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Vandals gear for more passing

MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 15 years, 2 months AGO
by MARK NELKE
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | October 2, 2010 9:00 PM

Idaho’s defense was shredded last week for 494 yards by previously winless Colorado State, including 386 through the air.

The Vandals (2-2) figure to face another aerial assault today, when they travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to play MAC foe Western Michigan (1-2) at 11 a.m. PDT (SWX, ESPN3.com, KVNI 1080, KGA 1510) on the FieldTurf at 30,200-seat Waldo Stadium.

The Broncos are fourth in the country in passing offense (332 yards per game), and 112th in rushing (75.67). Sophomore quarterback Alex Carder leads the nation with 48.67 pass attempts per game, and has passed for 921 yards and eight touchdowns.

“They’re throwing the ball a ton, and they’ve got some good players to throw the ball to,” Idaho coach Robb Akey said. “They’ve got an experienced offensive line, the quarterback does a good job getting the ball out, and he won’t hesitate to take off and run when he needs to.”

His favorite targets are wide receivers Jordan White (27 catches, 392 yards, 3 TDs) and Juan Nunez (25 catches, 204 yards, 1 TD).

“We better be ready to get after the quarterback, and play some tighter coverage than we played (last) Saturday,” Akey said.

Notes: The teams have only met twice before, with Western Michigan winning both games, including a 51-28 victory at the Kibbie Dome in 2008 ... Western Michigan plays at Notre Dame in two weeks.

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