Hill still on a roll

TUCSON, Ariz. — Noticing a trend when the Cougars want big plays on offense? It’s not hard: Wide receiver Jason Hill caught two more touchdowns Saturday against Arizona, one good for 43 yards and the other a game-winner with 53 ticks left in the fourth quarter.

Two weeks ago, against Colorado, Hill grabbed six passes for 206 yards. Against Idaho, he converted three catches into three scores and 105 yards.

Hill came into Tucson averaging 115 receiving yards a game, and while that number did go down — the sophomore finished with four catches for 74 yards — he made more than enough important grabs to make his coaches happy.

“J-Hill wasn’t playing well early. He was sick,” offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller said. “He calmed himself down, got himself energized, went out there and just did things the way he’s supposed to do.”

Hill said he’s been ill for the past three days, and that it was especially difficult to get going on Saturday. But when quarterback Josh Swogger needed someone to make a play at the end, he went straight to Hill on a fade in the right corner of the end zone for the decisive score.

“We knew we were going to get the ball back,” Hill said. “On the sidelines, he just kept telling me, ‘Jason we got to make a big play.’

“The guys were playing inside shade on us all day. I just took him inside and went up top.”

Injury update

WSU didn’t escape Tucson unscathed. The hard hitting on the field had a number of players on both sides limping to the sidelines, surprising even head coach Bill Doba.

“It seemed like every time I turned around somebody else was coming out,” he said.

Wideout Marty Martin sprained his shoulder in the fourth quarter, and his status for the future is still uncertain. Safety Hamza Abdullah, whose younger brother Husain had the game-saving fumble recovery near the end, strained a groin muscle and suffered from cramps that limited his playing time.

Without a doubt, the position that got hit hardest was tight end.

Both starter Troy Bienemann and his backup, Cody Boyd, were injured, forcing third-stringer Jesse Taylor to play the entire second half, essentially forcing the Cougars to stay away from their two-tight end look on offense.

Bienemann took a helmet to the shin and suffered a bruised fibula. He attempted to return to the game twice, but got hit again and spent the rest of the day on the sidelines.

Bienemann said he expects to return in time for the Oregon game on Oct. 9. Boyd’s prognosis is not so rosy.

The Cougars’ second tight end has had a season perhaps more difficult than any of his teammates. The first three times the ball came his way in 2004, Boyd dropped the pass. The fourth time — last week against Idaho — Swogger hurt his knee. The fifth time, he made his first grab, ran 38 yards and fumbled the ball away inside the Wildcats 10. And on his second catch Saturday, Boyd sustained a third-degree shoulder separation on his right side, which Doba said could keep him out 5-6 weeks.

Showing up on radar

It ended up going for naught as Arizona went 80 yards for a score immediately afterward, but one of the game’s most impressive plays was Kyle Basler’s 87-yard punt, a school record.

WSU’s junior punter was standing on his own goal line when he caught the snap, and boomed one that ended up skipping into the other end zone.

Before Basler’s boot, Gavin Hedrick held the WSU record with an 83-yarder in 1975.

“I hit it very well, obviously. It’s kind of one of those things where as a baseball player when you hit a home run you really don’t feel them,” Basler said. “It just goes off your foot and it just keeps going. When I saw the guy take off and start running backwards I knew it was going to keep going.”

Notes

WSU had some success once again with a two-back look on offense. Though the Cougars went away from it in the second half, Jerome Harrison scored the game’s first touchdown with fullback Brandon Asuega-Stark clearing the way in front of him. “He blocked tremendous, opened up a lot of holes,” Harrison said. … Defensive end Adam Braidwood took a number of snaps at defensive tackle as the Cougars searched for players there with starters Steve Cook and Ropati Pitoitua out with injuries. … Game-time temperature was 90 degrees in Tucson. … Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson watched the game from the press box. Following the heartbreaking loss, Olson commented on his way out, “That’s why I’m coaching basketball.”