Price Demotes Davis Negative Reaction Earns Starting Qb A Seat On The Bench After 21 Starts

For the first time in almost two seasons, Chad Davis will not be the starting quarterback for Washington State when the Cougars tee it up at Martin Stadium Saturday afternoon against Stanford.

Davis, a junior, who has started WSU’s last 21 football games, was demoted Monday, apparently for the negative way he responded after being replaced by redshirt freshman Ryan Leaf during the second quarter of Saturday’s 27-11 loss at California.

Davis stood on the sidelines at practice Monday while Leaf and fifth-year senior Shawn Deeds shared time running the No. 1 offensive unit.

Cougars coach Mike Price confirmed Davis’ demotion Monday evening, but refused to comment further on his quarterback situation. He would not say whether he planned to start Deeds or Leaf this weekend, but said he would discuss the matter in more detail at his weekly press conference in Pullman this afternoon.

Davis, when reached Monday night by telephone at his Pullman apartment, said he was angry about Price’s decision, but vowed to do what he can to help Deeds, Leaf and the rest of his teammates try to snap their four-game losing streak.

“Sure, I’m upset about it, but I think any person would be,” Davis said of his demotion. “I started 21 games for this football team now and I know that I didn’t play good every single play for every single quarter, and not every single pass was perfect. But I always gave it 110 percent and I still feel like I’m the starting quarterback here.

“But he’s benching me and I’ve got to be a man about it and keep my head up.”

Davis, who sat out the 1993 season after transferring from Oklahoma, won the starting job last fall and guided WSU to an 8-4 record that included a 10-3 win over Baylor in the Alamo Bowl. He completed more than 58 percent of his passes and threw for 2,229 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Through nine games this season he has thrown for 1,868 yards and 11 TDs and has moved into the No. 5 spot on WSU’s career passing yardage list with 4,167 yards. But the Cougars are a disappointing 3-6. Davis said he first learned of quarterback change during a meeting with Price Monday.

“He told me I was the best quarterback skill-wise and that I was the best player at the position and that I put us in the best position to win,” Davis explained. “But he said that he felt like my attitude wasn’t the way he wanted it so he was benching me.

“He didn’t say for how long or anything like that.”

Davis, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, was yanked after only two offensive series against Cal and the game tied at 3. With Leaf under center during the entire second quarter, the Cougars did not net a single yard and were outscored 24-0.

Davis, rather than help signal in plays from the sidelines, went to the far end of the bench and seemed to be politicking with some of the backup offensive lineman.

He was reinserted at the start of the second half and played the rest of the game, but admitted he was “hurt” by Price’s decision to yank him without prior notification.

And he stood by that reaction Monday evening.

“I’m not hiding from this situation; I’m not running from it,” Davis said. “But I think any person and any quarterback would be mad if he wasn’t told and then was pulled when it was 3-3. If it was 27-3 and he did it, it’d be different …

“Of course, I wasn’t helping give signals and doing all of that, but I was mad. And yeah, I said some things on the sidelines that I probably shouldn’t have said, but I think that anyone - in the heat of battle when it happens like that - would have reacted the same way.”

“My players are behind me, I know that,” he said. “Just from what they told me at practice today, I know who they want on the field.” Davis suggested, however, that some of his teammates might not be willing to reveal their true feelings on the quarterback issue. Asked if he could put the differ ences between him and Price aside, Davis balked, questioning whether his benching was the answer to WSU’s recent offensive problems.

“Whether that’s the right thing to do, I don’t know,” he said. “It obviously wasn’t the right thing to do last Saturday.

“It’s just that (Price) is mad, and maybe he has a right to be because of some the things I said, or my attitude, or whatever. Can it be patched up? Sure, as far as my playing again. But as far as the relationship and my trust in Coach Price, I don’t know.”

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