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.