COUGARS

A near-perfect fall day in the Palouse ended with Washington State on the practice field with a less-than-perfect workout. Why was it less than perfect? Because a defensive contributor was unable to finish. Read on.
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• That contributor is reserve lineman Justin Clayton, who suffered a left knee cap injury and finished practice sitting on a chair with the knee being iced. Clayton's injury was the only one on a day that saw the Cougars hitting consistently, working on executing on both sides of the ball. ... A few players returned to practice, though a lot of them were wearing yellow jerseys. The non-contact participants included cornerback Aire Justin (concussion) and guard B.J. Guerra (stinger), who both were in yellow Monday, along with newcomers running back Chantz Staden (rib), safety Casey Locker (shoulder) and safety Anthony Carpenter (concussion). Though the five couldn't participate in parts of practice, the chances of them playing Saturday are pretty good. ... Linebackers Sekope Kaufusi (shoulder) and Eric Oertel (hamstring), receiver Daniel Blackledge (concussion) and running back Carl Winston (hamstring) still weren't suited up, so their chances of playing are diminishing. Wednesday will be a key day for all of them. ... Receiver Jared Karstetter (ankle) didn't practice but he expects to suit up and play. ... One player who won't play Saturday is running back James Montgomery, who suffered a bruised quad against Arizona State. Montgomery, the senior who transferred from California a couple years ago, told me Tuesday he also had a concussion and had failed his test in the morning. He won't have enough recovery time to play. ... Offensive guard Andrew Roxas was not at practice again Tuesday. ... Wulff held his Tuesday press conference and talked a lot about preparing for a Cal team that will be starting a new quarterback. The Bears still have a potent running game, and have run for 700 yards combined against the Cougars in the last two games. Wulff said the WSU defensive front has to play better and make plays on the Cal side of the field. ... Getting ready for Brock Mansion is a little tougher due to the lack of film, Wulff said. ... Looking back at ASU, Wulff talked a lot about the mood after the game but summarized the biggest problem. "This is a game of emotion," he said, "and we didn't have a lot of it." ... As an aside, don't blame strength coach Darin Lovat. According to players, Lovat gave a great pregame speech. ... Wulff emphasized that, even this week against a Cal team that is hurting and not very good on the road, WSU will have to play a great football game and the Bears will have to make some mistakes, turn the ball over, screw up somehow, for the Cougars to win. ... Someone asked if Oregon had given its best effort against WSU and that got Wulff fired up. His short answer was yes. He felt his team belted the Ducks around and they didn't like it. I asked if that was the type of game they needed to play to upset Cal and Wulff said it was. The young players, he said, are physical but aren't developed to the point yet in which they can play that way every week. ... Asked if this week's game is crucial for WSU, Wulff basically said it was. "We have to respond," he said. The Cougars had set a standard of physical play for four, five weeks in a row but didn't meet that standard last week. They need to Saturday.

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• That's all for tonight. We'll be back in the morning. Until then ...

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