COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN -- It was another chippy practice for Washington State, though nothing else was out of the ordinary. We spoke with defensive coordinator Mike Breske afterward about preparing for California, so read on.

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Here's a transcript of Breske's Cal-related comments:

 

(What did Cal do to beat UCLA?) "Takeaways. They got some key takeaways on UCLA and explosive plays. They’re not scoring in the red zone. They’re scoring 50-yard runs, passes, that type of deal. They’re scoring on the other side of the field. Again, that’s their athleticism. That is a key for us. Explosive plays have got to be minimal."

(Did they look like a different team?) "I think the quarterback got in much more of a game management mode than last week vs. against Arizona State. He created some fumbles, they had a lot of sacks, he had some interceptions and that type of deal. I think he came back down to earth against UCLA and played within himself instead of trying to do too much."

(More on Zach Maynard's up and down season) "He’s been inconsistent since the Nevada game. He didn’t start that game and came in the third series. He’s been kind of up and down but when they get the running game going, his dimension is kind of out of it. My big point is we’ve got to control the run game and try to get him involved."

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Among the chippiness: Matt Goetz and Feddie Davey squared off and took a few swings at each other, which took place during another altercation involving Taylor Meighen and Kache Palacio. "So what?" coach Mike Leach said afterward. "It's about time somebdoy hit somebody around here." ...  Carl Winston flattened freshman safety David Bucannon on a block early in practice. ... During team session, WSU's offense was made to do up-downs after failing to score on three consecutive plays in the red zone. ... Leach claimed his "empty corpses" comment on Monday was taken out of context, though he immediately reiterated the same idea after saying so. "The biggest thing, most of our leadership’s coming from younger guys. We do have  some key seniors that really do a good job. And it’s interesting that somebody told me about a quote that was taken our of context, which certainly wouldn’t be the first time they’ve taken something I said out of context, but at any rate, we’ve got some seniors doing a good job, we’ve got a whole bunch of them as I said, are dead corpses. You can either breathe life into yourself and get out there and play … we’ve got a bunch of younger guys that are stepping up and playing hard."

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

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