SportsLink

WSU’s defeat, the day after

Posted by Vince

Nov. 1, 2009 7:39 a.m. • 10 comments

COUGARS

Hope everyone had a great Halloween (sugar-high anyone?) and remembered to fall back. The clocks in the hotel are self-correcting, so I got started an hour later then I thought. No matter. Our links are up. Read on.

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• Washington State: First, a mea culpa. In my haste to get everything in to the office last night, I made a mistake in one of the stories, labeling a player with the wrong position. You won’t see it on-line either in my post or the linked story – those are easy to fix – but it did appear in the paper because I didn’t catch it until after the paper went to press. My bad. … Now to some thoughts about the game. … The Cougars defense gave up 592 yards yesterday but I don’t believe I’ve seen them play harder from the first whistle in the past two years. Led by linebackers Jason Stripling, a career-high 13 tackles, Alex Hoffman-Ellis, 12 despite splitting time with Mike Ledgerwood in the middle, and Andy Mattingly, who had seven, WSU’s defense flew around all game. The problem was they were also getting knocked around. Notre Dame’s offensive line, especially left guard Chris Stewart, controlled the line of scrimmage. That opened huge holes for Robert Hughes, and the 5-foot-11, 234-pound back took advantage, hitting them hard and knocking Hoffman-Ellis, Stripling and any defensive back who happened to come up, back a yard or two most times at impact. … Defensive co-coordinator Chris Ball was pleased with the effort and praised it afterward. But the two big plays – the end-of-half Hail Mary and the long touchdown pass in the fourth quarter – stuck in his craw. Of the Hail Mary he said he thought his players were in the right position but “they caught it, we didn’t.” Coach Paul Wulff also praised the defense, but pointed out the time of possession (Notre Dame more than 2-to-1) and said that just can’t overcome that. … On offense, the Irish also dominated the line of scrimmage. The five sacks were one thing, but Notre Dame also was able to hit Jeff Tuel almost every time he threw the ball. Sometimes the Irish overpowered the offensive lineman. Sometimes there was a breakdown in protection. Sometimes Tuel held the ball too long. Whatever the reason, the Cougars are not going to take consistent steps to get better offensively until the offensive line improves. It’s as simple as that. … The Cougars injury woes continued. Safety Chima Nwachukwu was lost with a first-half ankle sprain. It’s not known how long he’ll be out. Cornerback Brandon Jones was taken off in a cart after the first half, had a sore foot X-rayed (negative) and returned to play most of the second. On the Notre Dame side, quarterback Dayne Crist will have an MRI on the knee he injured trying to get away from tackle Toby Turpin. … OK, on to the links. … We had our game story and notebook, both of which you can also find on this post. (By the way, interesting conversation some of you were having on the halftime post. Please remember to not let it get personal and keep it clean. Thanks.) We also have the statistics, the scoring and the grades. … Freelancer Howie Stalwick had this story in the Kitsap Sun and other papers, along with a notebook. … From the Midwets, here is the Chicago Tribune story and one from the South Bend Tribune.

• Around the Pac-10: The big game, of course, was in Eugene. According to Buster Sports’ Nick Daschel, Oregon’s big win should earn a BCS title shot. Will it? No way in heck. … …Washington: Bye week. … Oregon State: The Beavers keep rolling with a 26-19 win over UCLA, though they squandered a late lead and had to rally to win. … Oregon: The win was so big, we’re giving it two stories, this one from the Oregonian and another from the Register-Guard. Cal: What a win. The Bears go down the field for a late field goal and defeat Arizona State 23-21. … Stanford: Maybe the Cardinal should be Oregon’s biggest fans. … USC: We had the game stories in the Oregon section. For this we went with a scathing column. …UCLA: The Bruins did some good things but still lost. Sound familiar? … Arizona State: Speaking of scathing columns, this one takes Dennis Erickson to task. … Arizona: No game.

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• That’s all for this morning. We’ll post our look back and follow on the game this afternoon or evening. Until then …

10 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

85coug on November 01 at 9:49 a.m.
There are a lot of fans out there who are satisfied with the progress that the team is making. My guess is that these fans are used to watching their kids hit off a tee and not keeping track of the score.
Tim_in_the_Gorge on November 01 at 11:55 a.m.
I really hesitate to enter into this debate, but I find it so unfortunate that the current circumstances have served to polarize the Cougar supporters. For the ‘PW is in over his head, he can’t coach and he needs to be fired’ crowd, I would like to know how those statements can be made with so much certainty given the hand we have been dealt. I would like to know which coach in America we should go hire that would immediately solve all of our shortcomings. Would it be Pete Carrol? The infallible genius of the last 7 years? Go read the LA papers this morning. He suddenly got stupid.

As for using the slow starts as an example of lack of coaching ability, I can see it now. Coach Wulff and the staff with the game preparation is telling the team they don’t have a clue how to beat the other team but if they let the other team get up by 28 points early, then we’ll be playing against their 2nd and 3rd stringers sooner. That’s our game plan. I haven’t sat in on any preparation meetings, but I would be awful surprised after 7 games if the staff hasn’t tried 7 different schemes to get into these kids heads. The definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. I for one don’t think the coaching staff is insane. At the same time, the opposing coaches I’m sure are sitting there telling their kids that they need to start out slow to keep the underdog in the game longer. Perhaps this is a case of superior athletes exerting their will over a lesser opponent.

Echoing some comments from yesterday, exactly what did you expect out of this year. The comment above has some truth if in being realistic and truthful to myself, I choose to accept that ignoring the score and applauding slow progress is a better response than ranting and raving and beating up everyone for circumstances over which I have no control. This is not a private business with deep pockets that can immediately fire every underachiever and money being no object fill it up with the best of the best. We are trying to turn an aircraft carrier around, not a ski boat.

Am I satisfed with the progress? Not particularly. Am I realistic about the progress? IMO, more so than anybody who expected immediate success. Is this coaching staff the answer? IMO, that can’t yet be answered and IMO, showing more patience right now is better than pulling the plug and starting all over again, because we would be back to square one. Think Oregon State from 1975 - 2000. Am I wearing crimson colored glasses? I’ve been a Cougar fan since the mid-1960’s and I know one thing. Cougar athletics are fun, entertainment, and pride inspiring, but they are not life and death decisions. If by continuing to accent the positive, by supporting student athletes who could be my grandkids and who are trying their best, by giving funds to the program and buying tickets through good and bad, then I’m wearing crimson colored glasses.

Go Cougs.
dickkenn on November 01 at 3:29 p.m.
Tim in the gorge, I feel the same way, and i could’nt have said it better. I keep thinking back to the late 60’s with Jim sweeney ,saying we were going to the rose bowl and beating washington every yr. I always felt better thinking we could win even though we usually did’nt. We fans and alums should help the program with money and support, and drop the negitivity. We can still win a couple more games this year. U-DUB for sure. GO COUGS
kaddy on November 01 at 6:21 p.m.
Thank you Tim in the Gorge. Exactly how I feel. Support the team, and the staff we have.
Jon on November 01 at 6:25 p.m.
San Antonio is a nice town.
BrandonHansen on November 01 at 7:57 p.m.
Tim’s statements have been the best words written about the Coug team by anyone this year (article or user comment). It’s level-headed people like that who are fun to talk sports about. The rest are University of Washington fans.

Brandon Hansen
Just South of North
www.justsouthofnorth.com
elvis on November 02 at 1:21 a.m.
Well said Tim. I agree and I abide.
rufus on November 02 at 7:23 a.m.
what do the cougars, seahawks and vikings have in common… they all had cougars d- backs who were beaten badly during the play of their games.
CougBabe on November 02 at 12:33 p.m.
Well said, Tim. I, too, remember the 60’s and early 70’s with not too many wins. It took Jim Sweeney and his dynamite staff a little while to regroup after taking over from the previous staff. As a Cougar, I remain optimistic about next season, considering the verbal commitments that have been made already. I was pleased with the effort on defense against Notre Dame. When you’re on the field all the time, you’re bound to make some mistakes. Good effort! I think Jeff Tuel is going to be just fine,too, once he has a healthy offensive line. I’m pleased with his progress so far. We have the opportunity to win at least one more game this season if we play with as much enthusiasm as we did against ND. Go Cougs!
HannahO on November 02 at 1:55 p.m.
Can any of the local Coug fans tell me what has become of Lo Metz (sp). Seemed like a promising running back last year and the beginning of this year but haven’t seen much of him lately. Hurt or in the PW doghouse (a locale well known to followers of EWU football)?