Injuries take a bite out of WSU defense

COUGARS

The injury bug has bitten, and bitten hard. It’s worse than that wolf spider that scurried across the basement floor last night.

At least for WSU.

Glenn Kasses goes down the list of injured Cougars in a story in today’s paper and on his blog (there’s a link to a very interesting LA Times column on Glenn’s blog – the column’s worth reading if only because it echoes the sentiment among the Bruin faithful).

The news is grim, especially up front on defense. Nothing against the healthy defensive tackles, but the starters have won those spots for a reason. When they go down, no matter how well the backups play, it means adjustments have to be made throughout the defense.

The first team that will be testing the Cougs’ revamped unit: UCLA. Glenn has the first look at the Bruins.

Expect a Patrick Cowan feature out of Seattle this week. The Bruin quarterback, who is playing in place of the injured Ben Olsen, is the son of former Husky Tim Cowan. The relationship is noted at the end of this Times’ story. The story does lead with bowl talk, the same subject of this News Tribune piece. The guess here: The Cougs go to San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl. But, like everyone else’s picks, it is just a guess.

The Times also has its first look at UCLA.

UCLA’s loss at Notre Dame is the lead of the Columbian’s Pac-10 notebook from Monday.