dome will really pulsate.

MOSCOW, Idaho – Robb Akey was scanning through Texas A&M’s offensive formations on film the other day when something caught his eye. Lined up on the outside for the Aggies, where receivers usually roam, was what appeared to be a nimble tight end. Akey stopped the tape and looked at the play again. Only then did the Idaho football coach realize he had been wrong the first time – he had been watching 6-foot-4, 220-pound wideout Jeff Fuller.

Robb Akey was scanning through Texas A&M’s offensive formations on film the other day when something caught his eye.

Mike Scott has proven to be a quick study as a wide receiver for the University of Idaho football team.

Idaho quarterback Brian Reader threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns Saturday as Idaho rebounded from its season-opening loss, defeating North Dakota 44-14.

MOSCOW, Idaho – It wasn’t just a dreadful performance against Bowling Green that Idaho football coaches used the past few days to get the Vandals in the proper frame of mind for lower-division North Dakota. They also pointed to the shocker that unfolded a week ago in Corvallis, Ore.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way. Not in the first game in the spiffed-up Kibbie Dome. Not after Idaho football coach Robb Akey declared his team ready for another march to the postseason.

MOSCOW, Idaho – On the first day of fall camp last month, Idaho football coach Robb Akey approached Brian Reader – a senior who bided his time behind a four-year starter – and supplied a clear message. “I remember the first practice we had out here,” Akey recalled last week. “I said, ‘We gave you the keys (to the offense) back there in the spring and you started driving. I want you to drive the damn thing fast now – and drive it like an Escalade, a fast Escalade.’ ”