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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Nothing livens up practice more than a little wrestling

COUGARS

The intensity was up last night at practice and in at least one case it boiled over. But such is the deal with college football. I was trying to figure out recently when the last time I had seen a full-pad college practice where there wasn't at least one display of emotion, one fracas or one boiling-point face off. And I couldn't think of one.

Eighteen to 24-year-old men playing a game in which they are supposed to try to knock the other guys' head off. Gee, there might be a little emotion? You think. But it is also fun to watch the reaction from teammates. Most of the time such incidents are shrugged off. Other times the respective units rally around their guy – most of the battles are between offensive and defensive players – and use it as motivation for the rest of practice.

Case in point: Recently Cougar running back Dwight Tardy got into it with a defensive lineman nearly twice his size (I can't remember which one, but they are all almost twice his size) during an end-of-practice scrimmage. Though nothing untoward happened, the offense started whooping and hollering, backing up their guy.

On the next play, Tardy took a pitch left. As he was just about to turn up the sidelines, linebacker Greg Trent unloaded a monster hit, knocking Tardy out of bounds and on his butt. Now the defense was hollering. Tardy got up, patted Trent on the back and practice went on. Point taken.

• Last night's Cougar practice was their fourth at night this fall and, once again, with the lights on and the heat turned down, they had a good one. You can read my story about it here.

The News Tribune's Todd Milles was in Pullman and he filed this story after talking with coach Bill Doba.

The Times' Craig Smith has this piece on free spirit Jed Collins, one of the more interesting of the Cougars.

Some shocking news from the P-I's Jim Moore. It has to do with shirts and shorts. And the Huskies. By the way, I received an email asking about former Ferris star Cameron Elisara and how he was doing at UW. So I found this. Don't ostracize me. I'm just providing a reader service.

I'm heading home after practice this afternoon, so don't expect a post until later. Tomorrow we start our unit-by-unit previews with the special teams. Also, the Cougars will be holding a night scrimmage in Martin Stadium (7:30) and we'll be there.



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