WSU finishes up OSU prep

COUGARS

Well, we already shared you the news of the Pac-12 Conference basketball schedule for 2011-12, which will probably be the only year it looks anything like the old Pac-10 schedules – a new TV contract will probably mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, heck, any day, games. Now we will share what football coach Paul Wulff had to say at his press conference, along with a few notes from practice. Read on.
••••••••••

• We asked Wulff a couple questions about Jacquizz Rodgers for our Saturday story along with a couple others about the Oregon State offense as a whole. He has seen a bit of a change in how OSU attacks since James Rodgers’ season-ending injury, but not a lot. … I also asked about the beat down in Corvallis two years ago and if the players carried a bit of a grudge about the last few minutes. He said it’s possible, but there has been such a turnover at WSU since then, there are not a lot of players left. The ones I’ve talked with this week, however, that were there do remember it and it does make their fire burn that much brighter. … The conversation turned to injuries and there’s nothing new there. The Cougars will be missing Gino Simone and Daniel Simmons but will get James Montgomery and Daniel Blackledge, among others, back. … Wulff than talked about the OSU defense, how experienced it is, with seven seniors starting, along with three juniors and one sophomore – contrast that to WSU, which relies heavily on six newcomers (a seventh would be playing if he was healthy), the subject of my story for tomorrow’s S-R – and how good the defensive secondary is. … A discussion about the health of Tyson Pencer, who has been shutdown for the season, turned into Wulff talking about the injuries along the offensive line. That morphed into the coach talking about the size and build of the O-line and how it’s changed in the past three years. The Cougars now have eight offensive lineman that are 6-foot-5 or taller, though only two, Wade Jacobson and John Fullington, are healthy and playing this season. … And that’s about it, though Wulff was asked about Cal and Oregon and whether the Bears can stay with the Ducks. His answer: No, because Cal can’t score enough. … Nothing unusual to report from practice. Thursdays are always a final run through of the game plan on both sides of the ball – and special teams – and this one was no different, except crowd noise was pumped in through the Martin Stadium speakers. … The Cougars fly to Oregon early tomorrow.

•••

• That’s all for now. We’ll be back in the morning with our usual post. Until then …