Vandals improve in scrimmage
MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho coach Dennis Erickson liked the defensive improvement he saw but he still seeks consistency on offense.
“I thought it was OK,” he said of Saturday afternoon’s two-hour scrimmage session. “Defensively, we played a lot better than we did last Saturday. Last Saturday was terrible on defense. We came out (last) Wednesday and played a lot better on defense. Then, today, we followed up and played very well.”
That improved defensive effort trimmed the offensive output from the 640 yards racked up last week to 500 this week – still a solid effort, albeit not with as much production running as Erickson would like to see.
“Offensively, we were very sporadic,” he said. “When we’re doing things the right way, we’re awfully good. We can make a lot of big plays, but we have to become more consistent. We have to be able to run the ball more consistently for us to be a good football team.”
The five quarterbacks threw for 373 yards on a collective 27-of-44 outing. Backup Brian Nooy accounted for two of the three TD passes thrown with freshman Nathan Enderle hitting the third. Senior starter Steve Wichman was 9 of 16 for 109 yards with one interception.
On the ground, seven backs carried the ball a combined 29 times for 127 yards. But 48 of those came on one run by freshman Deonte` Jackson, who made it through traffic at midfield and outraced the defense to score.
Senior Wendell Octave showed the form that has been expected of him with 142 yards on six catches. Redshirt freshman Max Komar had four receptions for 56 yards.
Junior defensive end Ben Alexander was the leading tackler with six, but the effort was solid throughout with senior Tone Taupule tallying five as did transfer Kiel McDonald and true freshman Paul Senescall. Impressive was another true freshman – Shiloh Keo who had four tackles, an interception and a pass defensed.
“Overall, I thought it was great improvement on both sides of the football,” Erickson said, “but we have a long ways still to go.”
The Vandals are off Sunday and Monday before returning to the field Tuesday. They open the season in two weeks at Michigan State.