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WSU spends more time in Martin Stadium

Posted by Vince Grippi

Aug. 19, 2009 12:55 p.m. • 9 comments

COUGARS

The Cougars practiced in Martin Stadium again today and there are reasons for that. We cover those reasons, and what WSU got out of practice this morning, in our story for tomorrow’s S-R. You can read the unedited version on the link.

••••••••••

• Here’s the raw version of the story we will have in tomorrow’s paper …

PULLMAN – The students have been moving into the dorms at Washington State University this week, and the school is starting to awake from its summer slumber.

In that spirit, football coach Paul Wulff also decided to make a move. For the second consecutive day, Wulff’s Cougars held practice on the Martin Stadium turf.

“We need to spend more time in Martin Stadium, getting used to the confines, and getting comfortable with our own game field,” Wulff said following the Cougars’ 1 hour, 40 minute workout Wednesday morning.

The setting wasn’t the only difference. The tone was quieter as well. Only that wasn’t by design.

“Early in practice we got them woke up and they did some good things,” Wulff said. “But we kind of fizzled. Our intensity level dropped. And so a lot of things, we weren’t real crisp in what we were doing on both sides of the ball.

“We had a good tough day (Tuesday) but we need to respond off of that. We didn’t. … They realized it, but we have to grow. If we learn from this, it’s a good learning lesson. If we don’t learn from it, obviously it wasn’t.”

To see how much the players have learned the first 10 days of workouts, the final third of practice was dedicated to a situational scrimmage. The first two possessions began on the offense’s 1-yard line, the final three from the defense’s 25.

“We’re just trying to continue getting them as comfortable as we can in game-like situations,” Wulff said about the lengthy scrimmage. “We’re trying to simulate as much as we can. We need it.”

The No. 1 offense, with Marshall Lobbestael at the controls, had one impressive march. They went the length of the field in nine plays against the second defense, scoring on Dwight Tardy’s 9-yard run.

Highlighting the drive was a 35-yard hookup between Lobbestael and Jared Karstetter, which initially was called incomplete by co-defensive coordinator Jody Sears but ruled a catch by Wulff after Karstetter made a persuasive argument.

Both side of the ball were hamstrung a little with top players sitting out. Four main receivers – Jeshua Anderson, Daniel Blackledge, Jeffrey Solomon and Johnny Forzani – and two starting linebackers – Andy Mattingly and Alex Hoffman-Ellis – were sideline with minor injuries. They were part of 10 players who didn’t participate, the highest total of the fall.

“That’s a tough part,” Wulff said. “We’re not in a position to have a lot of injuries. … You want to get your unit that’s going to play a majority of the time working together as often as you possibly can.”

And playing on the field you call home.

“It gives us coaches an opportunity to go up in the booth,” said Wulff, who also mentioned the chance to work over 100 yards, something not offered on the usual practice setup next door at Rogers Field. “Come game day, we’ll feel a lot more comfortable.”

•••

• That’s the story. We’ll be back after lunch with more on practice. Until then …

Nine comments on this post so far. Add yours!

ECoug01 on August 19 at 1:28 p.m.
Wait I thought the excuse last year was the old staff didn’t have guys in good shape and caused lots of injuries (see wulffs comments last year)… Now we have 10 main guys out with injuries. Tired of the excuses. Injuries happen its ok but another example of paul pushing blame last year..
TravisMV on August 19 at 1:41 p.m.
ECoug,
You cannot possibly be serious, can you?!? He made mention that there’s injuries, and we can’t afford them. Who’s passing blame? When has WSU ever been able to overcome injuries?? Even in the best years, we were very lucky with injuries.
gocougs05 on August 19 at 1:45 p.m.
TravisMV you stole my thunder, I just wasn’t logged in! I was going to say that to ECoug also. Listen, nobody is “passing blame” or “making excuses.” Like Vince reported, the injuries were MINOR, so it’s not like they need surgery. Bumps and bruises happen all the time in football practice, and if anything holding those players out are precautionary measures. I am sure if it was a real game most could play. Please don’t turn a molehill into a mountain! GO COUGS!
ECoug01 on August 19 at 1:49 p.m.
TravisMV.

Very serious. I am pulling for wulff. He is going to be with my beloved cougs for many years so I hope he turns into the greatest coach ever and I eat every word of my disappointments with him. i like wulff but last year he rubbed me the wrong way with his constant blame of lack of talent, training, bad seeds etc.. He came out in the press saying his players didn’t have that much talent.. He wasn’t taking any responsibility. He constantly had other things to blame. One thing he blamed was poor nutrition, training, and work ethic as far as being in shape as a reason we had a lot of injuries. I thought that was extremely silly as injuries happen. My big disappointment in Wulff to this point is his lack of consistent punishment and his lack of responisbility as to why they weren’t competitive and the problems with last years team.
kevincougg on August 19 at 2:12 p.m.
It is the dog days of August and kids are going to have injuries. If you can name me a team in America that does not have one, I would be amazed. Better to hold them out now and be ready for the season. Guys like Andy Mattingly do not have prove to me they can play, so let them heal up. Two practices a day in EWA 100 degree heat is horrible. If you have not done it even at the HS level you have know idea how miserable it is. Nothing like practicing in 85 degree weather at 9am, being beat up for two hours then having to sit in meetings for and hour or more, then come back at 3pm and do it all over again when you are exahuasted.

Wulff is not making excuses about injuries it is a fact of football life, it is a nasty sport and kids get banged up. I am sure many of these injuries are strains and pulls. It is not like the MASH unit of last season with players in casts and walking boots littering the sideline from too many years of selective weight training as I have heard it referred to. WSU is light years ahead of where they were at this time a year ago. If a person understands the ins and outs of coaching FB at any level they can see that. Non-believers need to attend some practices and you would be shocked at the progress Wulff has made. Classes start on Monday and camp will be over, kids will heal up and get back on the field. Stanford is a huge game for this program and I fully expect our kids to come out and hit them in the mouth. We may not win, but we are not going to be beat by 50. The cancers are gone from this team and those who are now in the program have paid the price for an entire year with the new strength coach. These two factors more than anyother will be the biggest boon to the program of anything one can think of. WSU fans need have faith because this was a program a year ago so down we will never know the true extent. To tell you the truth I hope we never will.

Last thought: Team sports are about trust in one antoher, without trust everthing breaks down when the going gets tough(AKA last season). How would you like to be on the same team as a guy the broke into you place and took your stuff then have to look him in the eye at practice and support him on the field, you wouldn’t would you? That is why coach Wulff and his staff could fight in my foxhole anytime. They have ridded the prgram of this undermining attitude and I for one could not be happier. The program is turning and I hope eveyone stays on for the ride.

Go Cougs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TrueCoug on August 19 at 2:20 p.m.
Sorry, but weren’t his comments last year justified? I mean, true, saying his players don’t have much talent is a little harsh, but not exactly untrue. Cut the guy some slack - he’s rebuilding a program that was neglected for years. I think the action he’s taken with the “problem” players has been firm, and it’s sent a proper message to the team.

What responsibility should he have for those “bad seeds” that were there before he was?
Patrick on August 19 at 3:46 p.m.
BL stated: “he’s rebuilding a program that was neglected for years.”
That is a VERY POOR choice of words.
Coach Doba and his staff spent at least 2 years fighting the rest of the teams in the PAC 10 and the internet as well, especially some regular contributors to this Blog.
The program was not neglected. Rather, it was thoroughly under-mined. The coaching staff simply could not effectively recruit under those conditions.
Let’s not allow that to happen again!
Support the Cougs. Don’t hurt them.
TrueCoug on August 20 at 7:15 a.m.
Patrick - maybe you missed some of the articles that came out over the last couple years. There was no discipline under Doba. Call it like it is, he didn’t implement a values system (see Tony Bennett) that would’ve made the program stronger. I call that “neglect”. They couldn’t effectively recruit because it wasn’t an effective staff. Don’t pass the buck, pal. Not sure what you mean by “Coach Doba and his staff spent at least 2 years fighting the rest of the teams in the PAC 10 and the internet” - you think Doba was sitting at his computer having blog-fights?

The way we’re not going to allow that to happen again, was by saying “fare thee well” to Bill, and bringing in Wulff. It’s the same story, with different names.
WazzuBrian on August 20 at 8:08 a.m.
Doba was put into an unfortunate situation where he had to choose between spending time with football or spending time with his terminally ill wife. He chose the latter and who can really pass judgement on him for that? It’s very unfortunate how badly our football program was hurt, however if I was put into that situation I would have made the same decision he did.

Now on to the current topic. The “injuries” to those starters listed are all things like groin and hamstring pulls, minor things that could be played through if necessary but are better off resting up for Stanford.

Coach Wulff is not making any excuses nor has he ever, he has simply told it how it is. He last year said that our problem was injuries and being too small/weak for Pac-10 play and it was painfully obvious that it was true. How many times did we see a QB get carted off the field? Did you see our lines get dwarfed by every single opposing line they faced and get pushed around like kids getting bullied on the playground?