Vandals open Sun Belt vs. 'different' Monroe

During fall camp, when the Idaho Vandals were working to make themselves better, and gear up for their opener at Florida, they still devoted some time to their Week 2 opponent - and Sun Belt Conference opener today, Louisiana-Monroe.

"All in all, there was probably 4, 4 1/2 days we worked on Monroe," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said.

He added that it's common for a team, when there is a team on its schedule that runs something uncommon, like the option, to spend some time in fall camp preparing for it.

In Louisiana-Monroe's case ...

"Defensively, they're a 3-3 (alignment)," Petrino said. "They line up different, they bring guys from different places. They're not your basic four-down (lineman), or three-down defense. There's no one else that does what they do."

Louisiana-Monroe - which would prefer to be referred to as ULM - held Wake Forest to 94 yards in a 17-10 home win last week.

"We've got to block their nose guard (Gerrand Johnson) - he's a stud, he makes plays all over the field, gets after people," Petrino said. "They do a lot of different things defensively to try to confuse your quarterback and your offensive line."

Louisiana-Monroe was picked to finish fifth in the 11-team Sun Belt. Idaho was picked ninth. The Vandals previously played in the Sun Belt from 2001-04.