Doesn’t get any easier for Cougars
PULLMAN – The Washington State Cougars are rested and ready after their bye week. They’ll have to leave the tanned part to their opponent Saturday.
But these UCLA Bruins aren’t the prototypical beach boys WSU has defeated five of the last six times the teams have played.
“They are more physical then they’ve been in the past. Defensively, they run around and hit people really well,” said WSU head coach Bill Doba, fresh off watching college football on Saturday like, in his words, “a real person.”
Maybe that’s why the Bruins (5-2 overall, 4-0 in the Pac-10) will head to Pullman tied with Arizona State atop the conference standings. Despite leading one of the toughest conferences in the nation, the Bruins are unranked, due in big part to two unseemly non-conference losses.
UCLA was thundered 44-6 at Utah, currently 5-3 overall, and then handed Notre Dame its only win of the season, 20-6, despite holding the Irish to 140 yards in total offense.
Doba, for his part, sees those losses as aberrations, not trends.
“I vote on them and I ranked them, let’s put it that way,” he said. “They lost two games, correct? They lost to Utah, which they shouldn’t have, probably, and they lost to Notre Dame when they didn’t have a quarterback.
“But they still have talent. They have good seniors, they have good schemes and there are good coaches. … You lose a couple linemen and a quarterback and suddenly you lose a ball game or two.”
And they had an impressive game last Saturday, dominating up front defensively while posting a 30-21 upset of Cal.
“To beat Cal – Cal has a real good football team – that tells you something about the talent they have,” Doba said. “They played really well. After looking at the Notre Dame game, they looked like two different teams. They got their quarterback back and that was a big difference.”
That would be junior quarterback Pat Cowan, son of a former UW signal-caller, Tim, who scored a touchdown in the Huskies’ 1982 Rose Bowl win over Iowa. The younger Cowan started eight games last year – including the Bruins’ upset of USC – in relief of usual starter Ben Olson, injured again this season.
“He’s mobile enough,” said Doba when asked if Cowan’s knee injury would limit his movement, “and he’s got a good offensive line to protect him. A general rule is you want to pressure a good quarterback and let the bad one throw it.”
The Bruins changed some offensively against the Bears, running more two tight end sets and pounding Cal with running back Kahlil Bell. The junior rushed for 142 yards, including a 64-yard blast that led to a touchdown. But UCLA’s offensive thrust is usually a little more finesse-orientated.
“They are a great screen team,” Doba said, noting the Bruins tried about two dozen in the three games the WSU staff has watched on film. “That slows down a rush too, and the pressure you can put on a quarterback.”
Notes
The bye week came at a perfect time, according to Doba. “It came at a great time after a humiliating loss like that,” he said, referring to WSU’s 53-7 loss at Oregon. “We had two really good practices on Thursday and Friday.” … The bye also allowed some Cougars (2-5, 0-4) to heal up, including receiver Brandon Gibson, who Doba expects to play Saturday. It turns out safety Alfonso Jackson probably didn’t suffer another concussion against Oregon but instead was still feeling the effects of the one he sustained in Arizona. He will be tested early this week and may be available. Tackle Micah Hannam is day to day, according to Doba, but will probably not play. Freshman guard Andrew Roxas is running with the first group on the left side in Bobby Byrd‘s spot. Byrd has moved to tackle, where he played last season. … WSU practiced Monday (usually an off day) and will go hard again today. The Cougars will taper off Wednesday and Thursday, hoping to be fresh for the Bruins. … Doba answered a lot of questions about just how good Oregon is (“pretty darn good” was one description) and whether the Ducks duo of Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart should be in the mix for national awards (to boil down his answer to one word, yes). But Doba also had a different view of fifth-ranked Oregon’s biggest strength. “The thing that makes it all go,” Doba said, “is their offensive line.”