Bruising Loss Doesn’t Leave Price Blue

Twenty-four hours, an overnight stay at his cabin on Coeur d’Alene Lake and a relaxing morning boat ride did nothing to change Washington State coach Mike Price’s opinion about the way his team played in Saturday’s bruising 35-21 loss to No. 2-ranked Nebraska.

“I was proud of our football team and football players for their effort,” Price said Sunday afternoon, just before he started breaking down video of Oregon State, next Saturday’s homecoming opponent.

The Cougars, after stunning the defending national champions with an early 87-yard touchdown run by Frank Madu, were on the verge of getting blown out late in the third quarter when a 3-yard scoring run by freshman I-back Ahman Green and a two-point conversion pass put Nebraska up 28-7.

But they refused to fold, even in the wake of injuries to three defensive starters, and came back with two long scoring drives in the final quarter that helped keep things interesting.

“When it’s 28-7, Nebraska normally puts people away,” Price said. “They normally put them in the coffin, nail it shut and score another 50 points, but that didn’t happen to this team.

“They didn’t break our will, but they definitely beat us as a football team - offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

The Cornhuskers also beat up on the Cougars physically, knocking defensive end Dwayne Sanders, linebacker Johnny Nansen and defensive tackle Gary Holmes out of the game.

Sanders bruised his left ankle and Nansen and Holmes both suffered concussions.

Sanders is listed as doubtful for Saturday’s OSU game, which is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. But Price said he expects Nansen, Holmes and starting cornerback Greg Burns, who missed the Nebraska game with a bad shoulder, to be ready for the Beavers, who lost to Washington over the weekend.

When asked if he recalled the 21-3 whipping that OSU put on his team last season, Price replied:

“I’m a college graduate, so I do have a memory. We’re both coming off tough losses and it’ll be interesting to see who bounced back. I’m glad we’re playing in Martin Stadium.”

Sideline bouncer

In an incident that went unnoticed by many during Saturday’s loss, Price engaged in an animated discussion with one of the ball boys on the WSU sidelines and ended up having the youngster replaced.

According to Price, the ball boy got in his way while cheering for Nebraska and then snapped back with a profanity when asked to move over and stop cheering.

“It was no big deal and I probably overreacted a little bit,” Price said. “But like I told an official, ‘I’ve got 75,000 (fans) yelling at me already. I don’t need 75,001 yelling at me.”

The ball boy, at Price’s request, was ordered to change places with the ball boy on Nebraska’s side of the field.

Crowd reaction

Just how much of a role Nebraska’s noisy crowd of 75,777 played in Saturday’s outcome was hard to determine because of the varied reaction of Cougars players and coaches who spent the afternoon on the sidelines.

Price said the crowd pelted his players with soft drink cups during the game and disrupted his team’s concentration off and on the field.

“I think the crowd was a definite factor,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be going into the game, but it was a negative factor for our offense.”

Price said the crowd noise made it hard for his team to hear quarterback Chad Davis’ cadence, especially when the Cougars were backed up near their own end zone like they were most of the first half.

“Our cadence wasn’t working right and our guys weren’t coming off the ball in unison,” he said.

But James Darling, the junior linebacker who calls WSU’s defensive signals, said he thought the crowd was a non-factor.

“They sat on their hands most of the time,” Darling said. “It got loud at some point, but it wasn’t a factor. I think these guys down here appreciate good football and they’re a smart crowd.

“It’s not like Pullman where you just have a lot of loud crazies.”

Third-and-shorts

The 428 yards gained by Nebraska were the most allowed by a WSU defense since 1981, when Southern California ran for 432 in a 41-17 win… . The Cougars sold 2,100 tickets for the Nebraska game and had their largest traveling party of the season… . Junior Chad Davis’ 278 passing yards against Nebraska boosted his 16-game total to 3,194 yards and jumped him ahead of Mel Melin (2,978), Dave Mathieson (3,094) and Bob Newman (3,172) into the No. 7 spot on WSU’s career passing list.

, DataTimes