Vandals’ defense outshines offense

It only stands to reason that Jo Artis Ratti’s easy grin was not mirrored by Nathan Enderle as the senior linebacker and freshman quarterback gave their assessments of the University of Idaho’s first football scrimmage of the fall Saturday afternoon.

“Overall,” said Ratti, “I think this is the best practice we’ve had so far.”

Not so for the offense, said Enderle, who completed just 4 of 12 passes for 69 yards and one TD, and who had a couple of balls batted down by an inspired defense.

“It was so-so for the offense,” Enderle said. “We’re kind of disappointed about how we played. The defense played well, so kudos to them. But we definitely need to get better – especially mentally.”

As for first-year head coach Robb Akey, he was happy it’s mid-August on the SprinTurf practice field and not Sept. 1 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

“I’m glad it wasn’t against USC,” said Akey, acknowledging the improvement that needs to take place. “As we look at the video tonight, we’re going to have a nice list of things that we still can continue to work on and improve upon.”

The Vandals’ next scrimmage is Wednesday at 7 p.m.

New look for UW

It was picture day at Husky Stadium, which gave fans a chance to see Husky football players in uniform for the first time this season.

And there was something different about those uniforms.

For the first time during the Tyrone Willingham era, players will have names on the backs of their jerseys, something Willingham had earlier hinted might be in the works. On this day, it became official.