Cougs keep their guard up

PULLMAN – Letdown. It’s a word that would have seemed laughable not that long ago around Bohler Gym.

But after a pair of impressive Pac-10 wins, and with a struggling Arizona team coming to Pullman, the Cougars have to be on the lookout to prevent just that this week.

Not only is WSU a favorite for the first time since playing at Oregon State nearly a month ago, but it’s more than a two-touchdown favorite – a margin of expected victory it hasn’t seen in years for a Pac-10 game.

“This is a first,” tight end Jed Collins said. “We have taken pride in being the underdogs this year, but we’re not taking Arizona lightly at all. They’re a good program. They hit real hard, and any given Saturday … just look at what happened to USC. Anybody can beat you and obviously we’re no unreal team. We’re just like anybody else.”

Head coach Bill Doba even touched on his best Lou Holtz impersonation, playing up the virtues of this week’s opponent, like the former Notre Dame coach was famous for doing.

While Doba didn’t quite take it as far as Holtz once did, the Cougars boss made it clear he didn’t want his team looking at the Wildcats as mere roadkill on the way to a winning season.

“We can’t worry about bowls. We have to worry about Arizona,” he said. “They’re a pretty good team, actually. Other than LSU, who beat them 45-3, they haven’t been blown out.”

The Cougars proved last week that they can handle success, something many teams fail to do. But a 37-15 road win at UCLA seemed to quell most doubts about this team and launched it into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2003.

Now they’ll get the chance to show that they won’t play down to the competition, which would seemingly be the case if a 3-5 team manages to make it a game on the road.

“That’s certainly something we have to be guarded against,” quarterback Alex Brink said. “Having them come to our place after a bye week, they’re obviously going to be ready to go and look for something to turn their season around. We need to be on top of our game and prepare well.”

But cornerback Don Turner may have said it best when asked about the letdown possibility.

“This is the biggest game of the week,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep it going.”

Notes

Punter Darryl Blunt said he’s doing well after tests came back showing no reason for concern. The sophomore’s heartbeat sped up before the UCLA game and forced a trip to the hospital, but he’s punted in both of the last two days in practice and is expected to play this week. … The Cougars were gathered in their usual end-of-practice huddle on the Martin Stadium turf when someone suddenly turned all the lights off. A single voice, belonging to Doba, could be heard shouting, “Hey!” to no one in particular, and the lights didn’t return. “They wouldn’t do that for intramurals, but they do it for us,” the coach mused as he walked off the field.