Special teams take big hit

SEATTLE – If there was one area in which the Washington State Cougars performed poorly the final few years of Bill Doba’s coaching tenure, it was in special teams.

Two years ago the Cougars finished last in three kickoff categories and in the bottom half of every other special-team statistic the Pac-10 keeps.

So it’s understandable that new coach Paul Wulff wanted to upgrade the area immediately. More starters, new emphasis and greater time – all were all focused on special teams.

Wullf even took the step of naming a coordinator, running backs coach Steve Broussard.

None of it helped Saturday.

“Overall, we didn’t make the plays we needed to make in all phases of the game,” Broussard said, “and I think special teams were the biggest debacle.”

The Cougars’ trouble started in July, actually, when returning punter Reid Forrest cracked his left ankle while practicing. With Forrest out – he averaged 40.5 yards a punt and the WSU opponents averaged just 6.5 yards a return – WSU looked to redshirt freshman Dan Wagner, a backup quarterback, to fill the breach.

Then the battle for the kicker position stretched until this week, with Wulff finally deciding to use Wade Penner, last year’s kickoff specialist, on placements and Patrick Rooney, a junior college transfer, on kickoffs.

All three had their troubles in the 39-13 defeat to Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys averaged 24.8 yards on their five punt returns, building momentum – and field position. It started with a 42-yard first-quarter return by Dez Bryant – leading to a 3-0 advantage. And it continued with a 68-yard burst by Ricky Price in the third quarter, when only Tali Talakai’s ankle-high tackle saved a touchdown and forced another OSU field goal for an 18-0 lead.

But those were only the appetizers. The next special-teams collapse was the main course and it cost the Cougars momentum and probably any shot at opening the season 1-0.

WSU had just scored, with Gary Rogers heating up and finding Brandon Gibson for a 9-yard scoring pass. The Qwest Field crowd of 50,830 was ready to explode, despite the damper applied by Penner missing the extra point.

But the only explosion came from OSU’s Perrish Cox.

Pat Rooney’s kickoff was supposed to be in the right corner. It wasn’t.

“The kick is always the key,” Broussard said. “When you’re trying to put it on the numbers and it’s in the middle, it’s tough on the coverage.”

Cox took the ball at the 10. Before he had traveled 5 yards, it was obvious he wasn’t going to be touched.

“We just had two guys who weren’t in their lanes,” Wulff said. “Heck, we didn’t have anyone inside the dang hashes.”

Cox burst up the middle untouched – wedge blocker Noah Franklin was passed because he had no one to block – and raced 90 yards for a game-clinching score.

“It was one or two guys not reading the return and squeezing, which you talk about and preach,” Broussard said.

Broussard, for his part, knew where the blame ultimately should be fixed.

“The responsibility is mine and we’re going to fix it,” he said.

Line stands up

One area of concern coming in for WSU was the offensive line.

Riddled by injury – starting left tackle Vaughn Lesuma is out indefinitely with a bad back – and injury-forced departures – starting right guard Dan Rowlands had to call it quits with bad shoulders – the Cougars started a redshirt freshman in Steven Ayers at tackle and walk-on Brian Danaher at guard.

The inexperience showed most in pass protection, with Rogers sacked twice and having to scramble away from pressure a handful of other times. There were also some missed assignments in the running game and three false starts.

But overall, center Kenny Alfred, one of two returning starters, thought the group did pretty well. And the two new members were a big part of it.

“Stephen and Brian are both intelligent, tenacious, Cougar-loving kind of guys, and I didn’t have any doubts they would prepare well,” Alfred said. “For the day, I would give them an ‘A.’ ”

“The offensive line, I thought there were a few miscues there in protection,” Wulff said. “The run game, there were probably a few things. But we ran the ball pretty effectively, so the offensive line did some good things there.”

Defense takes a shot

The Cougars lost starting defensive back Alfonso Jackson on their first punt, when the safety-turned-corner suffered what is described as a possible hip flexor.

Backup linebacker Jason Stripling, who played considerable minutes in relief of Kendrick Dunn and recorded eight tackles, including two for loss, left late and was to have his foot X-rayed.

The two defenders’ status is still unclear.

What is clear is Lesuma and backup defensive back Markus Dawes (shoulder) were unavailable and are still day-to-day. Tight end Devin Frischknecht practiced sparingly last week and didn’t start, nursing a strained hamstring. He did catch one pass in limited time.

Gibson’s blues

The Cougars anticipated some hiccups from the 10 players on the two deep who were seeing their first college action – but the slow start by their star, senior wide receiver Gibson, was troubling.

Gibson had two passes thrown his way in the first half and was unable to hang on to either, both potential “big plays” cited by Wulff that could have helped the Cougars generate some first-half rhythm.

“I’ve got to make plays on both of them, bottom line,” Gibson said. “Gary (Rogers) did a nice job of getting them off. The first one I thought the guy held me a little bit, but I’ve got to come up with it. So put those on me. I’ve got to be more consistent and play a more complete game.”

Gibson finished with six catches for a modest 53 yards, including a 9-yard scoring pass from Rogers, but not until the Cougars had managed to loosen up coverage by establishing a running game.

“We were trying to get the running game started,” said Gibson about his lack of touches, “which I have no problem with. If I get the ball first half, second half, I just have to make big plays.”

Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood

Rogers had to wait four full years before getting his first start at quarterback for the Cougs – and it wasn’t particularly a day to remember.

The 6-foot-7 senior completed 12 of 24 passes for just 82 yards, and didn’t connect on a pass for a first down until less than five minutes remained in the third quarter.

“But I would guesstimate that he had between five and seven (balls) dropped,” Wulff said. “So he put the ball there.”

He had the presence of mind to get the Cougars set and the ball snapped on fourth-and-goal from the OSU 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter when the Cowboys were still trying to hustle three substitutes on the field. The result was a 3-yard sneak for a touchdown.

“I was a little nervous,” Rogers said. “I haven’t really played in a while. I was just anticipating the moment. I’ve been waiting for this and I wanted to take it in and soak it up and it was fun – and now I’m looking forward to having a great senior season.”

The sure thing

The Cowboys found a favorite go-to play beginning late in the second quarter – match 6-foot-2 Bryant against one of WSU’s undersized cornerbacks and have him post up like a basketball player for a lob pass. The bulk of his seven catches for 90 yards came that way.

“We knew they wanted to do that with Dez a little bit,” said WSU safety Chima Nwachukwu. “A lot of the time our corners were in position, but they just need to work on technique. And Dez is just a great player, also.”