This one’s for Mom
PULLMAN – Chris Ivory’s big day against Stanford on Saturday proved to a bit bittersweet. On one hand, Washington State’s sophomore running back was elated about celebrating his return from a three-week injury layoff by rushing for 104 yards on 15 carries to help the Cougars turn back the Cardinal 33-17 and keep their bowl hopes alive.
But he was also saddened by the fact that his mother, Judy Ivory-Gilliland, who spent a couple of days on campus earlier this week, was not among the 31,110 Martin Stadium fans who witnessed his effort.
Ivory’s mother, who was stricken with viral meningitis this spring, came to visit her son on Tuesday but had to return to her home in Longview, Texas, on Thursday morning.
Ivory, who left the team during spring practice to help tend to his mother, said she is recovering slowly from her disease.
“Most of her memory is coming back,” said the 5-foot-11, 213-pounder, who played for the first time since suffering a concussion during a 23-20 loss to Arizona State back on Sept. 29. “She’s recovering OK, but she still has a problem with her short-term memory.
“I had mixed emotions about her not being here. But I know she was here for me even though she wasn’t at the game. And I know she’s proud of me and my effort, no matter how things turned out.”
Cougars coach Bill Doba was also happy with Ivory’s considerable contributions on Saturday, especially with starter Dwight Tardy sidelined for the year with a torn ACL and Kevin McCall still slowed by a leg injury.
“We needed him,” Doba, said of Ivory, who rushed for 85 yards and a TD in the five games he played prior to getting hurt. “He’s a big-time back.”
Big day for Bumpus
WSU’s Michael Bumpus finished the day with seven receptions for 96 yards, but the catch he’ll remember the longest was his first of game.
It came on the Cougars’ initial possession and covered a modest 14 yards. But it gave the senior wide receiver 177 for his career and erased the school record of 176 set by Hugh Campbell (1960-62).
After making the catch, Bumpus threw the ball to the sidelines.
“I wanted to make sure I kept that one,” he said, explaining that he had worked things out with one of the trainers prior to the game to put the ball away and save it for him.
When asked what he planned to do with the ball, Bumpus said he would keep it until Saturday when his mother comes up from Culver City, Calif., for Senior Day.
“I’ll just give it to Mom, and she’ll put it our little Wall of Fame we’ve got back home,” he said.
With his 45-yard punt return in the first quarter, Bumpus also became WSU’s all-time leader in that category with 809 punt return yards, surpassing the record of 781 that was held by Kitrick Taylor (1982-83, 85-86).
“I’m a receiver first,” Bumpus said. “Punt returning is something I do just to help the team out.”
Another record for Brink
Alex Brink added one more Washington State record to his impressive resume when he connected with Ben Woodard on a 12-yard scoring pass early in the second quarter.
The touchdown toss was the 71st of Brink’s career and moved the senior quarterback ahead of Jason Gesser (1999-2002) and into first place on the Cougars’ all-time list. It also moved him into seventh place on the Pacific-10 Conference’s all-time list.
“It’s obviously an awesome feeling getting a record like that and a win,” Brink said after burning Stanford for 449 yards through the air. “A lot of people have gone into that – all the receivers who have caught balls, all the O-linemen, everybody.”
Abdullah does it again
Husain Abdullah continued his productive play at safety for the Cougars, getting involved in 14 tackles to equal his career high and returning an interception 55 yards for the game’s final touchdown with just more than 3 minutes remaining.
The 6-foot, 190-pound senior has been involved in 64 takes – including 7 1/2 for losses – and has at least one tackle for a loss in WSU’s last six games.
“He plays a lot better when he can get up close, so we’re rolling him up as one of the safeties to help us on the pressure packages,” Doba said of Abduallah, who has moved closer to the line of scrimmage as part of the 3-4 defensive look employed in recent weeks. “Since the bye (week), he’s really been playing well. … I really loved him when he caught that one and ran it back. That was awesome.”
Collins catches on
WSU’s Jed Collins equaled his career high with 10 receptions for 123 yards, posting the first 100-yard game of his career.
The senior tight end rolled an ankle during the end of the game and didn’t make it to the interview room, but he had plenty of teammates and coaches who were willing to praise his effort.
“Jed’s been that kind of guy for us all year,” Brink said. “In typical Jed Collins fashion, he was on me early in the game to get him the ball a little more. We started finding him in the second quarter and (he made) some big plays in the second half.”
Collins made six of his catches and accounted for 93 yards in receptions in the second half.
“He’s a football player,” Doba said of the 6-2, 250-pounder from San Juan Capistrano, Calif. “I’d have confidence in him if I was Brink. Anything you throw near him, he catches the damn thing.”