SportsLink

WSU links and notes for Monday

Posted by Vince

Oct. 26, 2009 7:14 a.m. • 13 comments

COUGARS

It’s Monday morning. Isn’t it time for the football fans of America to play quarterback? Want backup? We’ve got links, stats and more waiting for you. Read on.

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• Washington State: Though Cal might have hung 49 points on the Cougars on Saturday, the Bears didn’t knock them around like some teams. The proof is in the injury report. Only reserve running back Marcus Richmond came out with any sort of problem, straining a hamstring on a special teams play. He looks to be out this week. Guard B.J. Guerra said afterward his knee felt great, running mate Zack Williams played the entire game and Steven Ayers got in a few plays. So it looks like the line that started the season could be back Saturday if that’s the way the Cougars want to go. … Daniel Blackledge played sparingly Saturday after suffering a thight bruise during the week. … The passing explosion (385 yards) against Cal moved WSU to 55th in the nation in passing yards, the Cougars best showing in a major category. The lowest categories? Sacks allowed (120, which is last) and total defense (119). The Irish are 11th in the nation in passing yardage with quarterback Jimmy Clausen the second-most efficient at his position. Notre Dame is also only two spots higher than WSU in passing defense, coming in at 116 (282.43 yards per game, about two yards less than the Cougars). … Now on to the links. … We have our follow story and our look back (second item) on the Cal game. … Freelancer Howie Stalwick looks forward to Notre Dame today. … Speaking of the Irish, they moved back into the top 25 this week despite struggling at home with Boston College. Part of the problem is the secondary is not doing well.

• Around the Pac-10: ESPN.com’s Ted Miller has a lot today, with his power rankings leading the way. He also has helmet stickers (including one for Jeff Tuel) and things we learned from the weekend. … Buster Sports Nick Daschel has the best and worst from Saturday along with a report card. …Washington: After the loss to Oregon, the Huskies have a bye. … Oregon State: Lucky for the Beavers, after a tough loss to USC, they have UCLA up next. … Oregon: It all comes down to this for the Ducks. This week’s game with USC. … Cal: The Bears’ wildcat formation – they ran five plays from the set against WSU – is a hit with the running backs. … Stanford: The Cardinal take the day off. … USC: It all comes down to this for the Trojans. This week’s game with Oregon. …UCLA: More than halfway through the schedule, coach Rick Neuheisel will re-evaluate the Bruins’ quarterbacks. … Arizona State: For once, the Sun Devils’ defense let them down. … Arizona: The Wildcats are ranked and get the week off.

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• That’s all for this morning. There will be more this evening, after we take a look at Notre Dame. Until then …

13 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

GaryRCox on October 26 at 9:17 a.m.
The last Time Wazzu played in San Antonio (the Alamo Bowl) they beat Baylor 10-7 by playing hard nose defense (an interception in the End Zone with < 2 minutes to play), so there are fond memories here for this Coug.

Furthermore, the last time Wazzu played Notre Dame, they beat the snot out of the Irish in every way except on the scoreboard, when Paint Dry Ty (remember him?) unleashed a fresh Julius Jones in the 4th Quarter on that sweltering day in South Bend and he ran all over a tired defense.

So………my point is this, every team can beat the other team IF they band together, have the collective will to play ABOVE their heads, and not give in bad luck/calls that don’t go there way/a bad bounce of the ball.

These Cougars are not that far off the mark and really only need to fix the obvious breakdowns and play sound football. No stupid penalities, no mental lapses on special teams, and keep your heads up for opportunities.

In short, play INSPIRED Cougar Football and leave nothing on field. One great game by all involved will cure a world of hurt in this season of character building, go for it, eh?

Go Cougs!!
ECoug01 on October 26 at 10:09 a.m.
gary wow pass the kool aid. We are looking better and with experience will be better. Not sure I can go as far to say as we have any kind of prayer at winning games rest of the season.

Vince
What is the deal with Marcus Richmond? Why does he not play anymore? His hands were talked up in fall camp and we burn redshirts for freshman running backs but don’t play juniors? Also what is the deal with Tardy being put on special teams and sent to the back of the bus as a senior?
elvis on October 26 at 10:33 a.m.
Don’t drink the Kool-aid! It’s full of yucky things like hope and optimism. Instead, drink beer.
dickkenn on October 26 at 11:10 a.m.
Order me up a kool-aid please, and dump the woe is me beer into the dumpster. I also remember that going the high number of JC players didn’t work in the rebuilding yr’s of 60’s,70,s ,and 80’s. We still lost to the usc ohio st, michigan ucla’s, by 50 and 60 points. WSU started winning when they could start redshirting either the freshman or sophmore classes . When these cougars start putting it together and get these growing up pains out of the way, and start winning the glass of kool-aid will taste good even to the woe is me beer drinkers. GO COUGS
coug79 on October 26 at 11:14 a.m.
At a 30 point spread, I’ll take the points and the Cougs. I will be pleasantly stunned if we’re still in the ND game (down by less than two touchdowns) midway through the 3rd quarter let alone the 4th quarter. I expect ND to move the ball at will and the Coug offense to scrap and eventually get on the board. In our four Pac-10 games our highest points scored was 17…this past weekend at Cal when the Bears were basically sitting on a big lead. The koolaid is great tonic GarytRCox but we won’t beat Notre Dame with 17 points.

At this point, I’m circling the UCLA game as the best shot at a Pac-10 win for the Dad’s Weekend upset. Hope for cold weather and snow.
mikewsu on October 26 at 11:29 a.m.
Watch for Notre Dame to have a huge passing day against our DBs and often loose, zone defense.

But if we are able to play ND close, I agree with coug79 and bet our second win of the season (and probably only) comes against UCLA.
OlyCoug on October 26 at 12:11 p.m.
I just heard from my mom in Pullman that Cougar basketball great Aaron Haskins has died.

Haven’t been able to find anything about his passing on this site, but it looks like this sad news is confirmed here: http://thecity.org/special/pastoraaron/.

As a kid just getting into WSU sports back in the 80s, Haskins was one of the players I idolized, along with Coug legends Craig Ehlo, Stuart House and many others of those glory days.

Aaron’s gone, but our memories of his accomplishments remain.
meancoug on October 26 at 12:17 p.m.
JC transfers used to be considered a popular quick-fix..but the long-term impact can be bad. It’s fools gold.

You can supplement a roster with a few JC’s here and there..but for the most part, if you load up on too many, that leaves too many holes in various recruiting classes and is very counter-productive in terms of building a solid founation.

Also, JC’s tend to have more baggage if you will - such as grades and trouble (which is why they are JC’s to begin with.) Not all, but many do have issues..and it’s often not worth the headache. Every now and then you can find a Jerome Harrison, but that is the exception.

I like the idea of building from the ground up…even if it’s painful.

Kool-aid will taste very good when it all pays off!
RobE on October 26 at 12:43 p.m.
Vince, towards the end of last week, with Jahvid Best on the horizon, you brought up some statistics that indicated we’ve been less apt to giving up big plays this season as to last.

Along those lines, while that issue has become lessened, the frequency of us being down 3 TD’s or worse by the end of the 1st quarter, seems to be on the rise. I’m wondering how we compare this season as opposed to last with average margin after the 1st quarter and half time.

I heard on the post game that CPW gave the team a speach on even though they are young it is up to them to play as a team and step up. I wonder if this type of motivation would be more helpful before a game as to after.

When you are consistently getting hammered in the first quarter, you clearly aren’t prepared and ready to go. For us to have even and iota of a chance in any games, we can’t be down three scores before the 2nd quarter.
rufus on October 26 at 1:04 p.m.
ND … some are for show and some are for dough ? guess which one of these is for wsu.
dickkenn on October 26 at 1:23 p.m.
I will say both are good. We get to watch and injoy our cougs play on TV, and the WSU athletics , Which needs the funds can injoy putting us into the black side of the ledger. Look for an upset. GO COUGS.
BrandonHansen on October 26 at 2:58 p.m.
I understand Notre Dame isn’t the grand ol’ program it use to be but I think they’ll be doing just fine against WSU. Marked improvement on offense Saturday but lets not buy the farm after another blowout loss. However, this is certainly better than the fire wulff talk.

Brandon Hansen
Just South of North
www.justsouthofnorth.com
kaddy on October 26 at 3:14 p.m.
Nice to see a QB that can actually hit a burner like Forzani in full stride…it’s been a few years since we’ve had that at WSU.

When Tuel get time to throw, watch out.