PULLMAN, Wash. - Another week. Another team. Same story.

The University of Idaho Vandals lost 54-37 to Louisiana-Lafayette on a sunny Saturday afternoon during which the Vandal defense yielded 641 yards total offense to a team that had been averaging 280 yards and 17 points per game.

"When you can't get six inches and you can't play any defense you're going to have a hard time winning at college football," coach Tom Cable said after the Vandals fell to 0-7, 0-3 in the Sun Belt Conference. "I think that really sums up this football game. I'm embarrassed by just our effort, defensively, particularly in the first half.

"We moved the ball offensively, scored a bunch of points and all that, but we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us. You just need to get a few breaks defensively and we did not do that. We have not done that all year."

The Vandals struck first on a two-yard run by Anthony Tenner but the Ragin' Cajuns answered on their first possession when Jerome Coleman scored from the one.

It became apparent the game would be a high-scoring event when both teams again scored on successive possessions with Tenner going in on a one-yarder for the Vandals and Nick Dugas pulling in a 28-yard pass from Jon Van Cleave for ULL.

Then the tide started to turn. Peter Villia intercepted a John Welsh pass at the ULL five and returned it to the 28. The Ragin' Cajuns scored nine players later on another one-yard run by Coleman. ULL's defense held on the next UI possession and Vandal punter Ryan Downes was called on for the first - and eventually only - time in the game.

ULL turned the change of possession into a 14-point lead by going 80 yards in seven plays for a 28-14 advantage on Van Cleave's second TD pass - a 19-yarder to Marcus Wilridge.

"It's all encompassing," said Cable when asked to pinpoint the reason for Idaho's inability to slow its opposition. "It's coaching. It's playing. It's courage. It's effort. I don't know that you could put you finger on one thing. We're a really poor defensive football team. It's a shame."

While Welsh was intercepted twice, he did finish with 410 yards passing after completing 27 of 42 attempts. He hit Chris Belser twice for TDs. Chris Lacy had another solid outing with six receptions for 95 yards and Tenner, in his return to a starting role after Blair Lewis was lost for the season with a knee injury, had 92 yards on 22 carries.