Cougars are in tough – and know it
LOS ANGELES – There are only a couple of things about the top-ranked USC Trojans that worry Washington State University head coach Bill Doba going into tonight’s football game at the Coliseum.
“Two concerns,” Doba joked Thursday, “their offense and their defense.”
When you are facing the No. 1 team in the country on its field, a field where it has won 34 consecutive games, a Pac-10 record, a sense of perspective is imperative, at least to Doba.
“On paper, there is no way we can even come close,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean squat. We’ve been preaching all week that (an upset) happens every Saturday, if you read the news.
“In the game they are going to have to help us a little bit. We’re going to have to protect the football, obviously, have good ball security, get good field position, and then they are going to have to fumble it – or hit them hard enough to make them fumble it – or get an interception or two, get a few turnovers and not turn the ball over ourselves.”
Under Doba, the Cougars (2-1) have usually tried something tricky against the Trojans in an attempt to level the playing field. Don’t expect a repeat tonight.
“Every time we’ve tried something different or funny – an on-side kick, a fake field goal, whatever – against this team it seems to blow up in our face,” Doba said. “So I think we are going to go down and just play football.”
That is, play football and try to not get too keyed up in front of 90,000-plus in the Coliseum.
“A lot of our kids will be excited by it,” Doba said about playing in L.A. “We have (29) kids from Southern California and they get kind of pumped up for it.”
One of those kids is leading rusher Dwight Tardy, a redshirt sophomore from St. Paul High in Santa Fe Springs. This will be his first game in the Coliseum.
“Going home is always exciting. I can’t wait, really,” said Tardy, before turning his attention to the challenge waiting there. “They are a good team. They’re No. 1 in the nation. We’re going to have to step it up four or five notches.”