Gibson joins record book

TEMPE, Ariz. – In a senior season that has been overrun with loss after loss, Brandon Gibson has soldiered on. “He hasn’t missed a practice, maybe one, since I’ve gotten here,” said first-year offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy. “He’s there every day and he plays the position at a high level, the way it’s supposed to be played.”

That show-up-and-work attitude resulted Saturday night in Gibson finally passing one of his closest friends, current San Francisco 49er Jason Hill, on the Cougars’ all-time pass receiving yardage list.

With three catches for 41 yards, Gibson has 2,711 receiving yards, 7 yards more than Hill, who played from 2003 to 2006.

That career overlapped Gibson’s, and the senior is quick to credit Hill for part of the record.

“I learned everything from Jason,” Gibson said. “Watching him day in and day out, his competitive edge, the way he played, it really inspired me.”

The two did it different ways.

Hill was the burner, getting deep enough to obliterate the WSU record for touchdown catches with 32, 10 more than Hugh Campbell’s long-standing mark.

Gibson is more of a possession receiver, using his precision to get open inside and make the tough catch.

His record-setting reception was typical, as were his two others Saturday.

On the Cougars’ third play, he caught a crossing pattern from Kevin Lopina and broke free down the left sideline for a 30-yard gain, pulling within 4 yards of Hill’s mark. Two plays later he grabbed the record by grabbing another Lopina third-down toss for 11 yards.

The third catch came a quarter later on a screen pass, and has been the case too often this season, it didn’t work. Gibson was tackled for no gain.

“It’s a good accomplishment,” Gibson said of the mark. “I still believe I have a lot of things to work on to become more of a complete player. I’m really thankful for God blessing me with the talents to help the team.

“But at the end of the day, we still lost.”

That shouldn’t overwhelm the recognition in the long run.

“That’s a great record,” Sturdy said. “There have been some great receivers here, and a lot of great history at that position. That’s a tribute to him and his career and what he’s done here.”

Ahmu likes it outside

As the injuries have mounted, the Cougars’ defensive strategy has evolved. The last two games WSU has played a three-man front, with senior A’i Ahmu moving to the outside for the first time in his Cougars career.

Make that his life.

“I was always a nose tackle in high school,” Ahmu said. “I didn’t even get to play Pop Warner because I was too big.”

Playing inside, where blockers come from all angles, and outside, where there’s more room to roam, has been fun for Ahmu. But at 6-foot and 280 pounds, he’s not built like the typical defensive end, and he knows it.

“I like it a lot, it’s more on the edge, you’ve got more room,” he said. “It’s just, toward the end of the game, I was losing my legs. I was like, ‘There’s a lot more running out here.’ ”

He ran down four ballcarriers this week, to go with his three tackles and a sack he got last week.

ASU celebrates Kush era

As part of ASU’s homecoming festivities, the Sun Devils wore the same helmet logo the team wore from 1976 to 1979.

That was the end of the Frank Kush era in Tempe, the coach who won 176 games in 22 years. He was fired halfway through the 1979 season after being accused of slugging the team’s punter.

Records have to wait

The defensive performance – WSU’s second best in the Pac-10 in terms of yards and points – helped keep the Cougars from entering the NCAA record book for another week.

The Football Bowl Subdivision record for points given up in a season is 566 by Eastern Michigan in the course of 12 2002 games.

In its 11 games, WSU has given up 533, an average of 48.5. The record for average is 50.3, set by Louisiana-Lafayette in 1997.

WSU got closer to the national record for kickoff return yardage, though. With 109 yards, it’s at 1,518 for the year, 101 behind Nebraska’s record set last season.

Longer injury list

The injury list added quarterback Lopina with a concussion – his status for the Apple Cup will be determined later in the week – and running back Chantz Staden with a knee injury – he may miss the rest of the season.

But there were others watching as well, with safety Alfonso Jackson in a sweat suit the entire game, running back Logwon Mitz sitting out with a shoulder injury, cornerback Romeo Pellum missing the latter minutes with leg cramps and J.T. Levenseller tweaking his left wrist on a fourth-quarter fumble.

Notes

The Cougars’ 7 yards rushing was a season low. They also had two turnovers while forcing none, dropping their turnover margin to minus-24. … When Lawrence Guy returned Levenseller’s fumble for a touchdown, it marked the third consecutive game the ASU defense had scored. … WSU tied a season high with three sacks, including the first two of Toby Turpin’s career. … Greg Trent’s nine tackles moved him into seventh place on WSU’s career list with 309. … The Sun Devils posted their first shutout since 1996, a stretch of 152 games. The last shutout was a 19-0 upset of No. 1 Nebraska.