WSU Cougar Football 2003
The crimson sun has set on another fabulous season of cougar football,
and what a glorious season it was!  A season that seemed to begin in November 2002, with Matt Kegel withering under the bright lights of the Apple club and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, amazingly ended in the brilliant fireworks of a San Diego evening beyond most of the cougar faithfuls' wildest dreams.  The only time I ever felt this good after a game was a particular Apple Cup in the snow and the night the goal posts were shoved into the roof of The Coug. (they really should be a sponsor of this website, don't you think?).  A couple bumps along the way kept this from becoming the number 1 team in the country, but this was a season of dominating defense and an early season offensive surge that proved to everyone that Bill Doba should have been a division one head football coach long before this.

The rest of this page contains my actual comments before and after each game of the season, from the easy win against Idaho and a missed field goal at Notre Dame, to the night we realized that USC was really damn good, to the night we got cocky and lost to the lowly Huskies, and finally to the dramatic and convincing win against Texas at the Holiday bowl.  If you missed this season, you missed a great one.

Ready?  Here we go. My current comments on what I wrote are in blue.

WSU Beats Idaho W25-0
Sorry little brother!  The rest of the year we really do root for you!  Having Idaho go all the way to Seattle to play against us feels like driving to Spokane to play home games did in the bad old days.  Whipping up on anyone 25 - 0 just feels great.

Rose Bowl 2004..... Book your tickets now? 
Ok, not a prophet, but the cougars really looked good.  Matt Kegel even looked good.

WSU Chokes at Notre Dame L29-26
Yes, we really do have a better team  than Notre Dame - The only problem is - we didn't believe that.  It felt like when you golf and have the best front 9 you've ever had, then your brain says "You know, you're really not that good" and you adjust your performance downwards on the back  9 to end up with an average score.  I could just hear the huskies howl.

Never in 43 years would I have thought that we could go into Notre Dame and dominate a half of football like that.  Everyone stood up and took notice. 

WSU Chokes Colorado W47-26
Bill Doba gave notice that fading in the second half is not an option, and the Cougs responded.  No "bad back 9" this time!  Next up: New Mexico. 

Too much before the game sex for these guys?  It is well documented now that off the field these guys lacked control, on the field they were impotent.  WSU crushed a team the way a top 10 team is supposed to.

WSU kicks New Mexico's "Balls" W23-13
Thank goodness for Drew Dunning.  Until last November he seemed like a sure thing, then recently he missed some key kicks.  This week he came up big, with 5 field goals, making up for the Cougars otherwise weak performance in the red zone.  Is it possible that when the pressure gets turned up like that Mr. Kegel tightens up with it?  We'll see next week, as the pressure is cooking at the U of O - and we done well lately with  teams using those initials (yes, we won in Pullman last year, so what?).

The cougars moved the ball at will but you had to give props to the Lobos defense, they were red zone stingy.

WSU  Creams Oregon W55-16 ----- Big win #1!
Ever have a game where you ran out of people to call?
You can only call the same people so many times to say "Did you see that?".    What a day - with great panache your Cougs took the field and beat the Oregon Ducks so badly that the only thing left of their egos are some quickly fading "Sports Illustrated" covers.  Last week they were Eugene 's doctors of destruction - this week they've shown themselves to be just a bunch of quacks. 

The uncomfortable stat of the day was Matt Kegel going 13 of 32.  If it weren't for the stellar defense that would not have been good enough to win.  But I guess the key is which 13 passes you complete, isn't it?  He made the big plays when it counted, which is exactly the opposite of his past reputation.  We can only hope that his progress continues in the coming weeks.

The pre-game prediction on this site was:

" Which way will the blow out go?  It all depends on early turn-overs.  If Oregon gets the Cougs in a hole early it will be a long day for the Cougs, while Oregon has the luxury of home town support." 

The reality was that with  9 turn-overs by Oregon, only my Cougar father still doubted the outcome at half-time.   Our rank after the game?  #15 with a bullet.

Great quote of the week:

"How bad was it for Duck quarterbacks last weekend against the Cougs? So bad that by the fourth quarter every time they went back to pass WSU defenders signaled for a fair catch. "  John C. Witter thebootleg.com

That may be my favorite quote of all time.  The sports illustrated jinx hit OSU hard, but we hit them harder.  This was the week that the bandwagon got crowded.  Oregon never recovered from the loss.

WSU takes care of Arizona W 30-7
As soon as you saw that we were favored by 27 1/2 points you knew it wasn't going to be that easy.  Our Cougs have a history of playing down to the level of the competition, and today that was definitely true. 

Since the Arizona players universally hated ex-coach MacKovic, they played their hearts out for the new guy - even if he is just a place holder while they negotiate with Mike Price.  The new coach pulled in the horns of the offense to avoid providing a turn over feast for the Cougs and it worked most of the day.  The score was close and Arizona was within striking distance until the 4th quarter.  2 quick turn overs and a touchdown quickly put the game out of reach.  Look for upcoming teams to learn from Arizona's success.   But when you look at the final score Arizona was giving up 37.2 points per game, and that didn't change that much this week.

Anyone still worried about our inability to score touchdowns from inside the red zone?  Because of the emotion that is something that has to be fixed before the Apple cup for Coach Doba to get a "Ryan Leaf" result in Husky stadium.

Mike Price never got this job, and the paragraph above WAS prophetic, anticipating the apple club to come.

WSU squeaks by Stanford W24-14
The Stanford media was asking why after the game.  Why didn't the Cougars look better?  With a number 6 ranking shouldn't they have rolled over Stanford?  Stanford is 1-10 in conference in the last two years, for gosh sake.   We only beat them by 10 and that is a victory for them, you could hear it in the post came comments by both coaches.  Even with the injuries and suspended players the Cougars should have scored at least 30 points on Saturday.  The big question for the next two weeks is, if the defense gets beat can the offense score points?  The only test of that scenario this year was the second half of the Notre Dame game, and we know how that turned out.   Next week "rust"  will not be an acceptable excuse.

By the way, does Stanford EVER have a good team?  You would think that a school that is full of such supposedly smart people would have figured out a way to win some football games.  Not since John Elway (whose kids are probably now in college) have they stirred fear in the heart of anyone but high school students with a B average. 

Cougar sophomore linebacker Will Derting was ticketed over the weekend for parallel parking under the influence (Let's see a Husky do that!).  Coach Doba was less impressed, so Mr. Derting was suspended for this game.

Matt Kegel's injuries started to take their toll in this game.

WSU beats OSU on Matt Kegels' worst day W36-30
Pre-game comments:
Just when we were having a great time laughing at the lowly Huskies they jump up and take a bite out of Oregon State?  Talk about stealing our thunder.  The Beavers will be highly motivated this week to prove they are more than an early season flash in the pan.   Watch for a tough first half battle with a lot of penalties as each team tries to take physical control of the game.  Other teams know they can get under some of the Cougs skin, and those kinds of penalties cost us in the Notre Dame game.  WSU seemed to learn a lot that week, let's hope they learned not to be the second one to swing.  This should be a GREAT game to watch, and I can hardly wait!  Even though Oregon State lost last week, this is the beginning of the tough part of our schedule. October is the month in which the Pac-10 is won.

Can we stop the run?  I think so.  Cougs should win again, but the point spreads tend to get closer between the good teams as the year goes on.   Good coaches and good teams take away what worked for you early in the year, and you have to come up with something new, or good ways to disguise what you were already doing.  Look for a low scoring close game.  Maybe we'll see a sub-21 point combined score this week and the game won on a safety.  With our defense we should be able to stay in the game with anyone. Yes, even USC.  If there is an  Achilles heal of this team seems to be pass protection.   Matt is getting pretty beat up back there.

Post Game Comments:
How in the heck did we win THAT game?  With Matt Kegel (by his own admission) throwing to Oregon State more than to his own teammates (intercepted 5 times, fumbled twice), the Cougar defense had a much better day than the score indicated. All you need to do to see what normally happens when a quarterback plays that bad is to look back at the Oregon game (9 turn overs=55-16 loss).  It is a supreme credit to the defense that we were even in this game.  They completely stuffed the run against one of the best running backs in the country, and except for a couple quick scores right at the end of the first half (set up by the Beavers defense) held OSU to only 10 points, 3 in the second half.  Oregon States other two points were created by an intentional safety by the Cougars right at the end of the game.  The Cougar defense created 5 turn-overs of their own.  This game had more ups and downs than a teeter-totter. 

Matt Meeuwsen - his last name is all over the place, and so was he Saturday, intercepting Matt 3 times.

The one thing you can say about Matt, is that when he finds a receiver that works he stays with him until it stops working.  After hitting Chris Jordan Last week for two touchdowns (his career best), Kegel found Lunde in the Second half again and again when we needed it most.   Scott ended up with 8 catches for 110 yards, but without those catches we would have lost big.

We were lucky to win this one, the defense stepped up much more than the score indicates.  OSU had the short field all day long.  Matt Kegel could not get off good throws, his mobility was never good, and with the injury he became a sitting duck - so to speak.

Jinx quote of the week:

"We already know a lot about ourselves.  This team has great character and we make plays when we have to. We're going to show the nation next week we're for real. It's all on me and I'm going to get it done." - Quarterback Matt Kegel

I'm picturing a guy being carried out of a stadium trying to hold up 6 fingers.  But when you are ranked anywhere in the top ten you've got to be happy.  I guess we must have beat the HELL out of B-Y-E last week.

But seriously, check this out:

Since the beginning of the 2001 season, the Cougars' 25-6 record equals the sixth-best in college football, trailing only Miami, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Texas and Georgia.

Now, being the "Cub fans" of college football, we Cougars see a stat like that and say SHHHHHHHH!  Because we know that any bragging at all might bring a swift and Oregon like fall from grace .  We've spent so many years suffering through horrible Octobers after great Septembers that if there is a way to screw up a season, we're sure we'll find it.  Maybe, if this year ends the way we all dream - with a Rose Bowl (?) win and even higher national ranking than we have now, just - maybe that Bill Buckneresque feeling of "undestiny" will finally fade.  That's-not-saying-we-are-going-to-win-any-more-games-this-year-I-would-never-do-that-because-that-might-jinx-us.  Does anyone have some wood to knock on?

They are calling themselves "The Firm"  
The Cougar defense has certainly been that, as there is little doubt that they are the big stars of this years team.  How is the Huskies defense doing this year?  Well, let's just call them "The Infirm".

WSU loses to USC in a Shrieker   L43 -16
Pre-game comments:
The road to the Rose Bowl still runs through USC, and this year we've got the right tank to drive it.  Can the USC defense get to Matt Kegel will be the question of the day.  They are big and good (I'm assuming we'll find a way to get to quarterback Matt Leinart enough to at least slow him down, If our defense is as good as we think it is, this week could be really fun.  If Matt gets the time then he should have a field day against the young USC secondary.  We'll all hold our breath to see if Matt recovers from the mental hit he took last week.  The people in the know say we'll lose.  I can't wait to find out! 

Weird play of the week, courtesy of the lowly Huskies:

On a second-and-18  (after a holding penalty) USC sacked Pickett for a 15-yard loss, jarring the ball loose in the process. The ball was kicked back another 17 yards and forced a third-and-50.  You could almost hear Don James turn off the TV in disgust.

Post Game Comments:
Matt Kegel has earned our respect - now please sit down until you are healthy!  We can blame the penalties (some of which we deserved) and missed calls (including two which went our way) all we want, but our offenses inability to control the ball, throw deep, and keep USCs' high powered offense off of the field is the real reason our Cougs suffered this key defeat.  As with Notre Dame our defense did the job again and again, only to be worn down after countless goal line stands not of their own making. Funny how the ball doesn't seem bounce your way as much when you are playing the best teams.  If you want to beat USC this year, you have to be able to throw deep and get them on their heels.  With Matt Kegels current arm strength and lack of zip on the ball, that just wasn't going to happen.

USC drove a bus through Sam Lightbody all day and slammed it into Matt Kegel, who never quit but became progressively  less effective as the day wore on and the injuries piled up.  As poorly as Sam played, you have to wonder if he is completely recovered from his injuries as well.  College kids (Like Boston pitchers) always think they can stay in the game.  It is up to the coaches to determine when the injury makes the player less effective than his back up and get him out of the game for the good of the team.  Kegels new injuries this week will make him even less effective next week against UCLA, if he can play at all.  That decision needs to be make early.  The vote from this website is to sit him for a game and give Josh Swogger a chance (It worked for the mangy mutts of Mountlake, didn't it?)

Note #1:  It seemed that the defense pulled in its horns in the second half  to avoid getting more penalties, which gave the quarterback more time to pass, and then opened up the running game.  I think I prefer the penalties.

Note #2 - to Coach Doba:  Setting up a fake punt by having the center hike the ball over the head of the kicker twice in a row is ... stupid.  Please remove that strategy from the playbook.

Note #3, While there is still a question which defensive line is better (Cougs or USC), there is no doubt which offense is better.  USC's offense did what they had to do, and (like the Cougs have all year) knew how to deliver the knock out blow when the time came. 

Our only hope now is to win out and hope that UCLA at least ties USC - not like we haven't been in THAT position before! 

We'll never know what the score would have been with a healthy Matt Kegel.  Closer, certainly, but the Trojans really were that good this year and deserved their number one ranking at the end of the season (even though technically they didn't win the BCS, we all know better)

And speaking of Alabama.  Is it me or did "Bama" just LOSE again?  The current record of the "Alabama Blushing Tide"?   3 wins and 6 losses.  It looks like Mike Price isn't the only one whose been stripped of something.  Maybe this is the beginning of the "Priceless curse"?  Looking on the bright side, the Tide does get to play Hawaii at Hawaii to end the season - fitting, since they are playing like vacation has already started..

WSU defense dominates again W 31-13
Pre-game comments: It is good that this weeks game is at home. We're all hoping for a huge victory against UCLA to sooth our wounded egos and get back on the right track, but the same challenges make things uncertain that we worried about last week - namely the health of Matt Kegel.  A sold out stadium full of rabid Cougar fans should help the team to remember how good they really are.  UCLA comes into Saturday still stinging from a surprising loss to Stanford last week.  The winner of this game still has much to look forward to this year, the loser is pretty much finished for the year.  A week ago this was shaping up to be a battle for the #1 spot in the pack 10, now it is a shot at redemption.  time to "Coug up

Josh Swogger will get better, thank goodness the defense made sure that we still got the win.  With Matt Kegels' list of injuries growing by the hour the defense and a decent running game made up for a plethora (always wanted to use that word) of miscues and which the crimson and grey to leave the field with an 18 point win.  Turning over the ball  7 times will not get you a victory at Husky stadium no matter how bad the Huskies are this year, but with this defense it seems to be good enough to beat the number 3 team in the conference.  We should leave the weekend sporting another top 10 ranking with two games to go.

The schedule certainly favors the Cougars the rest of the way, with USC having to play UCLA and Oregon State (and Arizona), while the Cougs play Arizona State and Washington. Look for the Cougs to work hard on the run this week to give Josh more time to find his receivers, and a simplified "Just don't turn the ball over" offense against Arizona State.  While ASU is weak this year, they have been the source of many frustrating losses by the Cougs over the years.  A loss to them would scuttle what is otherwise turning into a memorable season.  Hopefully we can get through the Arizona State game with a win and few injuries, and get Matt Kegel healthy enough to be the difference two weeks from now against UW in the Apple Cup.

Because of the weirdness of the BCS, the Cougs can end up in the Rose Bowl by winning out, whether or not USC loses another game.  If USC wins their final three games they will be in the national championship game, which will put the number 2 team (WSU) into the Rose bowl.  If USC loses or ties again and the Cougs win their remaining two games then WSU would be in the Rosebowl as pac-10 champions. 

A solid cougar rebound game.  It helped prove the cougar nation has changed.  In past seasons that loss to USC might have tanked the whole season.  Bill Doba won't allow his teams to do that.

WSU's Matt Kegel Leads the cougars to victory W 34-19
Pre-game comments - Most of us already knew from watching the rest of the season that Matt Kegel needed this week off to get healthy.  Maybe coach Doba was too close to the situation, or maybe he's afraid of what might happen to Josh on Saturday, but it took Matt getting even more sore and swollen to hold him out of practice slate this week.  We will need Matt against the Huskies, so sit him down!

Post Game Comments:
And Matt Kegel didn't play most of the game.  Sometimes as a leader you realize that someone else is better suited to a specific task than you are.  Taking action on that knowledge is even more difficult when the spotlight is on.  Matt Kegel has earned everyone's respect with his performances on the field, and showed selfless mature leadership Saturday by taking himself out of the game in the 2nd quarter even though he was getting the job done.  According to reports his knee and shoulder were hurting (you know the story there) and he was feeling uncomfortable in the pocket. 

``I came off the field and gave Josh a little wink and said, `Your time has come, babe,''' Kegel said

We know it wasn't fear of pain that created the decision.  Then Josh went out and proved him right, completing 14 of 20 passes for his first touchdown (to Devard Darling) and 207 yards.  There is a zip to Josh Swoggers' passes and a smoothness to the way he plays that says that the long line of great cougar quarterbacks is going to continue for a few more years.

Admit it -- Matt put up with a lot of crap from cougar fans over his first 4 years especially after last years apple cup.  This year he's us that we were wrong, and that his win in USC as a freshman a better gauge of what kind of quarterback he is than a few plays against the Huskies.  When Matt was inserted back into the game in the closing moments of the victory he got the standing ovation that he so richly deserved.  What a difference a year makes.

One other cool note before we move on to the apple cup:

Pat Bennett (Junior outside linebacker from Forks, Washington) intercepted a pass from Walter intended for Moey Mutz and ran 39 yards for a score to make it 17-10 late in the second quarter.  It was Bennett's first interception as a cougar, said he was just following the lead of others on the defense.

``Our defense has so much depth,'' he said. ``I just figured if anybody could do it, I could do it, too.''

Coach Doba said Bennett's interception return for a TD
``was a big momentum swing. To pick that thing off and run it in really picked us up.''

We here at coug.com are big Pat Bennett fans - Go Pat!!!

Drew Dunning' s 2nd field goal on the day (64th of his career ) moved him past Jason Hanson in WSU's record book for most career field goals.

Next week Matt should be healthy enough start against the Huskies, and we'll all be there - if you don't have a ticket yet, just ask a Husky - there will be plenty of tickets available! 

With this team Josh Swogger should be able to beat ASU without Matt Kegels' help.  ASU is a struggling team, and have a lousy defense, which is the exact kind of defense you want when starting an inexperienced quarterback.  Add that to the Sun Devils poor receivers and we should get a short field for Josh at least 3 times this weekend.  Lets hope he goes 2 out of three in those opportunities.  There is always the possibility that Andrew Walter will show the greatness everyone predicted before the beginning of the year and force us to play the pass (Their running game is their strongest suit), but they haven't really been able to do that against decent defenses this year.  The best defense that they have beaten is Oregon's.

WSU offense turns game over to Huskies L 27-19
Pre-game prediction (not proud, just honest): 
We've been here before.  Recently....Good Cougar team, lousy Husky team.... Sure we're going to roll. 

THIS TIME YOU CAN RELAX.  OK, this prediction was off a little.  Kegel was still hurt, and the cougars were not good enough to beat a down on their luck husky team without him.

Reason #1:  The Huskies have already quit on their new coach (Has the nickname "Pumpkin" been retired).

Reason #2:  Leadership.  Anyone who saw the games last Saturday saw teams going two different directions.  The WSU cougars  making people believe they are a Washington team to be feared, while the UW Huskies bitch (Get it?) about how "Everyone else on the team is lousy but me"  or "It's not the coaches but....".  When you think about it, they pretty much  taking on the character of their leader.  I'm speaking of course of  Reggie "I can't wait to talk about myself in the third person" Williams.  His simmering temper and bad attitude will cause him trouble eventually.  He'll get his catches this week, for sure, but that hasn't been enough, as the huskies defense has been just plain bad.  They remind me a little of the cougars the year after the 1998 Rosebowl.

Reason #3:  Talent.  Thanks to our recent Rose Bowl appearances, some great recruiting (Thanks Mike!), and a stable and visibly growing program the Cougars have been able to attract much better talent than ever before, especially on defense.  The simple fact is, over the past few years WSU has won like one of the premier programs in the country, and recruits are beginning to see us that way (Its great that High School recruits are young and have no memory, isn't it?). 

Reason #4  Management and Coaching.  Under Barbara "My best friends play women's basketball " Hedges the Husky men's football program and basketball program have disintegrated.  Her latest coaching mistake will ensure happy cougars for years to come.... And we haven't even talked about basketball yet.

Reason #5:  The Revenge factor.  Last year the Huskies rudely interrupted our victory parade on its way to Pasadena, this year our defense will make sure that the game will absolutely not be that close.  

Prediction:  unless there is a coaching change at UW, Josh Swogger will be the first cougar quarterback to be on three teams that beat the Huskies.

Post Game Comments:
It was much closer than that, but the end came the way the game was played, on a turn over in the final seconds.  By us... That was run back for a touchdown.  I left the house before I could break anything (illness prevented attending the game - funny, I feel sicker now)  and commiserated with my UCLA neighbor.  UCLA has lost to USC 5 years in a row, so I knew he'd be receptive.

About the game:  Late in the 4th quarter we had the ball inside the 10 yard line and settled for a field goal.  Any Cougar fan who is honest with themselves will admit that at that moment they knew we would lose.  A touchdown there and the Huskies need two scores, neither of which they probably would have gotten because of the dynamics of football and our defense.  Instead we settled for 3 and asked the defense to stop the huskies AGAIN.  This defense has stepped up more than any defense I've ever seen.

THE DEFENSE WAS INCREDIBLE.  The problem was that once again the offense turned the ball over 7 times.  This time the defense couldn't save our bacon.  Once was a fluke, twice was chalked up to Matt Kegels bad arm.  A third time against the Huskies is just inexcusable.  Yes the first ball bounced and would have resulted in at least a WSU field goal.  The officials didn't call an obvious face mask infraction that helped to cause a fumble as well, and the officials as usual were homers.  But the fact remains that the Huskies defense just isn't that good, and our offense tiptoed around waiting for the defense to give it the ball on the one until it got beat.

Notes to Cougar coaches:
1.  The prevent defense prevents wins -  Blitzing worked the rest of the day - Why change?
2.  Great teams can run the ball in the 4th quarter - You should have run more (outside seemed to work).
3.  Lunde over the middle is no longer a surprise - even my father predicted an interception of that route.
4.  Unless Green was found at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch last weekend, he should not have been suspended for THIS game.  I know that would make us like the Huskies, but for this weekend, it would be OK. 
5.  Before next years game hire Dr. Phil to get your "I always find a way to lose this game" mentality fixed.  We're sick and tired of it.

We spotted them our starting quarterback and our starting running back, but it shouldn't have mattered.  We should have won that game.

News Flash - Huskies still suck.
So, it's the silicon Valley bowl for the Huskies - If UCLA doesn't want it, of course.  How bad has it gotten for the lowly Huskies?

1.  They beat us and still can't even sniff a national ranking.
2.  The emails I've been receiving from Huskies have been full of "yeah, well we were really good in the 80's!"  Tell it to VH1.  Little do they know how much fun it is to read those emails.
3.  They are HOPING to get a call from the silicon valley bowl - bet you can't name who was in it last year   (They did play it last year, didn't they?)
4.  All those drugs still left them with their worst record in decades.
5.  The Huskies beat us and we STILL might go to the Rose Bowl.
6.  Not even beating us can save their season.

Even ESPN has been taking shots of them, check out this really great nomination of the UW as turkeys of the year on ESPN page 2.  Unfortunately for the Huskies, they didn't even win that Poll, coming in 2nd.

Has the Rose Bowl lost its luster?
In 1997 the Rose Bowl felt magical.  Even the WSU loss didn't really mess up the feeling that WSU had accomplished something special. 

Last year and this year feel different.  I don't know about you, but other than the fact that it was the "Granddaddy of them all"  I was really unimpressed with the Rose Bowl last year.  When the highlight of the pre-game is a parade and "Look at the pretty floats"   it seems like the Rose Bowl has become more of an event created for a geriatric crowd of old women than a great sporting event.  I could almost see the cobwebs.  In 97 you had the tradition - PAC 10 -  BIG 10, you could feel the ghosts of great games past.  There was a connection.  This year the game will be between Michigan and TBA, you know, kind of like the silicon valley bowl. It's just not special any more.  Even if they end up snagging USC this year it will only be because USC LOST.  Yes, I would go if our cougs got picked, but face it.  Right now we are not the team that USC is (USC proved that, didn't they?).  So maybe the Rose Bowl gets a disgruntled LSU that "Lowers" themselves to play in the Rose Bowl instead of the national championship game.  The Rose Bowl is the biggest loser in the BCS, and it will be interesting to see what if anything they can do about it.

I was too broke to go to the last Holiday Bowl, but it was a hell of a game.  I can't wait to head down there and kick some TBA tail.  I might even let my wife and kids watch the Rose Parade....There are usually two TV's in big hotel rooms, right?
 

WSU Cougars VS Texas in the Holiday Bowl
The Cougars will not be favored in this game, and I'm nervous too.  Which WSU Cougar team will show up?  The team that steam rolled over so many teams this year?  Or the USC UW team that looked more like the 1998 cougars than anything else?  One thing is for sure, with one of Texas' two losses being to OU, they are a very good team.  The Cougars will have to be hitting on all cylinders if they want to pull this one out.  IF the cougars win, it won't be by much. Cougars by 1?

The Texas Longhorns are disappointed and  think they have something to prove because they have to compare themselves to The University of Oklahoma (unfavorably) and because the BCS passed them by even though they are ranked number 5 in the country. 

Matt Kegel has been cleared to play, but the fact that it took a surgeon to let them know it says he will not be 100% in time for the game, and just like last year, the defense will be taking shots at the QB early.  As Matt Kegel goes, so go the cougs this year.  That means we will probably fade after half-time, hopefully we'll have a good sized lead.  Another loss like the one at Husky stadium would undo pretty much all of the gains the Cougars have made this year.

What happened to Jermaine Green?  He will be suspended for the bowl game, so it must have been bad.  The team has done a good job of keeping the "Why"  hidden from the public.  You'll know when we know.

Preparing for the post season: What happened to the WSU offensive line?
For most of the year the WSU offensive line did a decent job of protecting Matt Kegel, so what happened? Even in our recent wins it felt like Matt or Josh were running for their lives.  Even with Charles Harris doing well enough to be named to the All Pac-10 freshman team by sporting news (Yeah for next year!), the offensive line did not turn out to be the strength we thought it was going into the season.  They will be healthier than earlier in the year, but so will Texas, so what's the advantage? 

Matt should have known the offensive line was getting weaker when the towel on the back of the Center had the word "Duck!"  written on it.

WSU Cougars Win
2003 Holiday Bowl!

The Eyes of Texas are shocked! WSU 28 Texas 20
How quickly we forgot our 1st half angst in that amazing 3rd quarter!  After 2 quarters in which our beloved cougars fought hard but were looking up at a 10-7 deficit, Bill Doba rallied the troups (Or slapped some people around?) and the fire was evident in the 3rd quarter.  The offense moved the ball and the defense was overpowering in its' pursuit of both Texas quarterbacks - the QB's feet were doing that "oh God oh God they're going to hit me any second"  dance.  

The vaunted Texas running game was slowed to a crawl as the Cougars packed the box with up to 9 blitzing defenders and dared them to throw the ball.  

"They were coming from everywhere,'' Chance Mock  said.

When Texas did throw it was obvious that they couldn't count on their passing game.  Roy Williams was the only Texas receiver who ever seemed to catch a pass - 9 catches for 96 yards - but 76 yards of that came on two long plays right at the end of the game.  Both other Williams (USC and UW) were MUCH better.  The few times Texas threw the ball in bounds in the 3rd and early 4th quarter the receivers couldn't catch it, dropping balls that were thrown right at them.  The game was closer than it should have been as Texas finally connected on two huge pass plays to Roy Williams late in the 4th quarter that kept them in the game.  Right when we were beginning to celebrate!  That was irritating.  About then I started thinking of the missed field goal and two missed extra points and hoping they wouldn't prove our undoing.  We all did our part by crossing our fingers and yelling loudly at the Texas offense.

Our fears were unfounded, as the defense stepped up again as they have so many times this year and turned away several Texas threats.  It was fitting that the final play of the game was a sack of Chance Mock by D.D. Acholonu as time expired.  WSU emerged victorious, 28-20 and the celebrations began.

By the way, last year the Oklahoma fans were more fun and friendly than these Texans were.  And that was BEFORE the game.  They were strangely silent after the final gun.

The stars of the special teams were Sammy Moore and Kyle Basler.  Kyle's stellar punts (He's a sophomore, by the way) pinned Texas to their own end zone consistently through out the game, and led directly to a safety when the Texas offense committed a holding penalty while they were in the end zone.  That put tremendous pressure on the Texas offense.  On the opposite side of the ball Sammy Moore was ensuring that the cougars had pretty good field position all day, with one huge return and no mistakes. 

GO COUGS!   I've got some great pictures of the game as well, take a look, you might see yourself!  We were sitting in the 200 level up behind the band.  If you have any good stories or pictures email them to me.  In particular I only was able to sneak away to the game from my home in Boise in the last week or so, so I didn't get tickets to any of the pre-game parties.  Let me know how they went!  I'll even have a fun story about a cougar fan who ended up in handcuffs before the game (not me).

"I told him [Mack Brown] he won the press conference and the luncheon, but I told him we were going to win the game."  WSU coach Bill Doba

WSU finishes #9 in AP and Coaches Poll
The WSU Cougars finished the year ranked just about where they deserved to be, #9.  All of the top 10 teams in the country that don't go undefeated can always point to a few key plays during the season and say "what if".   We were a few key plays from being 12 and 1 this year, and next year we're bringing a lot of good players back.   We'll still have to get past the USC Trojans, who will be ranked in the top 3 in all of the pre-season polls, but I doubt that we will be picked to finish 7th, like we were last year.  Everyone should thank Bill Doba, Mike Price, Dennis Erickson for helping to establish a winning tradition here at Washington State University.  The lower classman at WSU have no idea how "Chicago Cubs" being a cougar fan used to be.  This is better, much better.

In other news the UW football team has STILL  not been invited to a post season bowl game - but they are hopeful. . .  We'll keep you posted.

Thus ended one of the greatest seasons in WSU cougar history.  Without the key injuries to Matt Kegel, and this team could have been the number two team in the nation.  The final game against the highly touted Texas team was a glimpse of how good this team could have been if Matt had stayed healthy.  Who would have thought that we would say that about Matt Kegel.  After the extreme chokes and flat bad play of his first years as a cougar, he showed the heart of a champion and took the cougars farther than many quarterbacks that whose names you more easily remember.  Would we have beaten USC with a healthy Matt?  Nah... Go Cougs!

2003 Cougar FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
August 30        Idaho in Seattle
September 6     Notre Dame in South Bend
September 13   Colorado in Boulder
September 20   New Mexico in Pullman
September 27   Oregon in Eugene
October 4         Arizona in Pullman
October 18       Stanford in Palo Alto
October 25       Oregon State in Pullman
November 1     USC in Los Angeles
November 8     UCLA in Pullman
November 15    Arizona State in Pullman
November 22    Washington in Seattle

WSU Players in the 2004 NFL draft
Defensive back Jason David be one of the steals of this years draft?  Sure, he's not as good as Marcus Trufant, and draft pros thought he wouldn't get picked at all, but he's going to surprise some people.  He ended up being picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the 4th round.  With the WSU recent history at that position at least they know that he's been taught right.  I wonder what other traditions Rick Neuheisel brought with him from Colorado?

Where Cougars were picked:

Name	Position	Round	Team
Devard Darling	WR	3rd - 82nd	Baltimore Ravens
Jason David	DB	4th - 125th	Indianapolis Colts
Eric Coleman	DB	5th - 143rd	New York Jets
Jonathan Smith	RB	7th - 214th	Buffalo Bills

For more information on exactly who went where  click here

 

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