Mencke, Jefferson Stand Out

The scrimmage had been over for at least 15 minutes and Paul Mencke and Love Jefferson were still arguing.

“You were the one,” said Jefferson.

“No man, it was you, all you,” replied Mencke. “You made those plays not me.”

“Hey, I just caught the ball and ran, you’re the one that put it there,” Jefferson answered back.

Actually it was a combination of Jefferson and Mencke that torched the Washington State defense in Thursday’s second preseason scrimmage.

The quarterback, Mencke, hooked up with the tight end, Jefferson, four times for 60 yards, including a 14-yard scoring strike.

Against the No. 1 defense Mencke, currently the No. 2 quarterback behind Steve Birnbaum, hit Jefferson with a 29-yard strike up the middle, broke a run to the outside for 8 yards and then hit Jefferson from 14 for the score.

“Hopefully, I showed today that I have the ability to be out there Sept. 5,” said Mencke alluding to the season opener against Illinois.

“Paul looked excellent,” said head coach Mike Price. “He thinks maybe he’s got a chance at that No. 1 spot.

“He’s really competing and that’s great pressure for Birnbaum because he needs to have that competition.”

Mencke, who was 6 of 8 for 68 yards, was the only quarterback to direct a touchdown drive against the No. 1 defense. Birnbaum, who was 10 of 18 for 123 yards, moved the ball effectively against the No. 2 defense, but early on struggled against the No. 1 defense, losing 14 yards in the first two series.

“I’m encouraged by the offense,” Price said. “We were really struggling and sputtering the last scrimmage, there is no question about it, so this was good work for them.

“But we’re still doing too many inexperienced mistakes; going offsides, hitting out of bounds, center not snapping the ball or snapping the ball on the wrong count. Experienced veterans won’t make those mistakes. But that’s why it’s good to have officials and it’s good to have game-like scrimmages.”

As opposed to Monday’s scrimmage when the offense could manage only 10 points, it rang up 31 on Thursday.

But linebacker Steve Gleason did not play because of a strain in his neck, defensive lineman Gary Holmes dressed but is still recovering from a virus, Tupo Tuupo is out with a subluxation of the left shoulder and LeJuan Gibbons was out after arthroscopic surgery.

“The defense was a little wounded out there,” said Price. “I have a lot of confidence in our defense. It doesn’t seem like I should after watching that scrimmage, but when we get the top 11 there we’ll be fine.”