The First: Jerome Harrison had maybe the best
season ever for a Cougar running back, certainly he
produced the most total yardage (1900 yards). It
is hard to say he is the best running back ever to play
at WSU. Could the best running back ever help produce
such a horrible record? If he was a difference
maker why didn't he make a difference? Was the 9th
rated passing defense in the Pac-10 too bad to be made
up for, no matter who was at running back? We will
never know. I do know that Jerome Harrison
electrified the crowd each time he touched the ball.
The Second: Beating the Huskies 26 - 22 Yes,
the Huskies were the only team worse than WSU this year
in the Pac -10, but being a worse team than us hasn't
kept them from spoiling our party in the past.
After such a heart breaking season being able to slap
the Huskies like the Dawgs they are had a cathartic
affect and lessened the recruiting nightmare that would
have ensued had we lost that game too. The best
players in the Pac-10 still look at USC first, but at
least Washington High School players will compare us
favorably against our cross state rivals.
The Third: It wasn't a play or a player, it was
the Cougars winning the donation battle over the hated
Huskies, which gave all Seattle Cougars the unique
pleasure of seeing the top of the Space Needle painted
Crimson and the Cougar flag hoisted above Seattle's most
famous landmark. By the way, it also increases the
number of out-of-stater's that will ask you "WSU, that's
in Seattle, isn't it?".
Below I have reorganized my notes for the season into
chronological order, so if you want to sift through the
tears, knock yourself out! (No, really knock
yourself out, it will be less painful).
The big question is at quarterback - coach Doba is
one who would start Josh Swogger if he was healthy (the old
"can't lose your starting job because of an injury" thing), but
since Josh is still hobbled, Alex will get most of the snaps in
spring training, and red shirt freshman Gary Rogers the rest.
The Alex plays and impresses, the tougher that decision
will become. And hey, anyone who can beat the Huskies has
to be given a lot of consideration.
With 9 returning starters on offense, there will
be no excuses this year for poor performance, from the
quarterback or any other position. Who ever gets the job
had better put up some good numbers. I feel like last year
was the rebuilding year, and this year I want a Christmas
vacation someplace warm!
Watch for tons of stories this spring about Tony
Thompson, Jack Thompson's son. The scary thing is that I
am old enough to remember when Jack Thompson was the Savior of
WSU football, and the only thing worth talking about in crimson
and grey. His son is joining the club in a different era,
and at tight end instead of quarterback. Because of Jacks
strong association with the club Tony will get a good chance to
compete. If he has his dads moxie he'll be a fun
player to watch. GO COUGS!
The best article I read about the end of spring football was
written by Craig Smith at the Seattle times, so instead of
paraphrasing him, I'll just link to him
here - I love computers!
So, did I make our preseason ranking of 50th not sound so bad?
When you take into account the fact Athlon generally under ranks us and over
ranks the huskies, this should be an exceptionally good year for the Apple Cup -
For a full breakdown of the Athlon
review click here
Details: There were supposed to be two women in the room
with Mike - Believable, we do have a reputation after all - but
why haven't we heard from the other? Surely she wouldn't
want to miss out on her 15 minutes of fame? Wait, no, the
woman supposedly involved then told the SI fact checker that
there were two other women in the room with her and Mike, not
one. Now, I've got a poor memory, but I remember exactly
how many people were in the room every time I've had sex in my
life. Its just one of those things you don't easily
forget. Raise of hands?
In addition, Yeager (The reporter) gave one interview subject
$200.00 for cab fare.......To where? Sounds like he paid for
more than talk. I heard from a confidential source that
Yeager regularly had strange relations with a woman that
involved microphones and a dog collar. What is to stop me
if I know I will never have to prove its true? It is even
possible that Yeager had sex with the woman, paid her $200.00,
and used Mike Price to cover his trail. How would you
know?
The woman who DID sleep in Mike Price's room that night is
testifying on Mike Prices behalf that she did sleep in the room
and no sex occurred.
I assumed that Mike Price was caught with his hand in the cookie
jar, in cosmic retribution for taking the Alabama job right
before the rose bowl, now I'm not so sure.
This is another case making the point (Dan Rather) that we can
no longer trust journalists to be impartial unbiased and
painfully truthful in their reporting. I know, I am naive,
but if I am then so is the law protecting reporters sources.
We've put ourselves in a situation where we trust a protected
gossip class that tells us what they think we need to hear to
prove their point or world view, facts be damned. Its time
the laws protecting the press are updated to allow those whose
lives are being ruined the right to face their accusers.
There is a need to protect sources from recrimination, but those
trying to protect their sources should be required to show that
significant damage could be done to the source by being named.
In any case the source should be revealed to a judge in chambers
at the very least. You can read the full
story here.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the anonymous
source the magazine relied upon in an article about Price is
"almost certainly" one of three women whose names have surfaced
in the case. Before the magazine has to disclose the source,
Price's attorneys must question them under oath about whether
they were the source for the 2003 story, the appeals court said.
But here is some free advice: One, at 19 the "I'm just too
young and stupid" defense used in your defense is weak, you are
responsible for everything you do. Two, install a reverse
three date rule - Wait at least three dates before you
try anything with a woman. There are even people who
believe in getting married first - no, really, there are.
Three, the only reason you are being given the benefit of the
doubt at WSU is that everyone believes Coach Doba will do the
right thing based upon the information he has. Don't fail
his trust. We are rooting for you to succeed in life as
well as football.
Fall practice is so exciting. Its the time of year when
you can hear the offensive motor revving up in the garage, and
you can't wait to take it for a spin.
To give credit where its due, I got a
great email from NWsource.com that had so much great
information. It was full of the newest information
on transfers like Darryl Blunt from Portland State who
looks like he'll step in nicely for Kyle
Basler next year (60 Yard plus punts are always nice!).
Since I am not actually AT fall camp I need help from any of you
who are in the area and can drop by! Email me
here and let me know the scoop!
We'll have a report on the 2005 Cougar Clam bake in a couple
days, including pictures.
Included is a picture of a bunch of guys huddled around Randy
Martin right after his concussion and neck sprain. He was
taken to the Pullman Memorial Hospital. According to the
trainers He was going to be OK, all the test results came back
negative, but you have to be careful. I have a friend who
has been an "on the edge guy" all his life, and after his last
concussion was told he had to stop everything, because the next
one would probably kill him. Now he can't do anything but
play cards and drink beer... I guess it could be worse.
Concussions often don't seem that bad to fans, because there are
no crutches or blood, but it only takes one wrong hit to start
thinking "I'm batman!" Like that old Snickers commercial.
According to Scott, Will Derting was not suited up Thursday.
One trainer said Will was "In the locker room/training room" But
Scott caught a photo of him standing next to Cole Morgan on the
sidelines. We found out later that Will had a left
hamstring pull, and will miss Saturdays scrimmage. Be
careful Will! A couple more nagging injuries and his draft
stock will begin to drop. Think positive!
Scott got to see Alex Brink wing a perfect 45 yard strike to
Jason hill, thought Gary Rogers threw well, and thought Swogger
spent more time handing off than anything else. Every day
of practice is different, so it doesn't mean anything, but it
sure makes me wish I was there. Like a lot of you I used
to love running run stadium steps and study in
Martin Stadium. Looking at these pictures I could remember
how nice and warm it is there this time of year.
That's possible, but I really like Alex, he moves kind of like
Doug Flutie or Jason Gesser. Very smooth. You can
also count on at least one of those other three quarterbacks
washing out or leaving at the end of the season, which ever one
thinks he has the least shot at starting. Brink could
become on of those one year as a senior starters if he doesn't
take Josh's job this fall. Now is his chance.
Either Coach Doba believes Josh needs a kick in the pants, or he
is leaning towards making Alex the starter. Either way
Josh needs to step it up a notch if he expects to start against
Grambling.
Thanks to Scott Linklater again we have some pictures and more
comments about Saturdays Scrimmage for you. Click on
August 13th
Scrimmage For more.
I've always taken the position that Coach Doba is going to get
our young defense to play much better than the pundits expect.
Saturday was not an indication of that. Watch for the
offense to do much better in the next scrimmage.
The defense looked better than it was supposed to, the offense
looked worse. I am going to assume that's because Coach
Doba has been able to raise the bar for the defense and get them
up to speed quickly even though they are young. Even
without Will Derting (out 2 weeks for his left hamstring)...
The other possible explanation I'll leave for my Husky
acquaintances to make (I know them... but I don't really trust
them!).
When you look at the pictures check out the steak! If you
look carefully you'll be able to see the WSU logo seared into
the meat. Makes you want your branding iron doesn't it?
Turn out was a little light this year compared to last year even
though the weather was awesome, but we'll make sure to let you
know about it early next year so that you can come be a part.
Click on Clam
Bake 2005.
If the starting quarterback for Cougs was picked based on
Fridays practice, Josh Swogger was the winner. After on-and-off
play over the past two weeks of scrimmages, #9 played like the
starter (assist Jason Hill). Swogger was poised and accurate,
confidently commanding his offensive squads (#1’s and #2’s) down
the field. At one point, Swogger threw a 40 yard bomb,
while being rushed, off his back foot – amazing arm strength!
DeMaundray Woolridge #35, played like a
seasoned veteran, even though he turned 18 last spring.
He has several nice runs, took on hits, juked, and kept
going. Michael Willis had the hit of the day on
Wooldridge, as these two freshmen went head to head, drawing
“uh’s” and “awh’s” from the scrimmage crowd. Jason
Hill made one-handed catch that made the local news.
Michael Bumpus had another great day, and on one occasion
left Alex Teems picking up his socks. Freshmen
linebacker Gary Trent had another good day – very
impressive. On Defense, Aaron Johnson again, Wally and
D-Backs played well, the Defense End Duo of Braidwood and
Bruce recorded several sacks.
This is a good team, all the way around.
They are a lot of fun to watch and should make for a good,
bowl-bound second place finish in the Pac-10. - Scott
Linklater
One possible reason Brink is the WSU Starting
Quarterback.
The Brink v. Swogger thing has been interesting.
Tim Rosenbaugh recruited Brink where as former coach
Mike Price recruited Swogger. I always thought
Swogger was a big catch as far as recruits go, but a
friend close to Rod Commons and the football program
said that Swogger was just a big fish in a small
pond …he came from a small school where he did
great, but wasn’t necessarily recruited that hard by
the Big Ten schools (he’s from Ohio). He was
Ohio state player of the year, but excelling at a
small school doesn’t always translate into big time
success. Swogger himself seemed to always be
trying to live up to the “big name recruit” label,
where as Brink was always fighting to be recognized
and comes off as a Doug Flutie type underdog,
although their styles are much different.
Alex Brink fits this team better.
I watched the preseason preview of the Pac-10 and
WSU was the last and least team previewed.
They asked the analyst’s what the big surprises of
the season would be. One said USC would be
upset by Oregon and the other said WSU would make a
bowl. Make a bowl? I have a good friend,
we’ll call him The Greek, who is a math teacher and
he does preseason predictions based on the number of
returning starters and seniors, plus some other
misc. variables, and his number 1 pick for the last
8 years or so has been correct, or the team ended up
2nd. He picked WSU in the Rose Bowl in 1997.
This year, he’s saying the Cougs will finish between
2nd and 4th, hinging heavily on the quarterback
position. In the press, the Cougs are picked
between 4th and 7th. Alex Brink plays much
better when he’s the underdog and we’re certainly
that…at least in relation to the respect we think we
should get….
- Scott Linklater
WSU Cougar Starting Quarterback? Alex Brink
After a See-saw battle during fall camp, Coach
Doba has finally settled on Alex Brink as the starting
quarterback for the 2005 Cougar football team. A strong
performance by Swogger on Friday was not enough to overcome what
the coaches have seen from Alex. Alex has always seemed
smoother in his delivery and motion than Josh. According
to Coach Doba Alex came into camp heavier and with a much
stronger arm than last year - arm strength was one of the areas
where Josh used to have the advantage. Not any more.
Click for another
Brink picture.
WSU vs.
University of Idaho
Thursday Night, 7:00 PM in Pullman. As
usual anything positive in this game will be discounted, and
anything negative magnified, because Idaho is expected to Finish
9th in the WAC out of, well, 9 teams. It is good for them
in the long run to be in the WAC but hard, since they won only 3
games last year in the lesser Sun Belt Conference. This
years hope is a nice senior quarterback named Michael Harrington
(Yes, the brother of the more impressive Joey Harrington).
One other advantage U of I will have this year (Except Thursday)
is that their home games will be played back in the bubble
confines of the Kibbie dome. It had to really irritate
them to drive to Pullman for their home games the past couple
years. None of that will change the outcome of this game,
though. WSU wins big.
WSU vs.
Auburn Tigers set for 2006
WSU will open the 2006 football season at
Auburn. Why? Big payday. National exposure. Our Bowl game
exposure to the Texas audience helped to bring several good
Texas players into the fold, not the least of which is Greg
Trent, who filled Will Dertings' spot at Linebacker while he was
injured (Will is expected to suit up on Thursday).
U of I =
UW = U of I?
Lets talk new math. At his press
conference yesterday Vandal Coach Nick Holt declined naming a
quarterback for this Thursdays game with WSU (I put my money on
Michael Harrington, by the way. Over at Mountlake coach
Willingham is also keeping mum - U of I = UW.
Last year UW finished last in the Pac-10 while Idaho finished
last in the Sun Belt Conference - UW = U of I. This
year they are both picked to finish last in their conferences
again - UW = U of I. Both are expected to lose to WSU by
big margins this year - UW = U of I. And finally, both are
insulted that they are being compared to the other program - UW
= U of I. Sorry about that, U of I.
U of I Names Michael
Harrington starting Quarterback vs. WSU
Coach Nick Holt named Michael Harrington his starting
quarterback yesterday, which comes as no surprise. Michael
has played against WSU a couple times already, so he is less
likely to panic when WSU throws an 8 man rush against him
Thursday (Not that it will make any difference). It was an
obvious move for Coach Holt, who is trying to create a more
consistent program after several years of new coaches, new
players, even new leagues almost every year. Michael
Harrington is not the reason they are bad. I remember last
years game watching him and almost feeling sorry for him as he
struggled in vain to make something happen while WSU cruised to
a lopsided win.
WSU
struggles against U of I but still wins 38-26
Let's hope Idaho is good enough to go to a bowl game.
If it weren't for two great plays in the first two minutes of
Thursdays game, U of I would have won, and that's scary. U
of I is the kind of team that the USC's of the world dispose of
in the first quarter, and good teams dispose of in the first
half. That WSU let them hang around - and drive the length
of the field for points 3 times - makes you want to tear your
hair out. 3 straight quick touchdowns by WSU in the at the
end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter put the game out
of reach, yet Idaho still managed another touchdown in the final
minutes. You have to give Idaho and their coach credit, they
didn't give up until the final gun sounded.
It seemed Idaho won the battle on both the offensive and
defensive lines for a large part of the game.
On defense our linebackers made too many tackles and Will
Derting was not himself, frequently being held up at the line of
scrimmage (He is recovering from a hamstring injury and
obviously not 100% right now). Will did make 11 tackles
but a lot of them were past the line of scrimmage, not behind
it. After the first play from scrimmage (an 80 yard off
tackle touchdown by Harrison) the Idaho defense stuffed the line
and made the WSU running game look anemic, forcing WSU into
swing passes just to get something going.
On offense Alex Brink, as seemed very tentative. He
completed 17 for 29 attempts for 230 yards, with most of the
success coming in the second drive and late in the game.
One reason he struggled was the play of Jason Hill, who dropped
4 passes that were right too him. Another reason was
that for most of the game Alex did a poor job of looking off the
defense. Too often it seemed like he was telegraphing who
he was throwing to almost from the beginning of the play.
To give him credit, he did a great job of looking off the
defense and throwing to Hill for a 72 yard touchdown later in
the game. He looked so awkward that the announcers were
beginning to hang out their "We want Swogger" banner in the
third quarter, before the offense hit stride and scored three
straight touchdowns. The game and assessment of Alex might
be different if Jason Hill had arrived at the game before the
3rd quarter.
Jason Hill dropped 4 passes to start the game, two of which
could have gone for touchdowns. He made up for it at the
end of the game, but against a Pac 10 Team he might not have had
the chance to redeem himself. Jason and Michael will make
a good 1-2 punch as the season goes on.
Positives? Michael Bumpus picked up the load in the middle
of the game, seemingly catching everything thrown to him,
fighting through blocks for extra yards, though he did make a
poor decision on a kick off that resulted in a turn over.
And WSU did pull it out at the end.
Cal Quarterback out:
One of the teams picked to finish
ahead of the Cougs this year suffered a major setback Saturday
when Cal starting Quarterback Nate Longshore was lost for
the season with a broken left leg. His replacements were
horrible. While they can count on solid play from their
running back Marshawn Lynch. We do not play Cal until
October 10th. The new quarterback should be settled in by
then, but that has got to help our chances in that game
which was already expected to be close.
Jim Sterk schedules extra time
for Cougs: Washington State
has extra time to prepare for each of its three opponents
following last weeks win vs. Idaho. The Cougars will have
one extra day for their Sept. 9 game at Nevada and Sept. 17 game
against Grambling State in Seattle. WSU has a bye week before
opening Pac-10 play at Oregon State Oct. 1. This bodes
well because WSU is 6-4 over the last five seasons when having
extra time to prepare, including 5-2 following a bye week
WSU
vs. Nevada Wolfpack Friday night
The Wolfpack is employing a new offense that
has the quarterback half way between the shotgun and the
traditional under center approaches. They call it the
pistol. To me it seems like you are keeping the fumble problems
but losing half of the time you get to scope the defense after
the ball is snapped. The idea is to get the quarterback some of
the shotgun time, while still keeping the running back involved
in those plays and keeping the defense off balance. This
is their first game of the season, so they are probably as
uncertain how this will work as the Cougs. If they are
really successful with that package watch WSU add it to our
offense. Using a pistol formation seems like it would fit
well with our one back schemes. Because of their young
offensive line, for Nevada to win they will have to use the
pistol formation to successfully run the ball enough that they
can get their very talented receivers open deep. Nichiren
Flowers is their receiving ace, and is considered the best
returning receiver in the WAC, which means a lot more than it
did a few years ago. Quarterback Jeff Rowe will be looking
for him every chance he gets.
On the fun side, Nevada is another team that is expected by
Athlon sports to be better than the UW huskies this year (Nevada
81, UW 86). Nevada is picked to finish 3rd in the
WAC.
WSU beats
UW again
The attendance at the UW vs. Air force game
last Saturday fell short of the attendance at Thursdays WSU vs.
Idaho game in Pullman (26,482 vs. 28,339). Maybe if the
Huskies moved their home games to a Major population center like
Tacoma they would fill more seats? I guess it is just one more
bit of evidence that the economics of modern sports make college
football unfeasible in Seattle.
WSU
beats Nevada Wolfpack 55-21
This is how Pac-10 schools are supposed to
treat WAC schools - Smack them up side the head and put them out
of their misery early. The score in the 3rd quarter
when WSU really started pulling its starters was 41-7.
From Michael Bumpus on special teams (including the longest punt
return for a touchdown in WSU history, 87 yards), to a defense
that seemed to put three defensive players in the back field on
almost every play (6 sacks), this was a great effort.
Nevada was supposed to be a much better team than the University
of Idaho but didn't look it, as WSU dominated the offensive line
early, giving Alex Brink time to make good passes without
feeling pressure. They then used the pass to set up some great
runs later in the half. It is notable, though, that none
of the cougar touchdowns were via the run until Woolridges' 1
yard run for the final score of the game. One of Coach Dobas'
goals has been to create a stronger running game within the WSU
Scheme, it still seems that inside the red zone the Cougs are
having a difficult time punching the ball in without passing it
to someone.
On defense WSU stuffed the run and harassed
Nevada QB Jeff Rowe relentlessly, causing hurried throws and a
team panic that kept Nevada from crossing mid field until there
were only a couple minutes left in the first half. The
pistol formation looked neat, though. It will be
interesting to see if they can make anything significant out of
it as the year goes on.
One play in the first quarter showed how quickly
WSU was adjusting to Nevada’s “Pistol” offense:
Both teams came to the line (Nevada had the
ball). Nevada set up, WSU set up, then showed a strong side
blitz. The Nevada quarterback Jeff Rowe audibled away from the
blitz, then at the last second WSU audibled out of the blitz
into something completely different, forcing Nevada to burn a
time out. As a cougar fan you definitely had a “HA! Gotcha!”
Feeling. WSU faked the blitz much more than they actually
end up blitzing, but the fake blitzes caused almost as much
panic as the real ones.
A key moment came with three minutes to go in
the second quarter. WSU should have been punting on 4th down in
the shadow of their own goal posts - giving the Wolfpack good
field position and the ability to cut the lead to 7 points -
when a penalty on Nevada gave WSU an extra play that turned into
a 47 yard pass to Jason Hill to midfield. WSU marched the rest
of the way for a 98-yard drive and a 24-point lead.
The lone highlight of the game for Nevada was
their opening drive of the second half, which resulted in a
quick touchdown. Their spirits were up until Michael Bumpus
took a punt on the 13-yard line and ran 87 yards for the longest
punt return for a touchdown in WSU history. Josh Swogger came
into the game on the next series and tossed a beautiful pass to
Brandon Gibson to make it 47-7. Game set and match. WSU
brought in all the guys who didn’t play earlier, and the defense
gave up a couple meaningless touchdowns that made the game look
slightly closer than it really was.
Jason Hill continued where he left off in the
second half vs. Idaho, grabbing 5 balls and 2 touchdowns.
DeMaundray Woolridge, the Freshman out of Texas made the most of
his first game as a cougar, with 15 carries for 133 yards and a
touchdown. All off a sudden the Cougar running back
situation looks a little brighter.
A friend asked me who got all of the sacks last night in Nevada.
Here they are:
| Player |
Sacks |
Yards |
| Adam Braidwood |
1.5 |
-4 |
| Mkristo Bruce |
1 |
-8 |
| Matt Eichelberger |
1 |
-2 |
| A'i Ahmu |
0.5 |
-3 |
| Matt Mullennix |
1 |
-1 |
| Bryan Olson |
1 |
-3 |
| Total Sacks |
6 |
-21 |
5 of the 6 sacks came in the first half, which
is good, but Will Derting's name is missing, which is not.
Will did share the team lead for total tackles with Adam
Braidwood with 5 sacks.
The cougars couldn't have played much better. Go
Cougs!
Ruben
Mayes to play for Grambling Tigers...
Fortunately for WSU this one does not have the
same talent as our own Reuben Mayes that broke so many records at
WSU in the early 80's. The Grambling Ruben is decent,
though. He is a 6-foot-2 inch, 245-pound junior fullback
who was a first team All-SWAC selection during the 2004 season.
He was also on (Let me get this right): 1-AA.org
Magazine's preseason Division 1-AA All-America football team....
Third team... Their quarterback Bruce Eugene is very
experienced, since he has been granted an extra year of
eligibility because of a knee injury last year, and good
receivers for the division they are in. They did Whoop up
on Alabama A&M last week 44-0. They are picked to win the
Western division of the SWAC this year, so the game should be a
little closer than people think? They should be able to
score some points anyway, but won't be able to keep up with the
WSU offense. WSU wins big, unless they are overconfident,
in which case they will still win big. If I believed in
Jinxes.... Nope, they still win big.
There is no truth to the rumor that Grambling will be changing
their school motto to "Yeah, but the band" before the game.
Next week is WSU's first real test, Oregon State, who beat Boise
State Last weekend. WSU should have plenty of confidence
going into that game, at the very least.
The cougars were pretty much injury free against Nevada, but
defensive end Adam West suffered a concussion and may not play
Saturday. Another defensive end, Lance Broadus, suffered a
shoulder sprain but may be available. The preseason fear
that we had no legitimate back up for Jerome Harrison seems to
have been unwarranted, as DeMaundray Woolridge ran for 133 yards
against Nevada and looked good doing it. Not bad for a
true freshman.
Grambling
is famous for their band and...
The fact that everywhere they play, part of
the week is spent on race relations and lamenting the fact that
there aren't more black head coaches in football.
Earlier this year Terry Bowden (Now that he can't be forced to
trade his white coaches for black ones himself), came out in
favor of a quota program that would allow every NCAA
college football team to add one an additional assistant coach
to their team provided he is white - black.
If that seems racist one way and not the other, YOU are the
racist. As are those who lament the fact that about 50% of
all football players are black while only 3% of head coaches
are. They overlook the fact that black coaches like UW
coach Tyrone Willingham have been given incredible opportunities
to coach some of the best programs in the country, only to fall
flat on their faces. Did they fail because their school
was racist, or because they were black? No, they failed
because they were mediocre coaches that couldn't produce a
winning record. Rest assured that any black coach that
wins a lot of games (like Dusty Baker does in baseball) will
have a long career and be in high demand. To quote the
great ex-coach of Grambling Eddie Robinson "...But don't come
back and say the reason you didn't make it was because you were
black."
The number of
athletic departments today that would avoid hiring a black coach
because he is black is extremely limited, and if that were ever
discovered as a criteria in a program, those who were in charge
would lose their jobs before the sun set. Contrast that
with our own ex-coach George Raveling, who proclaims his "I
always chose the black player over the white one" policy in his
book without shame or repercussions, and is seen by the black
coaches association as a coach to emulate. Racist?
Of course. Especially if your non-black son wasted his
college career trying to play for Raveling, not knowing he had
almost no shot. So why does our society look the other way?
If you average the 26% of coaches that are black in basket ball
(hired by the same athletic directors who aren't hiring black
football coaches) with the 3% in football you come out at just over 14%, the same
percentage as the total percentage of blacks in the United States.
For those who continue to look at one number and scream racism,
noodle this: Since about 14% of America is black, how is
it possible that 50% of the college football players are black?
Racist scholarship programs? Random chance? Or are blacks
just better at football? If you take the position that 50%
means blacks are just better athletes - as is professed by some
in our society (white guys can't jump, etc.) - then you open
yourself to the philosophical claim that whites are just better
coaches. Take your pick, but be consistent. Anyone
who has been paying attention the last 20 years has seen that
the only place that diversity is required is at white
institutions. By the way, the percentage of white coaches
at racially enlightened Grambling? 0%, from what I have
been able to determine.
If diversity is the answer to the
ills of our society, let those schools lead by example. Maybe
then one of the historically black colleges will become a
national power in football.
Commentary by Mark Owen
WSU WR/Punt Returner Michael Bumpus May Not Play vs. Grambling
Michael suffered an ankle injury vs. Nevada that
may keep him out of this Saturdays game. It must have
swollen later, because he apparently injured it BEFORE his
record breaking punt return of 87 yards for a touchdown Saturday
against Nevada. Lorenzo Bursey is his replacement on punt
returns. I guess that means that if the game is close, he
will play.
So who is Lorenzo Bursey? He is a JC transfer from
West LA College, and started High School at Beverly Hills High
in California. He was mixed up in an illegal recruiting
scandal at in High School when he changed schools to Long Beach
Poly (Yes, the school Bellevue beat last night) after becoming a star player at Beverly Hills High.
The coach at Beverly Hills, Carter Paysinger then allegedly tried to ruin
Burseys football career, according to a report found on
http://www.beverlyunderground.com/. According to
Burseys' father there were several classes that Bursey was
taking but that did not get NCAA accreditation, because of the coach
at Beverly Hills. That caused Oregon State to revoke his
acceptance to that University.
"Despite graduating with 30-40 extra credits, he was one
semester of English short of meeting the requirements.
Bursey had no idea until it was too late."
According to sources at Beverly underground Coach Paysinger also
sabotaged Bursey with the UCLA coaches. Bursey eventually
ended up at West LA College, where he compiled 1,025 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, averaged
5.9 yards per carry, chipped in 260 receiving yards and 248
return yards for a total of 1,533 all-purpose yards on the one
season he played there, which caught the attention of the WSU
coaching staff. He was offered a Scholarship by WSU this
year.
Is he good at returning punts? Hell, I don't know. I
do know he won't be as good as Michael Bumpus, but he'll get his
shot Saturday against Grambling.
WSU 48 - Grambling State 7
After Grambling won 44 last Saturday I wondered if
my prediction of 54
- 13 was too high, but it turned out just about right.
Those who predicted a closer game were just being tactful
(or Grambling homers). It was the last of three games
allowing WSU the luxury of seeing everyone get into the game but
did little to tell us how good the Cougars really are.
That test will begin in two weeks against a middle of the road
Oregon State team.
Alex Brink gave us our the only scare of the game on the first play from
scrimmage for WSU, when he one handed the ball onto the turf and right into the hands of
Grambling. Everyone thought oh no, and visions of incredible upsets went
through the mind of everyone on both sides of the ball. Grambling was not
able to move the ball and had to settle for a field goal attempt from the 8 yard
line, which they missed (How do you do that?).
After that "back breaking stop" WSU proceeded to roll down the field 80
yards in just 7 plays. Jerome Harrison scored on a one yard run to make the
score 6-0. Langley made the PAT and the route was on.
Grambling took the ensuing kick off, ran one play and fumbled. This
time it took WSU two runs for Harrison to score (But he was really in the end
zone on the first try). the extra point was good and the cougars lead 14-0 with
only 6 minutes gone in the first quarter.
Later in the first quarter the Grambling punter fumbled the ball and WSU
recovered at the Grambling 18 yard line. Brink was able to toss the ball
to J Hill for an easy score, with the PAT the score was 21-0. Grambling
had a hard time holding onto the ball all day. They recovered the
ball several times after putting it on the ground themselves, in addition to the
times that WSU took the ball away from them.
Josh Swogger got playing time
in this game, as did every other Cougar that had a number on his back.
While Brink played just fine, he wasn't spectacular, as he should have been
against a team this far below WSU in ability. Jerome Harrison and Jason
Hill carried the load (Harrison 26 rushes for 121 yards and 3 touchdowns, Hill
had 10 receptions for 139 yards). When you add Woolridges 14 rushes for 109
yards you get the feeling that the running game is starting to shape up.
This was Jerome Harrison's 6th 100-yard game in a row.
Defensively WSU gave up a lot of yardage through the air, but
stiffened up inside the red zone. It is troubling that Grambling
State Quarterback Bruce Eugene tallied 197 yards passing.
If WSU wants to avoid being blown out by the better Pac-10
teams, the secondary will need to play much better. With
all of that passing WSU didn't come up with a single
interception, even though they came close twice. Kudos to
their quarterback and receiving core. If Grambling could
have run the ball on WSU they would have scored at least a few
times. The WSU defense against the run was stout, allowing
Grambling only 11 yards on the ground.
Grambling's longest and only successful drive of the day was
late in the third quarter that went for 10 plays and 80 yards,
against mostly the WSU 2nd string defense.
Almost the entire 4th quarter went by quickly as both teams
basically ran the ball into the defensive line of the other team
to get the game over quickly. For instance WSU's final
possession consisted of 10 plays, all of which were hand offs to
DeMaundray Woolridge, 6 of which were directly up the middle.
Grambling is so far beneath the Cougars that this still resulted
in a 57 yard drive that stalled at the Grambling 4 yard line as
WSU tried to not embarrass Grambling any further.
By the way, Lorenzo Bursey did get into the game, and
returned one kick off 21 yards. Go Lorenzo! After hearing
about the scandal (see the next article) he went through in High
School you've got to root for the guy.
The best thing about this game is that no one was injured
that won't be better by the OSU game.
All of these points were scored while WSU played a very
simple offense that seemed designed to not give anything away to
WSU's next opponent, Oregon State (OSU lost to Louisville 63-27
Saturday). WSU should be able to beat Oregon State when
they meet in Corvallis October 1st, but the game will be much
closer than the games WSU has already played. The debacle
Oregon State played today against Louisville is not
representative of how good the Beavers are. Louisville
came into that game ranked 11th and should move up at least one
spot after that performance. I know you haven't forgotten,
but WSU hasn't played ANYONE yet. The easy early season
continues, though as WSU gets a week off to prepare for Oregon
State and get people like Michael Bumpus and Will Derting to
100% before the real grind begins.
UCLA
Senior Wide Receiver lost for Season.
Junior Taylor - His name is Junior, this was to be
his Senior year - Probably UCLA's best wide receiver, was lost
for the season Saturday when he tore his anterior cruciate
ligament in his left knee. While that makes things a
little easier for WSU, the fact that UCLA beat the Oklahoma
Sooners 41-24 on Saturday says that UCLA is a better team than
some suspected. WSU plays UCLA on October 15th in Pullman.
UW
Thrashed by Notre Dame
The Washington Huskies lived down to their
reputation Saturday, bowing down to the Irish 36-17 (It wasn't
that close). The beautiful thing is, the score is about
what everyone expected. It's enough to make you want to
watch the broadcast, isn't it?
WSU Season finally begins Saturday at Oregon State
Your Washington State University Cougars get
to lace them up against their first Pac-10 opponent this week,
as they head into Corvallis for the Conference opener.
Thank goodness, it feels like we've been waiting in the green
room for the last 4 weeks. The players must feel the same way.
Oregon State is coming off of a thrashing on Saturday by Arizona
State (ASU 42 - OSU 24) including giving up an awful 28 points
to the Sun Devils in the third quarter alone. The Beavers
turned the ball over 6 times (3/3)! Is WSU as good as ASU?
Probably not yet, but fortunately we don't play them for several
weeks. OSU also lost two weeks ago to a decent Louisville
team, and lost buy a much larger margin than expected.
Before the season began Oregon State was picked to finish one
spot behind us in the standings, and was ranked by the Athlon
pre-season guide as number 53 to our 50. Their strength is
on offense, particularly the wide receiver and tight end
positions. A WSU win depends upon stopping the fabulous
OSU receiving core, including Mike Hass. Arizona State was
not able to stop them, as the OSU offense piled up 525 yards of
total offense. Take away the 6 turnovers and OSU could
have won that game. We can't count on 6 turnovers this
week, so our defense will have to find a way to get to the
quarterback quickly. I don't believe our secondary can run
with OSU after seeing the Idaho receivers beat us several
times. Even Grambling was able to get behind them, though
the quarterback was unable to get the ball to them when they
did.
This Saturday Vegas will be giving the nod to WSU, even in
Corvallis. I also pick WSU to win this game 28-27,
counting on our defense to at least slow down Mike Hass and
friends. It will be a much tougher game than the easy wins
by us and losses by them indicate, particularly because the game
is not in Pullman.
After this its back to Pullman against and average Stanford
squad.
Coach Doba derided the NCAA
red shirt policy Tuesday, saying:
"...When you Red Shirt it's like dying a year early, It's a
year of your life wasted I try to tell kids that.
That's why I wish the NCAA would just give us that 5th year and
let everybody play 5 years of eligibility, it would be better
for the graduation rates, and I think better for the kids."
Maybe he's right. The current system can derail the
attitude of a marginal player. It would be interesting to
see what the percentage of red shirts that leave school or never
graduate is vs. the graduation rates of football players that
don't red shirt. The flip side is that red shirting has
allowed teams to spread out the years of good players backing up
better players, instead of having two great quarterbacks
graduating in the same year, for instance.
Last year in at Oregon State
we were embarrassed for the first time as a Doba coached team,
with a complete offensive collapse. If you don't remember,
it was Alex Brinks first start, and the offense was 1 for 14 in
third down conversions, losing 38 to 12. On the flip side
it was the game that Jerome Harrison began to assert himself as
the lone Cougar Running back with punch.
WSU Coach
Bill Doba on Oregon State:
Coach Doba was very complimentary towards OSU
in his press conference this week, noting that they looked
better than ASU everywhere except on the Scoreboard. The
difference was giving the ASU offense the short field because of
the 6 turnovers and 8 sacks. He also singled out Bryan
Olsen for stepping up with a couple tackles against Grambling
last week.
About the soft WSU early season schedule vs. Oregon
State's tougher one he said:
"I think if you have young team, and you go out and get beat
playing a top 20..... a tough schedule early and you lose ball
games it can really hurt your self confidence and you have a
hard time getting 'em back. But if you have an experienced
team, like we should have next year that's why I wasn't opposed
to opening up with Auburn, A really good football team, and if
we happen to not be successful down there, I think these
kids are mature enough to overcome it and come back the next
week and play tough."
WSU goes into this weekend a very healthy team, the only
major player not available is Ropati Pitoitua. They are going to
jog him some next week and he may be available in limited duty
against Stanford.
How good
is OSU receiver Mike Hass?
Against USC the last two years he made 16
catches for 327 yards. You watch him and wonder how much
better the Cougars would be if they had just offered him a
scholarship (No one else did). He reminds me of Steve
Largent - not supposed to be big enough or fast enough, but
still manages to make the defense look slow and stupid week in
and week out. Bud Withers wrote an awesome article about
Hass that gives you a sense of how good he really is,
click here to read it. Of course this weekend we hope
that Will Derting and company will be able to slow down the OSU
receivers. Derting can cover Hass, the question is how
often will they be within 10 yards of each other. With
Will healthy offenses tend to play call more down the sides or
over the top of him. You seldom see that slant route
across the middle against the Cougs, even when the cougars are
blitzing. "Listen" for that Saturday? So far there is no
scheduled television coverage, so those not actually at the game
will have only the theater of the mind created by Bob Robertson.
We love you Bob, but we'd rather watch it! If you actually
make it to the game (I can't) please email me your impressions
and we'll post them. Pictures would be welcome as well.
Send them here.
I was So
excited at halftime....OSU 44 - WSU 33.
Visions of an undefeated season. Thoughts like
"Why didn't we play someone tougher early to show the nation how
good this team is going to be?" ran through many Cougars heads
as WSU rolled up an easy half time lead of 30-16. With
half time stats like:
Jason Hill, 21 grabs for 179 yards and 1 touchdown
Jerome Harrison 119 yards on 24 carries and 3 touchdowns
Alex Brink well on his way to a team record setting 531 yards
through the air.
we Cougar faithful were wallowing in our own greatness...
Unfortunately, in the other locker room OSU, far from
acknowledging our destiny, was preparing a defensive resurgence
that would surprise and stop our offense cold in the 3rd
quarter, force the Cougar defense away from the run and allow Jerome Harrison only 1 yard
rushing in the third quarter when we needed it most. Even
though OSU only scored 7 points in the third quarter they gained
momentum as each drive went by. The Cougar defense saved two touchdowns by OSU in the third quarter,
one on an interception in the end zone, another on an awesome
4th and 1 stand on the 10 yard line. The fact that OSU
went for it instead of settling for the field goal showed how
much confidence OSU had in their ability to move the ball.
But it was the WSU offense that moved the ball best for OSU from
that moment on, as Alex Brink threw an interception in the next
drive that allowed OSU the short field. They scored, and
the momentum really swung to Oregon State. WSU was on its heels
the rest of the day.
There were two key plays in the second half that made the OSU
come back possible, the first was in the third quarter, when
Jason Hill limped off of the field with an upper thigh bruise,
never to return. The second was a play in the 4th quarter,
with 8 minutes to go, when Brink connected with Michael Bumpus
for what looked like a sure touchdown. 40 yards later an
OSU player punched the ball lose and the resulting fumble was
returned for 19 yards. Three plays later Matt Moore
escaped Will Derting and lobbed a bomb to Hass (You knew it was
going to be him, didn't you?) and 64 yards later what
should have been a comfortable 10 point WSU lead had turned into
a 4 point deficit.
Things just kept getting worse until WSU limped off of the
field at the final gun. In the 4th quarter WSU coughed up
the ball 4 times in what has to go down as one of the most
depressing
quarters ever for a WSU offense, in the middle of one of the
best offensive performances ever - how does that happen? OSU knows,
they piled up 525 yards to ASU just last week, and lost because
of 6 turn overs. They were happy to have the shoe on the
other foot this week.
OSU is not one of the best teams in the Pac-10. If the
cougars are going anywhere this year, the team that waltzed up
and down the field in the first half is the one that has to show
up consistently from now on. We found out just how
important Jason Hill is to this offense, and so did everyone
else in the Pac-10. Watch for a more concerted effort to
shut him down from this point forward.
WSU adds
injury to insult - Will Derting out 2-4 weeks.
What could be worse than collapsing against
OSU? Collapsing and losing several players. Everyone saw
or heard Jason Hill suffered a quadraceps contusion in the third quarter right before
our epic collapse began, and while he probably will be back this
week, some other players won't be back so quickly.
Cornerback Alex Teems is unlikely to play, and neither is
standout linebacker Will Derting, who got stepped on by a
defensive lineman and Will suffered an ugly injury to his medial
collateral ligament in his left knee. He is out 2-4 weeks.
By the way, the answer to the burning question in the 4th
quarter was "Uh, we forgot". The reason DeMaundray
Woolridge never made it into the game as a change up for Jerome
Harrison was that coaches somehow didn't think about it.
DeMaundray is not as good as Jerome (Yet), but after OSU figured
Harrison out in the third quarter you really expected to see
Woolridge get some carries. He has sparkled in his limited
playing time so far, albeit against lesser teams. You can
bet he'll get a couple carries against Stanford. Its just
another indication of the panic that set in on the WSU sideline
as they realized how well OSU adjusted at half time (and how
poorly we did). Tuesday we'll start talking about Stanford
(Thank you lord!).
Huskies
Lose again. Is local Indian gambling involved.?
Since illegally firing UW Coach "Slick" Rick
Neuheisel for gambling with friends (Thank Clete Casper the next
time you see him) and replacing him with Keith Gilbertson in
July of 2003, the Huskies have struggled to an 8 and 20 record
over the past 3 years. That includs a 1 and 10 record last
year and 1 for 4 so far this year. Could it be that local Indian
gambling interests, aiming to punish the UW for firing Neuheisel
and set a chilling example for others, have fixed the games?
Has Indian organized crime been buying off officials and Husky
players to ensure the worst possible results for the Dawgs of
Montlake? After another not so crushing loss to UCLA 21-17
last weekend (They are getting used to it after all), could it
be that it's not really their fault? UW alumni may wonder,
but we know better. The Huskies are finally taking their
rightful place in the world as the new moped in the Pac-10.
Cougar fans can continue to bask in Husky quotes such as "This
one cuts deep", "We're going to use this experience as a
positive and move forward" (Both from UW linebacker Scott
White), and "We all go through growing pains" (UW Offensive
Coordinator Tim Lappano).
Most expected "Tyee" Willingham to breath some
life into the Huskies and at least take them to the middle of
the conference, but once again the Huskies are going nowhere
except the bottom of the Pac-10. Man, I never get tired of
writing that....
WSU Coach
Bill Doba wishes the games were shorter
I read in a column by Craig Smith of the
Seattle Times that coach Doba thinks college football games are
too long, and blames Will Dertings injury on the excessive
number of clock stoppages in the NCAA vs. the NFL. We hear
you coach, we wish Saturdays game had ended sooner too!
You would think that all of the clock stoppages, while extending
the game, also give the players another second or two to catch
their breath.
Will Derting is supposed to be out for a month. At some
point (today, actually) the "Injury prone" label will be affixed
to Will. He has yet to play a full season without
significant time sidelined by injuries. As a freshman he
missed half the season with a high ankle sprain, last year he
had that club on his hand because of a wrist injury, now this.
A month means he will miss games against Stanford, California,
UCLA, and, oh yeah, USC. The final three are the only
undefeated teams left in the Pac-10. If we can't beat
Stanford Saturday (We will), things could get ugly.
WSU vs.
Stanford Game Day
The strength of the Stanford football team
this year is the new coach Walt Harris, hired in the off season
to replace the inept Buddy Teevens (How inept was he? When
he was a kid his last name was "Stevens"). The frequent
coaching and offensive coordinator turn over at Stanford has had
the expected result in the years since Tyrone Willingham left,
with losses piling up like lumber on a big rig. Walt
Harris (Like each coach before him, of course) was hired to stop
that cycle. Harris is known as a quarterbacks coach,
perfect for a school that still holds John Elway up as the
ultimate college quarterback. So far the report card
hasn't looked good. A loss to UC Davis this year indicates
that Elway's successor is probably not on campus. With 17
returning starters they are a team that has more experience than
most Pac-10 teams, so you would think they would be able to
learn the new system quickly. WSU is a good test for them.
We are seen as an average Pac-10 team at this point, even though
we think otherwise.
Even when Stanford is good we expect to beat
them, and this year is no exception. This should be a fun one for the Cougars, and
one step closer to a bowl game. Last week they were beaten by Oregon
by roughly the same margin OSU beat us, but we we won't let that
second half performance happen again. Their last in the Pac-10 offense
will not be able to catch up to us, even without Will Derting.
Also look for an improvement in our special teams as Coach Doba
switches out younger players (Worked against Grambling, but not
the Pac-10) for more experienced ones from the regular lineup.
No TV again this week.
Prediction: WSU 24, Stanford 10.
The Best Places to Watch WSU on
the Internet?
Yahoo and ESPN. No Really. Did you know that almost all
sports websites get the same information at the same time from
the same place? That place is http://biz.stats.com/. They
collect the stats, including play by play, and farm it out to
everyone else, so that they don't have to send someone
themselves. Who uses this service? Here is partial
list: Yahoo, EA Sports, Fox Sports, DirecTV, ESPN.com, SI.com,
MSNBC and AOL. Yup, that's pretty much everyone who is
anyone in sports. Sites like ESPN add
their own content for games they are covering, and many of these
outlets have some kind of writer on staff that creates original
content for the site. But for play by play and in the game
stats they all come from the same place. I found ESPN and Yahoo to
be quicker at posting things and their presentation of the
information seems more
complete that's why both get 5 Cougs out of 5.
ESPN in particular have an awesome in game pop-up that will blow
you away (click on "Gamecast" in the . If you have found a site that you really like for that let us
know, so we can include it!
Email us here.
If you want to just go to the WSU Yahoo sight right now click
Yahoo. For
ESPN (The rest of site does not look as cool as the Gamecast)
click
ESPN.
If you want a more in depth review of the sites I looked through
along with links to them, click
Review
of internet College football sites.
Of course, to get the WSU play by play broadcast with Bob
Robertson and company you need to pay for the subscription
click here. Make sure you come back to
http://www.coug.com/ for the
best insight into the games and commentary afterwards!
WSU loses
to Stanford 21 - 24
let the quarterback controversy begin.
Last week we found out what happened when Jason Hill doesn't
play, this week we found out what happens when neither Jason
Hill or Derting Plays for this years Cougs. The
answer is, they are not good enough to win.
Jerome Harrison
tried hard to take the team on his back Saturday
against Stanford. He rushed 29 times for 218 yards, his
8th Straight 100 yard plus game in a row. Unfortunately the rest of the
team didn't step up and help him. Alex Brink (13/26
for 158 yards and 2 interceptions) was so cautious after his
first interception that he became a non-factor for much of the
game. That's a bad thing when you are the Quarterback.
After last week and this week there will certainly be a
quarterback controversy, even if the coaches don't admit it out
loud. Teams that lose when they should
win deserve one. I found myself watching for that one
drive of the game that coaches play the backup QB, to see what
Josh Swogger could do if given the chance. If he got into
the game I missed it.
All of a sudden the
weakest part of this team seems to be Alex Brinks propensity to
throw to the other team. He didn't have Jason Hill this
week, but that is not an excuse to throw interceptions.
With Jerome Harrison running wild you knew that there was a lot
of man to man coverage in the secondary, but that didn't seem to
matter.
At the half Coach Doba mentioned mistakes like the Michael
Bumpus fair catch of a punt on the Cougar 1 yard line, and was
most concerned about the Stanford offensive line that was giving
their quarterback great protection. Time for that awesome
halftime pep talk to make sure recent history didn't repeat
itself.
Last week we came out flat in the third quarter and it went
down hill from there. You would expect WSU to come out
fired up this week to make sure that didn't happen again.....3
and out, punt on 4th and 10. What would it take to light
the fire under the WSU offense? You know that during
halftime the Stanford coach
said something like "If we come out strong in the third quarter
we can beat WSU mentally and win this game". Stanford tried to do just that, exploding down the field twice,
missing a field goal the first time but scoring a touchdown the second.
At 7:55 to go in the third quarter Stanford had twice the
time of possession that we did (24:27 to 12:38). WSU just
could not get their offense off of the field. If it
weren't for a missed field goal and a blocked field goal we
would have been even further behind. At that point things
started to feel very familiar. As with Oregon State, we were
not able to stop the Cardinal passing game. It was only a
matter of time until they broke one and scored, which they did
at 7:55 left in the 3rd quarter to go ahead 14 - 7.
Trandon Harvey caught a huge pass for 45 yards in the ensuing
drive that seemed to spark the Cougars - 3 plays later Jerome
Harrison rushed 8 yards around the right end for a touchdown.
Stanford scores 7 again, WSU answers with 7 again.... Of course
you can't actually WIN a game doing that.
In the 4th quarter Stanford tacked on a 36 yard field go by
Michael Sgroi to go up by 10 points.
In the final minutes of the game WSU forced a Stanford
punt and took over the ball with 1:01 left to play. WSU's
strategy should have been run Jerome Harrison until Stanford
stacked to stop him, then throw a touchdown pass to win the game
in the final seconds. They seemed to be doing that and
Jerome did his part. First down 13 yards for
Harrison, then an incomplete pass by Alex brink, next play 10 yards for
Harrison, then a penalty of 5 yards. On the final Cougar
play Trandon Harvey was running free down the field waiting for
the winning touchdown grab, but Alex chose instead to pass
directly at Stanford's Nick Sanchez and was intercepted. Game
over, WSU loses to Stanford 21 -24. My Dad wants Dobas' head on
a platter, but he'll get over it.
Josh Swogger will certainly get another look this week in
practice. He seemed to win the position at the end of
spring training, but the job was given to Alex (I agreed with
the "He'll be quarterback for us one more year than Swogger"
mindset). That is not looking like a good decision now.
In the Cougar "you know your
record could be better" department:
Kyle Basler collected 218 punting yards and moved into first
place ahead of Gavin Hedrick on the WSU career list for punt
yardage with 9,573. That is one of those records you only
get if you punt A LOT during your career. If this years
cougar squad keeps up its current pace of 3 and outs, Kyles' leg
might fall off.
How tough is Alex Brink?
When I watched the highlights on the
"Official" website yesterday (look at the Stanford
highlights) I noticed that even when Alex has time he seems to
roll out or throw off of his back foot instead of standing tall
in the pocket. You just can't get any zip on the ball that
way. (Actually Ryan Leaf used to do that all the time, but
his throwing arm was bigger than Alex Brinks' leg). Even
when he steps into the throw the ball doesn't seem to jump out
of his hand, but looks soft. Is that something coach
Rosenbaugh trained him to do? Here is the question:
is our offensive line so bad that Alex has to run backwards just
to buy time? Or is Alex get happy feet because he is
mentally weak and not tough enough to stand in there and take
the hits?
My evidence of a lack of toughness is one play in the second
quarter of the Stanford game. WSU had started the drive on
the 11 yard line and had driven to the Stanford 36. On
second and six Alex Brink faked a hand off, ran the ball around
the left side of the line, and scooted up the sideline for a
solid 11 yard gain, but hopped out of bounds long before any of
the defensive players were within shouting distance of him.
from the looks of it he could have gained at least 5 more yards,
the defenders were all the way up at the 10 yard line. We'll
never know because he quit on the play to make sure he didn't
take a hit. Those extra yards might have led to a
touchdown, and certainly would have given us better field
position for the field goal attempt (Missed) that followed.
If that turns into 3 points the game goes into overtime, 7 and
we win. It didn't look like much at the time, but looking
back on it, Alex Brink may have turned the
tide/momentum/direction/outcome of the game on that one play.
I've found that the toughness and attitude of the Quarterback is
contagious and can inspire the whole team. Think of the
toughness of our past great quarterbacks, from Thompson, to
Rypien, Bledsoe, Leaf, even Jason Gesser (who was no rock
physically). Alex needs to learn that toughness quick and
stop worrying about taking a hit that lets Swogger take his job.
It's weird to question Alex two weeks after setting a passing
record, but if you can't lead the team to a win, it doesn't mean
anything.
WSU vs.
UCLA Does history make any difference?
The Cougars and Bruins are both using past years performance to
motivate themselves this week - The Cougars hanging their hat on
the fact that WSU has won the last four games, UCLA taking that
as motivation to make sure it doesn't happen again. Ranked
number 12 in the country and coming off of a 47-40 win against
previously unbeaten California they feel much better about
themselves than they did after their lackluster game against
Washington two weeks ago. In my pre-season analysis I was
hoping that we could sneak up on UCLA and beat them 17-14 with a
strong defensive effort. After the past couple of defensive
performances that won't happen. Our defense hasn't proven
itself capable of stopping even the bad teams in the Pac-10, and
Will Derting won't be back for a month. After last week I
fear a win by UCLA with a margin of 40 or more, especially since
linebacker is one of UCLA's strong areas and Alex is sure to
heave at least one lame duck pass their way. So I will
split the difference and predict a UCLA win 31-21. Please
prove me wrong! Watch UCLA stack the D line and game plan
100% to stop Jerome Harrison and dare Alex Brink to beat them.
Alex and the receiving core will need to have an exceptional
day, and the defense will need to find itself for us to win.
When was the last
time a Cougar used a racial slur around you?
The last racial slur I heard was when the movie "White men can't
jump" was released in theaters. I've always taken the
position that it's not racist if its true, but that particular
myth doesn't sit well with the current three time world title
holder Stefan Holm of Sweden (who is really, really, white).
The Current (pre-drug testing) World Record holder is Cuban
(Neither Black nor White, just ask Fidel Castro).
In an LA
paper UCLA player Jarrod Page claimed that WSU fans are racists,
because he said he heard racial slurs thrown at him
when he was in Pullman in 2003. Coach Doba went out on a
limb last night and came out against racial slurs. All WSU fans know what the
response would be if you heard a racial slur like the "N" word
at a game: universal shock and condemnation, right? And
that would be if it were in the stands between white people.
That has not happened within my earshot in the 25 years I've
attended Cougar football games. To have something like that
shouted to the opposing players is something I believe could
happen, because anything COULD happen when people have been
drinking. Even if it did, to take a brush and paint all
Cougars with it because you heard one comment by a drunk guy
(who may have been black, for all we know: "Hey Joe! Man,
I was so drunk yesterday do you know what I did?") is judging a
whole group of people unfairly based upon your own prejudice
against that group of....hey.... wait a second...
Coach Dorrell of UCLA said "...it happens everywhere".
Really? Take a camera with you and document it, because I
would love to see it. Strangely, with all of the video
cameras around sports the number of incidents reported is miniscule.
Making a racial slur against blacks is the one thing for which
"freedom of speech" is curtailed and your union won't protect
you. One racist comment and you lose your job, your
reputation, and any future in public life even if you didn't DO
anything. If people know you think it, that's
enough.
If you are a WSU fan this weekend listen up and check to see
if you hear a racial slur, thrown at others or told between two
people. I doubt seriously you will. Why? Most of us really don't give a damn
one way or the other and would rather not be bothered. We
want to go to the game, relax, and cheer for our team (even the
black players, no kidding). As with Grambling a few weeks
ago, for most of us the only time race is discussed in our
society is when black people bring it up.
By the way Jarrod, if a Cougar fan says you suck, it's not
because you're black, it's because you play for UCLA.
More over reaction
by WSU security
Based upon one off hand comment by UCLA player
Jarrad Page claiming fans yelled racial slurs at him after the
2003 game in Pullman, WSU security is locking off even more of
the area around Bohler gym from Cougar Alumni and students
until after the opposing players have made it to the locker
room. How long is it until they lock the gates of the
stadium and announce "Please wait in your seats quietly while
opposing team showers, dresses, gets on their bus and heads for
the airport."? The last time an opposing player was hurt
in any way by cougar fans was when? Are they really afraid
some unknown drunk idiot is going to attack the whole UCLA
football team? Or are they over reacting to save face.
All they have done is give credence to the thought that opposing
teams, and in particular black players, have something to fear
from the Cougar fans after the game. We all know better.
I did find it interesting that in
Craig Smith's article about the change the title read "WSU
to modify post game security" while the accompanying
picture was of Jason Hill with with a caption that read "Jason
Hill is doubtful for tomorrow's game". You know security
is tight when.....
WSU loses again,
UCLA 44 - WSU 41
WSU is the best 3 quarter team in the NCAA
(ribbon? trophy? kind word?).
Another awesome first half....Another awesome game by Jerome
Harrison...Jason Hill back on the field and Ropati Pitoitua on
the D-line creating havoc. Leads of 21-0 and 28-7 against
the number 12 team in the country. Tying or outscoring the
opposition in each of the first three quarters and holding a 17
point lead at the end of three. Oh, and another awful
loss. The weird thing is, being up by 17 going into the 4th
quarter you knew it wouldn't be enough. You knew that WSU
needed one more touchdown to ice the game. The Cougs just
couldn't do it. UCLA scored three times in the 4 quarter,
the last time a touchdown with only 44 seconds left in
regulation to tie the game.
The key moment came midway through the 4th quarter.
UCLA tried a fake punt from the UCLA 44 yard line, and Drew
Olsen threw a pass to a receiver who wasn't looking because he
misunderstood the play. WSU got the ball with a golden
opportunity to put the game away. Result? 3 plays
later it was 4th and 9 and WSU had to punt the ball away.
You could feel the air go out of the stadium. Instead of
that cementing touchdown by WSU, UCLA drove quickly down the
field in 11 plays and scored a touchdown.
In WSU's final possession in regulation they clumsily moved
the ball down the field, eschewed a 58 yard field goal for a
hail marry pass at the end of regulation, and settled for an
overtime that played out exactly as you thought it would at the
end of regulation. WSU meekly moved the ball forward a
little and settled for a field goal, while UCLA took the game in
hand - like USC did on the last play of their game today
against Notre Dame - and punched the ball in for the winning
score.
Now the guessing begins. Whose fault is it this week?
An offensive game plan in the 4th quarter that surprised no one
and was not effective? A tentative quarterback? A
defensive secondary that looked lost, especially the freshman
replacement for Will Derting? You can't really blame
Jerome Harrison after he piles up 258 yards, can you? Its
a long list, but hey, we have time.
Offensive coordinators: If the Cougars throw that outside
screen again I'm going to puke! When you are in a
confrontation with someone, looking off to the side and
shuffling your feet emboldens your opponent. And why would
you do that when you have been successful running it right up
the gut? In the fourth quarter our offensive play calling
was doing exactly that. And it started when they were
ahead by 17 points! They stopped running up the middle
against a horrible defensive line and stopped throwing passes
more than 10 yards deep. Even though Alex wasn't sacked
once all day he got happy feet and threw at receivers feet or
overthrew them by 5 yards Alex was 19 of 33 for 169 yards
and two touchdowns, but when the game was on the line the
passing game disappeared. As in the past two games, the
offense imploded when counted most - the 4th quarter.
In addition the offensive game plan never spelled Jerome
Harrison, even when we were up by 21 points. So he was
tired when we needed him most. Harrison's numbers were
impressive again: 34 rushes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Maybe coaches should sacrifice some of those gaudy numbers to
give him some rest and keep him fresh at the end of the game.
Just like last week he played almost every down, and just like
last week in the 4th quarter he looked tired. Instead of
brilliant runs against a tired defense he looked average.
We have another very good running back in the fold, fresh and
ready to sprint through a tired UCLA defensive line that is one
of the worst in the Pac-10 against the run. Give him a
shot even just as a change of pace! You'll give him the
ball constantly next year, why can't you give it to him a couple
times now?
One of the many irritations in this game was that the WSU
offense did almost everything they needed to do to produce a win
against unbeaten UCLA. They grabbed the momentum early
(touchdowns on three of their first four drives). Scored a lot
of points. Ran the ball well and seemed to dominate the
offensive line. They even outscored UCLA 10-7 in the 3rd
quarter. But when the game was on the line in the late 3rd and
4th quarters WSU faded, looked tentative and soft - ibid those
darn screens.
The Defense. Coach Doba was right last week when he
blamed the defense for the loss at Stanford, and he is probably
right this week if he says that as well. 38 points should
be enough to win any game. Its not though, when you are
playing a team that averages 43 points a game.
Under coach Bill Doba and Rob Akey Cougar defenses have been
smash mouth, blitzing, "in your face and by the way I'm going
to keep this ball" tough. We've been the ones with the
stamina at the end of the game. We've been the ones
intimidating the other teams offense. Not this year.
While the defensive line worked very hard and harassed Drew
Olsen mercilessly in the 4th quarter, when he got his passes off
it seemed like his players were out there all by themselves and
made WSU pay for blitzing. The defensive secondary was
outmanned, penalty prone and just sad. A defense that was
"go for broke" in the past, is now "go broke", as the Blitz is
picked up just enough for the QB to toss a shovel pass to a
running back who then scampers for a 1st down.
Aggravating.
On a positive note - which only took 9 paragraphs, by the way
- Alex Brink must have been thinking about running out of bounds
early maybe costing them the game last week, as he scrambled 6
times for 46 yards, never running out of bounds and attacking
the defense at the end of the run. He looked tough, even
if he wasn't always making the best decision in running.
Jason Hill was back and effective early in the game (8
receptions for 65 yards) but he was obviously not at 100%.
The schedule does get easier next week, as the Cougs travel
to Berkeley to play the mopeds of the south. We could still go
to a bowl game if we beat California and UW, plus one of USC,
Arizona State, or Oregon. Hope springs eternal, right?
Mark Owen
How WSU can win on
Saturday against UCLA, but won't
Another week of craziness is over and its time
to lace them up against the Bruins. If WSU is going to win
on Saturday, how will they do it? First, we need a high
scoring game, because we are going to have a hard time shutting
their offense down. Everyone has heard about Maurice Drew
and his amazing kick returns, but he's done just fine at running
back as well. According to Bill Doba part of Drews'
success is because of a very strong offensive line that is drive
blocking very well. Maybe Ropati Pitoitua will be able to
play more than they have said. We could really use him
this week. The UCLA offense is much better than Stanford
or OSU, and at 5-0 this season they don't lack for confidence.
Since even Stanford QB Trent Lewis was able to run up the middle
on the Cougars, something will have to change dramatically for
WSU to slow the Bruin scoring machine.
On the other hand their defense is just OK, especially for a
team that is 5-0 They will put pressure on Alex and slow
down Jerome Harrison by stacking the line and throwing inside
linebacker Spencer Havner at him as frequently as possible.
Havner led the Pac-10 last year with 125 tackles - picture him
as a very healthy Will Derting. Those attempts to stop
Jerome Harrison should be give Alex more time to throw the ball
early, if he can see what is happening and adjust.
Since UCLA will be blitzing a lot and packing the line to
stop the Jerome Harrison, picking up the blitz reads, taking
those short shots over the middle and turning them into big
gains will be essential for a WSU victory. Jason Hill will not
be there to do that, so Michael Bumpus and company will have to
step up their games substantially over last weeks performance.
We also have to hope that the worm turns and that the turn over
battle goes better than it has the last couple weeks.
Finally, if Alex is intercepted early how close is he to
being replaced by Josh Swogger? If we are behind by 10
points or more at half time, look for Josh to start the second
half. Whether Josh Swogger would make a big difference is
questionable, since his main benefit - a stronger arm than Alex
- is negated by the fact that Jason Hill isn't there to outrun
the defense. But if we have another game like the last
two, you have to give Swogger a shot just to change the
chemistry.
With Pitoitua, Hill, and Derting healthy we win this game
(and the last two). Unfortunately for this week at least,
they are not. Prediction, UCLA 31 - WSU 21.
WSU will beat
California Saturday, you heard it here first.
Unlike some other years when even optimists
knew that we weren't going to win a lot of games, down in your
gut you know that WSU is just flat out a better team than their
current record indicates. I feel like someone is stealing
an incredible season from us. Maybe its just watching
Jerome Harrison's record breaking performances being wasted,
maybe it's still a little hang over from those three 10 win
seasons, but I just feel like this week the worm is going to
turn.
The offense is scoring so many points, and the defense
is getting healthier each week. California lost their last
two games and are hoping to right their season against us.
I don't think they will. WSU is going to find a way to
win, and once they figure that out there will be hell to pay for
teams the rest of the year. I love buying stocks when they
are down, and face it, our stock is WAY down. I had
a friend email me and mention us in the same breath as the
Huskies (who lost again last week, isn't it great). That
hurt.
The cougar defense looked pretty good for most of the game
Saturday against a powerful offense (UCLA was averaging 43
points a game coming in), which is encouraging. Mark my
words. Jason Hill at 99% at least, Ropati at 99%.
This is the week.
Why
WSU WILL win this weekend.
No, really, its true.
Last week I thought WSU was good enough to win at UCLA,
but wouldn't. I must be a real homer because I would bet
the farm that WSU will win Saturday. Here's why.
The
WSU running game. Last Saturday California allowed OSU
Running back Yvenson Bernard 185 rushing - yes, the same back
that rushed 28 times for 89 yards against the WSU defense a few
weeks ago. Jerome Harrison probably won't have the kind of
day he had against UCLA since those days are few and far
between, but the running game should do well enough to open up
the passing lanes for Alex Brink and company, allowing the now
almost 100% Jason Hill to renew his regular visits to the end
zone which will open the running lanes for... You get the idea.
Clock Management - WSU made a critical mistake
Saturday when coach Doba did not slow down the game, because he
wanted keep the rhythm of the offense up. That strategy
now seems to have been whistling in the dark, and created the
outcome they were trying to avoid. By going 3 and out on
three of their last four possessions WSU allowed UCLA all the
time it needed to tie the game in regulation. Coach Doba is
smart and won't make that mistake again. Another mistake
that shouldn't be repeated is having Jerome Harrison in on every
down. WSU will be concentrating on how to win the 4th
quarter this week, and that focus should pay dividends when it
counts most.
WSU has learned the hard way that it doesn't matter how many
points you score if the other guys score more, so slowing down
Cal is the key to victory this weekend.
Defense. Having a healthy Ropati Pitoitua paid
dividends early last week, though he was not able to play
anywhere close to his potential. This week he will have a
major impact on our ability to stop the run, which should allow
the coach to game plan more protection for Will Dertings
replacements.
Season to date - California padded its non-conference
schedule with wins over Sacramento state, New Mexico State, and
Illinois (currently 10th in the Big 10). They do have two
wins in the Pac-10 which is more than WSU can say - but those
wins came against the hapless huskies
and an almost as useless Arizona squad that lost to Utah
and Purdue. And we thought WE were taking the easy way
out! The point is, they haven't proven they can beat
anyone either.
Mentally, California is depressed and uncertain
because of their OSU loss. They also suffered the ignominy of
coming from ahead to lose to UCLA two weeks ago 47-40.
WSU, far from being depressed, is going into this game
angry and ready to prove that they should have won all of the
last three games. While not the only reasons they lost,
they are able to hang their emotional hat on players that have
been injured, and take encouragement from the fact that they are
now healthy with the exception of Will Derting.
When you look at it these two teams they are taking the same
path to oblivion. One of them is going to stop that trip
on Saturday. The Cougars are that team. In my
preseason predictions I thought WSU would lose 20-17, but no one
counted on Jerome Harrison being this good.
Prediction: WSU 28 - California 21.
More clock
management thoughts Coach Doba addressed the 4th quarter yesterday at his
weekly press conference, but went at it the opposite I would
have thought, saying that the team should be hoping the clock
goes longer so that they can increase the lead, instead of
hoping the clock goes quickly so that they can get off of the
field. Certainly you don't want to be trembling with fear
about how much time is on the clock, but smart clock management
dictates that when you are comfortably ahead you try to run the
clock down and use it as your ally. If anything coach Doba
should be working with the Cougars to use the clock better and
keep the offense on the field longer. In some ways the
quickness with which the WSU offense score is giving the other
team more time to wear down the Cougar defense and mount a come
back. It is telling that WSU has lost the time of
possession battle in the past three games by a combined
total of 100:58 to 78:22 (They did win the time of possession
battle with OSU, barely), and the disparity has been getting
larger, not smaller. I always figured that meant you were
passing the ball more, but with Jerome Harrison racking up so
many yards how can that happen? The difference in the UCLA
game was 12:94. That means that UCLA had the ball almost
an entire quarter more than WSU (no wise cracks about that being
the 4th quarter, please). Maybe he is just trying to
prepare his team to not play scared in the final minutes of the
game, to keep them from expecting the clock to win the game for
him. Hopefully the Cougars will be ahead going into the
4th quarter against California and we'll be able to find out.
WSU
Injury update
Lorenzo Bursey is out two to four weeks, Will Derting
will make the trip this weekend but won't play until the USC
game, maybe not until ASU. Ropati is still recovering and
will take Wednesday off and practice Thursday. He will
play against the Bears. Jerome Harrison is nursing a
shoulder but he'll be fine for Saturday. Brian Hall has a
slight clavicle separation problem but somehow he will be able
to play - ah to be young.
WSU's
Cardiac Arrest kids lose to Cal 42 - 38
If these guys date the way they play football I feel
sorry for their girlfriends.
At the Stanford game the 1965 Cougar football team, known as the
"Cardiac Kids" were honored. That was a team that finished
7-3 with many narrow victories, the only really good team in a
horrible decade of football for the Cougs. How ironic that
they should be honored this year, when a supremely talented WSU
team is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory week after
week. They look fine, then at the last minute they clutch
at their heart, give you that "I have no idea what to do next"
look, and fall flat on their faces. Never in the history
of football have so many offensive records been broken by a team that was
0-4 in conference play.
Jeff Tedford said about his California team after the game
"It would have been very easy for a team without character to
just fold and wait until next week" If any Cougar
players were within earshot they had to wince. I did.
Many teams put 4 fingers in the air at the beginning of the 4th
quarter to claim it their own. This team doesn't bother.
I had pages of notes on this game. Glorious glowing
notes about the cougar comeback, racking up 28 straight points
to do to Cal what other teams have been doing to us all year.
About how different the season could have been if only Jason
Hill had been healthy all season (again), About a Cougar offense
that was good enough to overcome two interceptions in a row that
were basically run back for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter (at
that point Alex Brink was 4-15, with two interceptions).
All wasted paper after a crazy - "we are so uncertain of our
ability to play down the stretch that we have to resort to
trickery" - fake punt late in the game gave Cal the short field
they needed to come back and hand WSU its fourth loss in a row.
We even thought we had luck on our side. Through out
the game WSU caught lucky break after lucky break. From
two tipped balls caught for interceptions by Abdullah, to a
beautiful catch of a tipped ball by Jason Hill for one of this
three touchdowns that showed again just how soft his hands are,
to a punt muffed that bounced off of a Cal player and out of
bounds, it seemed that everything was falling our way and we
deserved it after the past few weeks. Cal had 6 starters
out of the game with one injury or another, including their top
two wide receivers. A seemingly inconsequential mistake proved
critical - a muffed extra point which meant that in the last
drive of the game WSU needed a touchdown to win, not a field
goal to tie.
You can blame the defense again, but be careful. They
forced 3 turnovers, and were given no field and 3 yards to work
with on 14 points of the Cal production. While they folded
in the 4th again, allowing Cal to score touchdowns on its last
two possessions, if the WSU offense hadn't panicked in the final
moments of the 2nd quarter the score wouldn't have been that
close. The defense did show up big in the 3rd quarter and
early 4th, holding the Cal offense to 4 punts, intercepting the
ball once and forcing a fumble during the Cougars 28 point come
back.
As usual the cougars play just well enough to lose.
With all the talk about how close the cougars have come to being
undefeated this year, they still have the same Pac-10 record as
the lowly Huskies. When it is all said and done the point
totals won't matter, and this group of cougars will go down as
won of the worst team since the 1995 team went 2-5 in the Pac-10
and 3-7 overall. Of course, at the end of that season Ryan
Leaf took over as quarterback, and the future was assured.
Here are the good things that happened in
the Cal game. Jason Hill looked 100%, grabbing 3
touchdowns to break Hugh Campbell's record of 22 set from 1960 to
1962.
Coach Doba getting the "Lamebright" glaze.
Watching coach Doba's post game interviews and
highlights on the Cal game, I remembered watching UW ex-coach
Jim Lamebright. Coach Doba has that same glazed "Man, I
wish I wasn't here - again" look to his eyes. This
season has taken a lot out of coach Doba. He gets excited
at times, but you can see him sink back down. He is
miserable right now and blames himself bitterly for every single
loss, even though he won't say it in public. We saw what
that did to Lamebright. Lets hope the same thing doesn't
happen to coach Doba.
This team and coaching staff are very
uncomfortable as losers, and I'm glad. Many of our past
teams have sunk into losing (Like the current Huskies are) and
you could tell they saw themselves as just not as good as the
other teams in the Pac-10. This team still believes they
are getting a raw deal and are much better than their record.
The offense is one of the best in the country there is
little doubt. The defense? Well, you know the answer
to that.
Lorenzo Bursey might play this week, but probably will play
next week, he has an A/C sprain.
Michael Bumpus has a high ankle sprain, he'll be on crutches
this week. When the swelling goes down they will know
better when he will be back - don't look for him against USC.
Coach Doba said that USC would have to make some mistakes
offensively for the Cougs to win Saturday. I think he's
right. If USC went to a single wing formation, for
instance, it would help us tremendously. If Matt Leinart
consistently lined up under the left tackle, our defense would
have a great day. Those scenarios are unlikely, so it is up to
Rob Akey and company to make a dramatic improvement (again) this
weekend if the Cougars have any hope of even staying close to
the USC scoring juggernaut. If they blitz with the same
effectiveness that they did at the end of the Cal game, expect a
blow out of epic proportions. Face it, if WSU is up by 40
points at the half, both teams will still be expecting USC to
come back and win. This could be painful.
WSU
Positives - Is Alex Brink the next Ryan Leaf (The college
version)?
I looked back and compared Alex Brinks' year to date with
another great Cougar, a young Ryan Leaf, whose first full year
was his sophomore year, 1996. Here is how they stack up -
I projected current numbers through the rest of the year for
Alex, even though we haven't played USC yet. After all, we
also play the Huskies. That year the Cougars also played a
pretty soft non-conference schedule that included Temple, San
Jose State, and Colorado.
| |
Games |
ATT |
COMP |
pct |
Yards |
Y/Att |
Y/G |
TD |
INT |
Long |
| Alex Brink |
7 |
238 |
132 |
56 |
1978 |
8.3 |
283 |
18 |
10 |
80 |
| Ryan Leaf |
11 |
373 |
194 |
52 |
2811 |
7.5 |
256 |
21 |
12 |
68 |
| Alex in 11 games |
11 |
374 |
207 |
56 |
3108 |
8.3 |
283 |
28 |
16 |
80 |
Coach Doba looks like he's right as far as potential goes.
The question remains whether Alex Brink will learn how to win in the 4th quarter. Ryan Leaf
did. We all know what happened in 1997.
Coach Doba wants to slow the
game down...
WSU Coach Bill Doba said in his weekly press
conference that one of the ways to slow USC down is to keep the
WSU offense on the field by coming to the line with less time on
the clock, as opposed to the run and gun offense normally used.
He knows way more than 99% of us about football, but hadn't the
rest of us already figured that out? When asked about what
affect that might have on the offensive mindset he replied:
"We emphasize a tough practice and a tempo in practice to get 70
or 80 plays run, in order to do that you have to get in and out
of the huddle, hustle back and not sprint but jog back to the
line of scrimmage, get the snap and go....Our scout team has two
offenses that go at our defense, while one runs a play the other
one is huddling up and looking at their card and we get a lot of
reps at a fast tempo. And then all of a sudden to slow it
down is my concern.... What we've been doing hasn't been real
successful so we'll try something else".
Doba also said the best time to beat USC was in the tunnel
before the game. Since the game is at USC, we assume he
wasn't asking for help from the same fans who intimidated Jarrad
Page of UCLA.
After catching 3 touchdowns against California Jason Hill is
considering heading to the NFL after the season, which would be
a devastating loss for the cougars. Is it worth Jason Hill
scoring 3 touchdowns against USC to lose him for next year?
With Michael Bumpus out Jason certainly has the opportunity to
prove he's ready for the NFL this week. He'll have to do
that and more if we're going to win.
Coach Doba: "Coug'n it means scoring at the end and winning a
ball game." Come on Bill, Say it like you mean it!
Mike Price always did. There is an uncomfortable feeling
that this team is redefining that term in the historically
irritating way.
Watch for the situations where Jerome Harrison ends up
blocking Frosty Rucker (6'3" 260). Harrison has been
exceptional in slide protection where you slide the line one way
and send the back to block the defensive end. he will be
tested this week.
One of the key defensive goals will be stopping Reggie Bush:
"The thing that he has.. some guys are fast, and some guys
are quick.. He's both....One on one in the open field I haven't
seen anyone tackle him yet" - Bill Doba
On the "Wish synchronicity mattered" front, coach Rosenbaugh
was the coach at Eastern when they stopped the Montana 29 game
win streak. USC's win streak is at 29.
WSU Injury Update
Will Derting might see some playing time this week
against ASU, but don't look for him to have a major impact on
the game. According to Bill Doba they will tried to run
Will Derting yesterday after draining his knee (sound
encouraging to you?). He still very questionable.
Maybe in passing situations the will put him in there to cover
the middle. Lorenzo Bursey should be fine this week.
Michael Bumpus won't be back for a while. Ropati still has
some swelling and not 100% but will play more than last week.
Dadd is day to day with a groin injury.
Doba said he might put Jerome Harrison in to return kicks
this week, that would add some excitement.
WSU Wins!
Dewey Wins! Bill Clinton is honest! USC - 55 WSU - 13
WSU is excited that USC has won 30 games in a row.
It makes this loss a little less painful than the others. Now
that they have gotten this one out of the way they can
concentrate on winnable games against ASU, Oregon, and the
University of Washington (Combined record 11-9, and Oregon
lost their quarterback to injury on Saturday).
They have to win all three to be bowl eligible. Oh, you want to
talk about THIS game? Really? You really are a glutton for
punishment.
Any chance of USC overlooking WSU ended when USC
was dropped to number two in the latest BCS standings. And
the Cougars bore the brunt of that determination.
As good as everyone else is on the USC offense, the key to
this game was the USC offensive line. They are so good
that Isaiah Stanback would
have looked good at quarterback. Matt Leinart had all day
to throw the ball, and Reggie Bush had some very large holes
to run through. Leinart must have been audibling well,
because whenever you saw a Cougar running at Matt in the back
field, you also noticed Reggie Bush or Lendale White running the
ball right up the middle for a big gain. That offensive
line was good enough to lead them to a national championship
last year (and this one, right?) and so they are all seniors
and....Nope, all of them except for one is back next year. It was
certainly good enough to take care of WSU today.
Understatement of the day "the defense has got to play
just a little harder." Jim Walden
How bad was the WSU defense? USC punted twice, fumbled
twice, was intercepted once, and scored on 8 possessions (6
touchdowns and 2 field goals). Yes, USC is that good, but
our defense is that bad, too.
On the other hand the WSU offense punted 9 times, and fumbled
twice. There wasn't a single drive of more than 7 plays.
When the game was on the line in the first quarter
(early....early in the first quarter), USC fumbled the ball
right into WSU's hands, and WSU needed an offensive explosion to
stay in the game - instead the next three drives went fumble,
punt fumble. At the end of that time the score was 21 - 6.
The defense garnered an interception in the end zone in the
second quarter, giving WSU a breath of life that was quickly and
effectively choked. The offense went 3 and out again.
USC scored on 4 of their next 5 possessions. The was so
over by half time (38-6) that instead of showing the number one
team in the country, ABC didn't bother coming back for the
second half in most of the country, and went to some other
irritating game. And I yelled at the TV "Oh, yeah,
remember the Oakland Raiders and Heidi?!!!". I swear that
the TV smirked back.
Jerome Harrison ran for 147 yards on 21 rushes, most of it in
the first quarter. Jason Hill - He who is thinking of
leaving for the NFL - had 6 receptions for 49 yards. Not
so good. No one else on the team had more than one
reception, so he looked good compared to the rest of the
offense. Another year might not be a bad idea, Jason.
Ask Ryan Leaf.
OK, that's it, I'm done. No more about USC, lets start
talking about ASU and how we can salvage this nightmare season.
Help Paint the
Space Needle Crimson and Grey!
The Space Needle will paint the Seattle Space
Needle our favorite Cougar colors for the Apple Cup, all we need
to do is donate more money to their hurricane relief fund than
the Huskies do. An uphill battle, for sure, but if you
were looking for a way to donate, this is a fun way to show your
cougar spirit. The money will go to "Habitat for Humanity"
which is building new homes to help the victims of Hurricane
Katrina. Always a cougar and former New Orleans Saints
running back Rueben Mayes is the cougar representative for this
fund raising effort. The website to go to to make a
donation is Spaceneedle.com. If we could pull that off the Huskies
would never forget it! They are putting a UW or WSU flag up each
day for the school that donated the most that day. The
final day of the competition is November 15th. Nov 3rd -
Cougs won!
If WSU loses this
week, we really are that bad
As homers we've done a great job this year of
writing off 5 (5!!!) loses in a row as bad luck, bad timing, bad play
calling, bad breath - did I leave anything out? Oh yeah -
and injuries. ASU has had all of those this year in equal
measure. And worse. If we lose this week, there
are no excuses.
You want problems? Check this out:
Before the season began ASU lost starting tailback Loren Wade
when he was charged with first-degree murder of another player.
Shortly after that two freshman offensive linemen were dismissed
after being arrested on felony charges. On Defense they
had one linebacker quit and
recently lost linebacker Nick Clapp for the season with a stress
fracture. But wait, there's more. ASU has already
lost 4 of their 5 starting offensive lineman - including losing
standout Grayling Love. Oh, and because ASU announced that QB Sam Keller is
going to have surgery to repair his torn thumb ligament and is
out for the season, their new quarterback will be redshirt freshman
Rudy Carpenter. He completed 27 of 34 for 401 yards and 3
touchdowns against "Dem Dawgs" (I get credit when the Huskies
start using that, by the way). On the other hand he was
sacked 7 times by the Huskies. Running back Keegan Herring
was injured during the UW game, his status for Saturday is
uncertain. With all of those injuries they are excited to
be playing WSU this week. Glad to oblige.
On Offense: Unlike the USC game, Alex Brink should have ALL DAY to throw the ball,
a key for the talented sophomore QB. Unless ASU sells out
to stop the run Jerome Harrison could top 300 yards (the record
is 406 yards by LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU vs. UTEP, 1999).
Huskies Running back James Sims Jr ran for 140 yards and 2
touchdowns Saturday against them.... If they do sell out then Jason
Hill will sometimes be one on one with Josh Golden, who started
his first game at safety on Saturday against UW. ASU is
the number one red zone defense in the Pac Ten.
Fortunately for us, when we score we frequently run through the
last 20 yards without pausing to hike the ball.
On Defense: ASU has no running game so the Cougars will be
concerned with the pass rush and stopping ASU's talented
receiving core, which includes fantastic wide receiver Derek
Hagan, 2004 Pac-10 freshman of the year Zach
Miller at tight end, as well as Matt Miller, Rudy's main target last week.
These are pretty much the only game one starters for the ASU
offense that will actually start on Saturday. Since the
ASU offense should not be able to keep our offense off of the
field, and WSU knows that no lead is safe this year, the game should get more lopsided as the day goes on.
ASU has actually outscored WSU this year 39 ppg vs 35.9), but
even though Rudy did well Saturday, I can't see that continuing
that trend after the loss of Sam Keller. One benefit WSU
has over UW is that they have a tape of Rudy playing in a game
so they should be able to game plan for his style of
quarterbacking.
Special Teams: The ASU punt coverage has been horrible
this year (Including TWO blocked kicks by Stanford), which may
be why coach Doba mentioned after the USC game that Jerome
Harrison might be returning some kicks. WSU did
an awesome job covering kick offs and punts against USC, keeping
Reggie Bush in check all day. Lets hope that continues
this weekend.
It should be a barn burner. Prediction? WSU 35
(at least!) - ASU 20
WSU Game Day
analysis - WSU vs. ASU in Martin Stadium
This is the last chance to turn
the season around, against a team in disarray, only a flurry of
interceptions thrown by Alex Brink would derail the victory
train today. In order to avoid that, WSU will pound it out
on the ground. Jerome Harrison will get the ball until he
gets hurt and can't run another yard.
In the "Wish he was here a year we
played defense" Category, Jerome
Harrison has rushed for over 200 yards three times, 247 against
UCLA last year, 218 against Stanford and 260 against UCLA in
back to back games this season...the only other WSU back with
more than one game over 200 yards is Rueben Mayes, who had three
200-yard plus games in 1984. He is also
is on pace to topple the WSU single-season
record set by All-American Rueben Mayes in 1984 at 1,637
yards...should he maintain his current average, he would finish
the season with 1,801 yards. His
average yardage over the past 11 games is 165 yards a game.
He's a senior, but doesn't it feel like he just got here?
What fool didn't see his potential and start him at the
beginning of last year....Wait... Let me think... It's coming to
me....
WSU Cardiac Arrest kids lose again.
ASU-27 WSU-24
Yes, they are that bad. That was the most depressing first half of the
year for WSU. Against an offensive line decimated by
injuries the pitiful WSU defensive was completely ineffective
for most of the game. In the first 7 drives the cougars
allowed at least one long gain in every drive to ASU's redshirt
freshman quarterback:
Drive 1 - 43 yard pass, D2 - 26 yard pass, # 3 - 29 yard
pass, D4 - 58 yard pass, D5 - 20 yard pass, D6 - kneeled down
half time- see, no long gain!, D7 - 28 yard pass. How many big
plays could our defense give up in one game? By half time ASU
was up 24 to 10 but it felt like more.
Meanwhile the WSU offense was using the run to set up the
incomplete pass. Star receiver Jason Hill caught 1, yes 1,
pass in the first half, as ASU's defensive scheme covered him
like a blanket and dared Alex to throw to someone else. In
the first half our only touchdown was courtesy of a 61
yard run by Jerome Harrison. I found myself wishing WSU
would abandon the pass all together and just hand the ball off
to Jerome Harrison every play. And I LOVE WSU's 4 wide
formations.
A perfect illustration came midway through the second
quarter. The kickoff was run back to the ASU 46 by Mike Lee.
Harrison rushed for: 8,3,6, and 11 yards and the team was moving
sharply. So we kept running the ball until they stopped us...
O-R, to t-h-r-o-w the defense off, we panicked and threw into
the end zone, tried a trick reverse to lose 5 yards, then threw
the ball into the end zone again and settled for a field
goal.... I wanted to scream. I hated the two back formations
Doba ran last year, but after that drive I began to believe it
might be a good time to dust those off.
Even when WSU caught a break they couldn't capitalize.
Late in the second quarter they finally forced ASU to punt and
the ASU special teams was as poor as advertised. ASU
punted horribly and WSU started at their own 45. WSU needed a
touchdown to come within 7 points before half time. Did WSU put
the ball in our star Jerome Harrison's hands? No! Instead they
threw into the end zone and into RJ Oliver's hands. He plays
for ASU, by the way. Golden opportunity squandered.
That was the moment my view of the 2005 Cougars, coaching
staff, players and fortunes began to change. Horribly... And I
had a vision of what could happen in the Apple Cup in two
weeks....
Somehow, Coach Doba did his best half time coaching of the
year, and WSU was hitting on all cylinders by the middle of the
third quarter, on both offense and defense. They still
believed in themselves when no one else did.
After holding ASU to a field goal, all of a sudden the WSU offense came
to life. Everyone on the WSU sidelines and in the stands knew the season was on the line.
Alex Brink drove down the field quickly mixing run and pass (they actually caught
the ball, which was new). Jerome Harrison scored on a 7 yard run. The PAT
was good.
After the ensuing kick the defense finally sacked ASU Quarterback Rudy Carpenter
(the Huskies sacked him 6 times last week!) which slowed them down. WSU
bent, but the ASU offense was eventually forced to
punt. Would the WSU offense move the ball the way it has at moments during
the season?
BOOM! Jason Hill finally exploded into the open field for only
his second reception of the day, and collected a 49 yard bomb for a touchdown.
WSU was within 3 points and suddenly the atmosphere was full of promise.
The ASU offense was tiring - because of
injuries they were thin at every position except wide receiver. After another
long pass play of 31 yards to Terry Richardson, ASU fumbled. The ball was on the ground but
somehow ASU managed to fall
on the ball. And for the first time since, ummm, a really long time,
WSU had forced a team to punt twice in a row. Another
horrible kick (19 yards) gave the Cougars the ball on the 32
yard line. Trandon Harvey caught the ball for an 11 yard
gain. You could feel the double edged sword. "Now
we're cooking!" and "What is going to go wrong this time?".
The offense stalled because of incomplete passes forced a
Langley field goal attempt from 50 yards - which hit the upright
and sucked the air back out of the stadium. Langley could
have been the hero of this game, but he shouldn't be the goat.
ASU took heart from the miss and drove quickly to the WSU 28, and then...
BOOM! Keegan Herring fumbled and Mkristo Bruce recovered it! If
the sun was still up it would have come out of the clouds. All of a sudden
you felt like today was going to turn out OK, somehow. THIS was the game
where the other team was going to make more mistakes than we did. Alex Brink started
throwing bullets that actually hit their target. WSU drove to the 7 yard
line.
The key moment of the game. Even if you were there,
you still don't believe what happened next:
3rd and goal on the 7 yard line - what do you do? Take a shot into the
end zone and settle for the tying field goal. Fine. WSU kicked the field
goal and tied the game at 27. If you didn't watch the game you are
thinking that's wrong. It's not. The points were already on the board. Because of an offside penalty
- THAT WSU COACH BILL DOBA ACCEPTED!!!! The
points were taken back off the board and ball ended up on the 4 yard line.
And the score was 27-24 ASU with 1 yard for a first down. They went for
it. Alex handed the ball off to Harrison, he didn't make it and ASU held and took over
at the 5 yard line. Ahead by 3. When the game should have been tied.
I never played college ball. But who thought that this team of all teams
was good enough to take the tying points off of the board and still win?
So. Instead of needing to score to win, all the tired
ASU offense had to do was gain a couple first downs, and keep
WSU from scoring. To give them credit, the WSU defense
held ASU and forced them to punt, then the offense drove the
ball all the way to the ASU 22 yard line, preparing for the game
tying punt (again). Unfortunately, on 3rd down Alex Brink
allowed himself to be sacked all the way back at the 35 and
Langley was forced to try a 52 yard field goal into the wind
instead of a 39 yard one. This one was wide left, and the
Cougars hopes of a bowl game, winning season, and self respect
died with it. ASU ran out the clock as thousands of
stunned - but no longer surprised - Cougar faithful shuffled
coldly back to their cars for the long drive home.
So for another Saturday WSU slunk back into the tunnel,
tearing defeat out of the jaws of victory in one of the most
painful ways possible.
I graduated in 84, so I've been following my beloved Cougars
for more years than any of the current team has been alive
(ouch). I have seen some great teams (1983, 1988,1992,
1997 and 2001-2003) and some horrible teams (OK, a LOT of
horrible teams), but never have I seen a team that looked so
good on paper, seemed to have such brilliance, and yet could not
put together 4 quarters to win a game. We have one of the
best Cougar running backs ever (as long as he needs more than 2
yards for a first down or touchdown) and one of the better
receivers we've seen, along with a fantastic offensive line. Yet
when it comes down to getting that critical first down,
touchdown, what have you, they always come up a yard short.
You wonder if Josh Swogger would have done things enough
different to have won some of these games, You
wonder if Will Derting would have been enough to stem them the
tide. But it doesn't matter. This team has written
most of its story. Its ugly and you can't unwrite it.
Regarding Jason Hill: he caught 4 passes for 92 yards.
On paper at least, 4 of ASU's receivers played better than he
did today.
After this latest debacle you can't believe they have any
chance at all verses Oregon this week, even though Oregon is
without their star quarterback. Then when you think of
Husky stadium and two 0 for Pac-10 teams fighting bitterly to
avoid last place? I'll root for the cougars, but my money
will remain firmly in my pocket.
Regarding Alex Brink: A Quarterback Change? Now?
The Huskies replaced Isaiah Stanback last week in hopes of
making a change in team fortunes. Would putting Swogger in
this week be a positive change for WSU? The results
couldn't be worse than 0-6, could they? I expected Coach
Doba to replace Brink after the Stanford game
(See here) but the
WSU coaching staff hasn't taken that chance. Swogger isn't
brilliant, but with this offensive line and Jerome Harrison,
shouldn't an average quarterback be enough? Alex has one
more year of eligibility than Swogger and should get better.
The time to replace him was earlier in the season, when this
season still mattered. The only reason to replace him now
is to please administrators and fans, and possibly salvage the
game with the Huskies. In the long run the next two games
mean nothing, and we should be thinking about what is best for
next years team, and the year after. Coach Doba should
play the players that will still be here for spring practice,
and get them some experience. Like I said earlier in the
paragraph - they couldn't do any worse.
Could WSU pull off a Miracle
against Oregon?
No, not with the defense we've seen so far this year. The
Cougars have had enough offense to play with every team in the
country except USC, it has been the defense that has cost us
games. Sometimes we focus so much on the pass not
completed or the first down not achieved that we over look the
fact that the defense has been about as effective as Saddams'
Republican guard in the Iraq war. Coach Doba's lack of
daily direct intense scrutiny on this side of the ball has been
sorely missed since Mike Price left. Yes, he gives it his
attention, but it is obviously not the same... unless you
believe that Mike Price was a defensive guru..... Here are
the defensive totals since Coach Doba took over:
| Year |
Points |
Points/Game |
1st downs |
Yds/Play |
Yds/game |
Turnovers |
Time of Possession |
3rd down% |
Sacks |
|
2003 |
257 |
19.8 |
231 |
4.2 |
318.5 |
46 |
29.33 |
25.00% |
50 |
|
2004 |
307 |
27.9 |
206 |
4.8 |
366.6 |
29 |
32.47 |
33.00% |
32 |
|
Pro. 2005 |
354 |
32.2 |
279 |
5.7 |
455.3 |
21 |
33.23 |
42.00% |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ytd 2005 |
290 |
32.2 |
229 |
5.7 |
455.3 |
17 |
33.23 |
42.00% |
11 |
|
|
Allowed |
Allowed |
Allowed |
Allowed |
Allowed |
Recovered |
|
Allowed |
|
Sky divers fall slower than this! Is the downward Spiral
because of recruiting? Player development? Defensive
scheme? In game adjustments? Probably a little bit
of everything. It is telling that two players who should
have been Cougars - Ryan Leafs brother and Ryan Longs brother -
have become key parts of Oregon's success this year. In
any case, something is not working and it is getting worse.
Another year of this and Bill Dobas job, considered secure after
a stellar 2003 season, will be in jeopardy. To win this
game WSU will have to score 45 points or more. Oregon is
good enough to intercept Alex Brink and slow down Jerome
Harrison enough to make sure that doesn't happen.
Prediction: Oregon 42 - WSU - 27
WSU shows up
against Oregon, still loses 34-31 with 5 seconds to play.
WSU played one of its most gutsy performances of the year
against nationally ranked Oregon (11). To see Coach Dobas
defensive strategy so completely collapse (with the exception of
Mkristo Bruce) as it has this season is something none of us
would have ever believed would happen. But the offense
never gave up against the highly ranked Ducks. They
battled back again and again as they have most of the year.
Unfortunately WSU also played true to form when it came to the
end of the game. No lead is safe and no great play goes
unpunished, as Oregon answered every WSU challenge and did what
WSU could not in the final moments - create a time consuming
drive that ended with the game winning score.
Anyone told that WSU was behind 10 and tied the game with a
few minutes to go and asked "What happened next" this year
would have to say "The defense allowed Oregon to score at the
end to win." It's like watching a train wreck. You
want to look away but you watch anyway, knowing how much its
going to hurt, heck, I watched the ending again on Tivo (same
result, by the way).
Positives? Jerome Harrison as usual. Jerome broke the
WSU Single season rushing record with 143 yards on 28 carries,
finishing with 1693 yards. How many cougar teams in
the past 20 years would he have taken the rose bowl? 13
consecutive 100+ Yard games is also a Pac-10 record. Lets
hope 14 is the charm.
WSU has lost 4 games by 3 points and one by 4 this year, all
of which were completely winnable. Their lack of confidence in
the clutch is epic in proportions, and showed up again in the
4th quarter. 4th and one with the game on the line, and WSU's
best single season running back EVER in the backfield. And
you don't go for it? You know that the defense is going to
give up at least a field goal. You have to take the game
into your hands and play your strength in that situation.
You have to put the ball in your best players hands and give him
the chance to win the game for you. Once again, WSU lost
for want of a key short yardage first down in the 4th quarter.
I watched this game from Cabo, but I wasn't far enough away
to keep it from driving me nuts.
An Apple Cup Win
Will Make This Season More Bearable.
If there was ever a day that Jerome Harrison
needed to have a good day, it's this Saturday against UW.
With the receiving core decimated by injuries, UW will be able
to focus on the run and Jerome Hill. UW also has gained
confidence by beating lowly Arizona (lowly? we're looking
up!) on Saturday, and knows that their season will be considered
just mediocre if they can beat the cougars. WSU on the
other hand will claim its worst season since 1998 if they lose
to the Huskies. Even worse those of you with Husky friends
- you know who you are - will have to be on the wrong end of
"Yeah, we sucked....But we beat you!" with no comeback
possible. We HAVE to win Saturday. To do that we
have to be up 3 touchdowns with 10 minutes to go or less, or
we'll lose again. Combine the current cougars with the
historic melt downs against the dugs in the Apple Cup, and 5
touchdowns might not be enough. In preparation for the
game I have begun a regimen of 10 Rolaids a day to prepare my
stomach for the churning it will go through this weekend.
I
want to be able to rush the field Saturday with all but one
finger in the air shouting "We're number 9, we're number 9!"
When you finish first in the Pac-10 they give you roses - what
do you get when you finish 9th? I want to find out.
We will watch, root, cheer and hope. We still believe
we will win Saturday against the Dugs. But we won't be
taking bets.
WSU - UW Apple Cup
2005 - let the madness begin!
Beware Husky fans! Just when you
thought it was safe to leave your office! Microsoft
employee "Drew" the Husky, (His parents must have been closet
Coug fans!) left his office last week on a simple
vacation.....And a journey into (da da da!)
The Cougar
Zone! (fill in music here).
Yes, Drew, that zone where Husky fantasies end and reality falls
upon them like a bucket of paint... Or in this case, WITH a
bucket of paint. Some co-workers in his office decided to take
matters into their own hands. When he returned, the office
looked like this!:
Drew still believes that the Huskies are going to win on
Saturday.... Obviously the subliminal messages they have hidden
on his hard drive have not yet taken hold. Already in this
picture you can see that he is dazed and confused - "They are
going to win, aren't they?", as well as his irrational desire to
kiss the picture of Mike Price above his desk. For more
pictures showing just how completely Drew has come over to the
"dark red" side of the force,
click WSU pranks.
By the way, I want to thank Drew for being a good sport and
letting us use these pictures of him. And if the Huskies
win? I promised in return that he could post "rebuttal"
photographs of their celebration. Come back on Monday if
we lose to see what he comes up with. (Please Cougars, you must win!!!!).
WSU QB Alex Brink
Set to Make Apple Cup History
When Alex Brink takes the field on Saturday he
has a chance to do something no other cougar quarterback has
ever done: Quarterback WSU to 2 wins in a row over the
hated Mountlake mutts. WSU has beaten the Huskies twice in
a row 6 times, but at least 5 of those times the same
quarterback did not start both games. I could not find the
name of the quarterback for the 1929 team. Mark Rypien is
the only Cougar quarterback to beat the Dawgs twice, but he did
it in 1983 and 1985, not back to back. The odds makers say
we'll win by three points. For Alex to go down in history
we had better be ahead by more than that at the beginning of the
4th quarter!
The Seattle Space
Needle Never Looked Better!
When this competition was announced all cougar
faithful had to assume the Huskies would win it - it was in
Seattle, after all. Downtown Huskyville. Then we won many
of the early days of the competition and my thought was "Oh my
gosh, we are going to lose this competition at the last second
too!" Fortunately our defense was not allowed near the
space needle, and we won! If you want to check out the
beauty that is a crimson and grey Cougar Space Needle,
Click here The Space Needle. Proof again that
Cougars have more heart, soul, and spirit than the "Dugs".
But you already knew that, didn't you?
Turnovers have
decided most Apple Cups.
If all you are
looking for is PRE-APPLE CUP STATS, click
WSU STATS 2005
The Apple Cup is always so highly charged with
emotion that momentum becomes a key component of winning.
In most games momentum hinges on big plays by the offense but
even more on big BAD plays. Anyone who has sat in the
stands during an Apple Cup has seen a fumble or interception
change the tide, emotion, and outcome of a game. Cougar
faithful remember ill timed swing passes returned for
touchdowns, or heart breaking moments when a sure handed running
back put the ball on the ground and turned what seemed like
certain victory into another heart breaking defeat. Did I
mention muffed punt returns? This year we've seen the high
powered WSU offense donate more than its share of gimme's to the
opposition. And our defense makes a short field seem even
shorter.
Given all of that it is essential that WSU hold onto the ball
Saturday if they want to win the game. for the year we are
pretty even with UW in that category:
| |--Gained--||---Lost---| |
|
| TURNOVER MARGIN G Fum Int Tot Fum Int Tot Mar
Per/G |
| 6. Washington.......... 10 7 9 16 11 8 19 -3
-0.30 |
| 7. Washington State.... 10 8 10 18 10 13 23 -5
-0.50 |
Even more specifically, avoiding Alex Brink interceptions
is the key. With some of our best receivers sidelined, the
Huskies will be trying to read Brink and get a jump on the ball.
If he is not intercepted we will win, and the Huskies know it.
Everyone knows that they will stack the line to stop Jerome
Harrison. If they can intercept Alex once or twice, they
will get away with it. For a complete Statistical
breakdown between UW and WSU, along with highlights and
comments, click
WSU - UW Pac-10 Statistics.
WSU humbles Huskies 26-20!(Drew
is welcome to send me pictures)
The Cougar defense couldn't have picked a better moment to get
tough Saturday as WSU finally came through both on offense AND
defense when it counted most. On a key third down play
Trandon Harvey caught a little outside screen (I'd been hating
those all day!), caught a block and scrambled down the sidelines
for the go ahead TD. The extra point was good, and the
Huskies took the kickoff and had the ball with 1:20 to play,
needing a touchdown to win. This year the cougars have
been in that situation to many times to count, and have folded
every time. Even worse - over the years the Cougars have been in this
situation too many times to count in the Apple Cup, and have
folded more often than not. But not today. 4 plays
later Isaiah Stanback tied a Husky record as being one of
the few quarterbacks in UW history to lose to WSU twice in a
row. The records set or tied by WSU stack up, and only a
couple years from now will we begin to know how much difference
this win makes in the recruiting battle for next year. And
by the way, The only turnover for WSU was on a muffed punt. But
they turned around and did the same to UW. GO COUGS!
Congratulations!
We May Be Bad...
But We're Better Than You. WSU 26 - UW 22
Thank goodness it's Coug.com that gets
to start off our post Apple Cup article like this, instead of
some site like "Huskiesdon'tsuck.com". Jerome Harrison,
Alex Brink and crew - you have no idea how much grief you
have saved Cougars everywhere. For one thing, we got to
enjoy going out Saturday night in our Cougar crimson just
itching to see some purple. And when THAT mysteriously
disappeared (as it had from the top of the space needle earlier
in the week), we sustained our selves by repeating to anyone we
found in red: "How 'bout them Cougs"! WSU fans
everywhere uniting in the most Cougar of greetings and the most
enjoyable evening of the Cougar football season. It feels
good knowing that we get to go into the off season knowing that
not only did we make our recruiting job easier, we dealt a
devastating blow to the Huskies recruiting effort.
About the
game itself. I got to scratch out irritating complaints
about not going for it on 4th down early in the game (They did
the second time and made it, just as I predicted - when the
Huskies made their 4th and 7 I felt sick to my stomach,
didn't you?) and focus on the fun.
The first exciting quarter of the game saw Will
Derting dominating in a glimpse of what he could have
done all year. In the Huskies first drive they had
a 2nd down and tried to run the ball, Will filled the
gap perfectly and slammed into Simms for a two yard
loss. The next play UW QB Stanback tried running
up the middle - he's a very good running quarterback.
Will Derting tripped him up and it left the Huskies 4 yards
short of the first down. The Huskies had to
punt. WSU took the punt and drove down the field to score
the first touchdown of the game, a 30 yard strike to Greg
Prator. Later in the Quarter on a third and 12 from the UW
10 hard line Will burst through the line, destroyed the running
back and scared Stanback into throwing the ball away.
Simms Jr. looked like one of those cars you drive into a
wall at 50 miles an hour, while Derting never slowed down.
Will's presence made such a difference that UW running back
James Sims Jr. - who the week before ran for over 200 yard - Had
6 carries for a total of 6 yards at half time. He finished
with 50 yards on 13 carries.
UW's one big play in the first half was a trick pass from
Stanback to Kevin James to Shackelford for a touchdown.
The Huskies, like most teams that think they have no legitimate
shot at winning head to head, tried several trick plays, that
was the only one that worked. Another in the first quarter
consisted of Isaiah Stanback lining up as a receiver and
catching a pass (No gain).
In the quarterback competition Alex Brink was the clear
winner. Calm and unfazed by the pressure he took a couple
sacks but avoided throwing a single pick all day.
Meanwhile Stanback seemed nervous in the pocket and almost got
picked off several times. Stanback did run for 43 yards on
12 carries, but like most quarterbacks, if you can get them to
run instead of pass you are probably going to be OK.
Alex Brinks' numbers didn't look as good as they should of.
The loss of Troy Bienemann looked serious - like it might cost
us the game. Cody Boyd had a miserable 1st half, getting open
but dropping one sure touchdown and a couple other balls that
would have kept drives alive. Without Troy or Michael
Bumpus the Huskies were able to focus on and contain Jason Hill,
who really became a non-factor, becoming more of a decoy most of the
time, catching 5 balls for 49 yards and no touchdowns.
Probably didn't impress the NFL scouts, which is good for us,
since his performance in the last three games probably
means he'll be back next year. We love you Jason, but we
can be selfish too!
That left the Ghost, Jerome Harrison, carrying the load.
And carry it he did. The Huskies stacked the line like
crazy but it didn't matter, as Harrison piled up 207 yards on 36
carries and a touchdown, wearing down the defense as the day
went on. His final total for the season is 1900 yards, a
Cougar record and 5th best in the history of the Pac-10, to 20
in the NCAA all time. Not bad for a JC transfer who didn't
even start a game for the Cougs until midway through last
season.
With all of that good stuff happening, the Huskies hung
around and even led going into the 4th quarter. Everything
changed when Brink tossed a screen pass out to Trandon Harvey,
who caught a big block and scampered down the sidelines for a
touchdown eerily reminiscent of one scored by WSU the last time
they won in Husky stadium, it had the same explosive effect.
The Huskies took the ensuing kick off with 1.20 left in the game
and did nothing with it (Thanks Will!) and the celebration began
in earnest. Awesome.
More notes on the game
The bubble screen that won the game was actually called to set
up another play to the right and have the receiver go deep.
Alex Brink noticed that the Huskies weren't ready and rushed the
Cougars to the line, snapping the ball quickly and catching the
Huskies with their figurative pants down. A brilliant move
on Alex's part, worthy of a 5th year senior, and winning the
game. It reflects poorly on Tie Wilting hams new
"more disciplined" approach. You know a Don James coached
team wouldn't have made that mistake.
According to Doba this is first time since Lone Star Dietz
that a cougar coach has been 2-1 against the Huskies. Next
year WSU will go for its first Three-peat against UW. I've
already made the sign.
Jason Hill has until January 15th to determine if he is going
to break for the NFL or stay at WSU for another year. He
seems like a smart guy, so I'm thinking he stays. If he
had caught 2-3 touchdowns against UW it would have been a
different story. Also, the way Doba was talking I think
WSU might help Jason with an insurance policy that would pay him
if he got hurt playing for the Cougars next year. "If you
don't ask you don't get" Jason. Make sure you ask BEFORE
you get an indication of where you would go in the draft, your
bargaining power will be greater. It would be easy for WSU to
find a sponsor donor for something specific like that - sounds
like about a $5,000.00 cost.
Coach Doba identified several needs in recruiting for
2006, most of them the obvious areas: Some
cornerbacks - someone with speed. Always
Linebackers. Offensively we need another tight end
to go with Cody Boyd, since Troy Bienemann will not be
back. We also need another running back. I
personally think our starting running back is already on
campus. With 14 returning starters, next year
should be a very good year.
Dear WSU Cougar
Fans and Players -
It's OK to dance on the W
I hate the way the NFL squashes celebrations. It may be a business for
them, but
we're here to have a good time. After Saturdays game the
Cougar players and fans went out to celebrate on the W that
adorns the 50 yard line in Husky stadium. Husky players
took umbrage to that and a scuffle ensued. Afterwards
Coach Doba, in a fit of political correctness, said that if UW
danced on the "W" it wasn't the right thing to do. He also
caved (as he usually does in situations like this with the
press, remember the UCLA game?) and blamed the cougar fans,
talking about them "smelling of alcohol". We love you
coach, but the Husky players weren't coming to the middle of the
field to get the "students" off of the "W". Dear
Coach: Just
because the liberal press whines about something doesn't mean
they are right. The Cougar players and fans did nothing wrong.
This is the NCAA! The Huskies lost their right to complain
when they lost the game. Besides, it's not like the Dugs
were innocent. Evidence #1? The UW celebration of the "Mythical
Northwest Championship" at Martin Stadium a couple years
ago. Rude? Yes, but if you don't want things like that to happen
on your field the solution is simple - Win. Its not
like we're tearing down the goal posts (Those things are SOLID,
by the way!). The team that loses the game should shake
hands, head for the tunnel, and put on their street clothes.
The team that wins should be able to do anything that doesn't
hurt someone or cost the University a bunch of money. Its
College football. Stop being so damn sensitive. The
Coaches and University acted like it was some women's
group getting in touch with their feelings. Someone put in
a call to Dr. Phil. Part of the magic and joy of college
football is packing as much intense emotion and fun into the
afternoon as possible without anyone getting hurt. If
anyone was out of place Saturday it was a bunch of Huskies with
bruised egos running to the "W" trying to win the post game.
You lost! Deal.
One of my fondest memories as a cougar is of raising a
crimson rose high
in the air in Husky stadium in 1997. Celebrations like that
don't hurt anyone, are an expression of free speech, and should
not be censored. Quick, someone get me a tie died shirt
and a sign!
Finally, after the season these Cougars have had - game after
game of heart breaking loses - the cathartic effect of this game
was enormous. Forcing the Huskies to watch them dance on a
painted W is a great non-violent way to express that emotion.
