Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SportsLink

WSU’s morning-after post, Parts I and II

COUGARS • UPDATED: 10:30 A.M.

OK, we've taken a bit more time, have tooled around the Web to gather Pac-12 information – any second thoughts Utah? – and pulled together some notes and quotes about last night. Read on.

••••••••••

• Washington State: Without commentary or notes (now) we present: our game story, John Blanchette's column, my pregame notebook (with a basketball recruiting note at the bottom), the scoring and the keys to last night's debacle. ... From the Seattle Times, we pass along Percy Allen's game story, Bud Withers' column, and a slide show. ... From the TNT, there is Howie Stalwick's game story and a notebook. ... Chris Chancellor has this piece on Cougfan on the inability of the Cougars to get off the field on third down. ... From the Oregonian, a Paul Buker game story and John Hunt's notebook. ... and from the Register-Guard, Bob Clark has this game story. ... We'll be back soon with notes and quotes.

• UPDATE :  Washington State – As I was walking off the CenturyLink turf next to a silent linebackers coach Chris Tormey, some yahoo started yelling something I'm not going to repeat here. A couple of players were nearby but I think the vindictive comments were aimed at Tormey and the other coaches. I don't think the players were the target. And they shouldn't have been. They may not have played well, but they played with passion and energy. They left everything they had on the field, some of it knocked right from them. But they battled. It may not be enough, but it's better than the alternative. ... As for injuries, there won't be an update until Paul Wulff's press conference this evening. But it looked like one beat-up group of players coming out of the locker room. ... Here are some quotes gathered as quickly as possible last night. The best were included in our story or John Blanchette's column. ... The Seattle Times' Percy Allen has this on WSU's newest basketball recruit.

 

•••

Wulff on the game: "I thought our players played very hard. Tonight, Oregon State played the best football game I have ever seen them play. They made every play possible, even when the ball was in the air, and converted everything. Bottom line – we couldn't force them to punt." ... "We needed to make a few more plays on defense. It is a game we lost, they out played us."

On Jeff Tuel's injury that forced the quarterback to miss the second half: "Right now he is just very sore and we still need to do some scans to see where he's at but we don't envision it being serious. It is the left shoulder again."

Carl Winston on the game: "It was a tough game. I thought we were ready to play but Oregon State just played a great game. They ... just played better than us tonight."

Sekope Kaufusi on his penalty: "Right after the call I went over to the ref and he told me I led with my helmet and I thought it was clearly my shoulder."

Mike Riley on how the Beavers won: "Our guys were playing hard. I do think we really hit and played hard, and kept hitting and playing hard."

Malcolm Agnew: "We scored really quickly and that always sets the tone, like 'hey, we're coming, we're coming, we're coming. You better be ready.' I'm really happy we did that."

•••

• Around the Pac-12: ESPN.com's Ted Miller has some thoughts on the WSU/OSU game and tells us what we learned from the weekend. ... Washington: What to be taken away from a 65-21 defeat? How about the Husky defense will struggle with really good offenses? Or that UW's rebuilding project has a ways to go, despite Chris Polk's best efforts? ... Oregon State: See above. ... Oregon: Didn't matter who calls the signals or carries the ball, the Ducks were going to score when they wanted against Colorado in their 45-2 rout. ... California: The Bears put it all together in easy 34-10 win over visiting Utah. ... Stanford: Before the game with UW, the story line was the Cardinal hadn't been tested much this season. Is it still the story line? Or is Stanford just a really good team with a solid defense, a power running game and a Hesiman Trophy quarterback? We vote for the latter. ... Colorado: The Ducks run like Ralphie against the Buffs. ... Utah: The Utes offense struggled, the defense couldn't carry the load and Utah lost another Pac-12 game. ... USC: The Trojans 31-17 win over Notre Dame is a big deal for Lane Kiffin. ... UCLA: A Thursday night game. ... Arizona State: A bye. ... Arizona: A Thursday night game.

•••

• That's it for now. By the way, had my worst picking week in a while, breaking even against the spread with two awful choices (Utah and WSU). There was a time, though, when going 3-3 would have made my day. Until later ...



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

Follow Vince online:






Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.