Vandals show improvement on defensive side

MOSCOW, Idaho – There was good news on two fronts during Wednesday’s situational scrimmage for the University of Idaho Vandals.

One, the first-team offense was steady, poised and productive.

Two, the defense played with the pop and passion that was missing last Saturday when the offense rolled over it for 640 total yards.

“I’m happier than heck it did,” said UI coach Dennis Erickson in response to a comment about the improved defensive effort. “I would have hated to see another performance like we had on defense. I would have been really concerned had we not come out and played with great emotion on defense after getting their rear end kicked Saturday. That was great.

“We ran to the football. We made plays in the secondary. We tackled so much better than we did last week. That’s how we’ve got to play. The bottom line in all of this is consistency is week in and week out. We’re very young. That’s going to happen.”

Offensively, the number one unit put up a couple of quick scores before settling for a steady performance. Senior quarterback Steve Wichman, again mixing passes throughout his long list of available targets, connected on 10 of 16 throws for 124 yards and three TDs. As a group, the quarterbacks were 20 of 29 for 257 yards.