WSU’s Lopina out

PULLMAN – The Pac-10 has always been considered a quarterback’s conference. From Oregon State’s Terry Baker to USC’s Matt Leinart, the conference’s quarterbacks have won five Heisman trophies.

Now it can be considered an injured quarterbacks’ conference.

Especially after the news Tuesday afternoon from Washington State.

The Cougars announced another quarterback back injury, albeit not as serious as the one Gary Rogers suffered against Portland State last Saturday.

Kevin Lopina, who had taken over Rogers’ starting spot, isn’t just suffering from a shoulder bruise as originally thought. After complaining of back pain early in the week, Lopina was given an MRI, which revealed a small fracture in his lower back.

The junior is expected to miss at least three weeks, though unlike Rogers, whose football career may be over, Lopina’s doesn’t seem in jeopardy.

But, like so many other Pac-10 quarterbacks this year, it is on hold.

UCLA started the trend, losing two possible starters – Ben Olson and Pat Cowan – within minutes in spring football.

And the Bruins aren’t alone.

Oregon State lost backup Sean Canfield. USC lost star Mark Sanchez for a while during fall camp as did Washington with Jake Locker.

The worst blows, however, have hit the two teams that meet Saturday afternoon in Pullman.

Oregon lost starter Nate Costa for the season before its opener versus Washington. Justin Roper went down against Purdue and isn’t expected back this week. Jeremiah Masoli took a late hit against Boise State and left with a concussion. Things are so bad, the Ducks pulled the redshirt from true freshman Darron Thomas and played him the entire fourth quarter against the Broncos.

Washington State’s injuries weren’t as spread out. The Cougars lost Lopina in the second quarter of last week’s win over Portland State. They then lost Rogers for the season with a broken neck a quarter later.

Rogers and Masoli were injured on hits that drew personal foul flags, though the remainder of the quarterback injuries didn’t come from unusual game action.

And that underlines the problem.

“People talk about rule changes and things of that nature to try to keep quarterbacks healthy,” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said Tuesday. “The fact of the matter is it’s a physical game. People and bodies are around you. And when bodies are on the ground and people are flying around, you’re susceptible to injury. It’s kind of the breaks of the game.

“I don’t think you can make excuses about it, you just keep going.”

Still, the quarterback plays such a huge part in every college football game, any injury throws a rod into the machinery.

“The guy who has his hands on the ball every offensive snap,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said, “his decision making, that part of the game, becomes really important to your team’s success.”

“The teams that have not only experienced quarterbacks, but good quarterbacks coming back,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said, “have a much better opportunity to play well and to compete in some of these games that turn into upsets.”

WSU’s Marshall Lobbestael played well enough in a reserve role (9 of 12 for 149 yards and two touchdowns, the first of his career) to earn the Pac-10 offensive player of the week award. But trying to manufacture an upset of Oregon as a starter is a different animal.

“There is no question it is different,” WSU coach Paul Wulff said. “You feel you’ve got more on your shoulders and the team is depending on you. So your preparation becomes more intense and your brain probably moves a lot faster and you’re thinking a lot more about it.

“The anticipation and buildup is greater, so, hopefully, those nerves and those types of things don’t affect his play.”

The redshirt freshman from Oak Harbor spent his day off Monday in the video room, finally kicked out by coaches at 10:30 p.m. On Tuesday, faced with the certainty of starting Saturday, he took the majority of snaps in practice, backed up by true freshman J.T. Levenseller, who will forfeit hi redshirt year if needed, according to Wulff. Another redshirt freshman, Dan Wagner, ran the scout team.

Oregon doesn’t have WSU’s certainty. Oregon coach Mike Bellotti doesn’t know who will start, but he does have criteria in mind.

“We’re going to play the guy who gives us the best chance to win,” he said. “Really, right now we don’t have a (practice) rotation. We’ve had one day of practice and really Mondays are just a general practice.

“The next three days … will determine if we play more than one quarterback, if we’re going to rotate or how that rotation will work. As we look at what Washington State does, their personnel, our personnel matchups … and who should be the trigger man.”

Which doesn’t mean Bellotti will spread the news when he makes up his mind.

“It will probably be a game-time decision,” he said. “I’ll probably make the decision earlier, I just probably won’t tell anybody.”

Around the conference

Arizona has a bye this week and that’s fine with Stoops. “We’re where we should be,” he said of UA’s 3-1 record. The week will allow the Wildcats to acclimate new center Colin Baxter, who has to take over after two-year starter Blake Kerley was lost for the season against UCLA. … Arizona State also has a bye following back-to-back losses to UNLV and Georgia. “A week off a lot of times is not only physical, it’s mental, especially after a couple losses like we’ve had,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. Erickson said they’ll use the week like spring football, with an emphasis on improving the offensive line. … Bellotti doesn’t know the status of injured defensive back Walter Thurmond III, who didn’t play against Boise State. A decision will be made later in the week. … Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh had one of the most interesting lines during this week’s coach teleconference. “You can tell it was loud, even without sound,” Harbaugh said about Husky Stadium during the Oklahoma game. Harbaugh explained the tip off was the way OU quarterback Sam Bradford was signaling the plays with hand signals. “This will be two teams desperately fighting for a win,” Harbaugh said. … Despite a 0-3 start to the season, UW’s Tyrone Willingham thinks his team’s math skills are good enough to know there is still a lot of season left. “Our guys can understand we’ve played three games and there are nine games left,” Willingham said. “They understand nine is greater than three and there is a lot we can do.” … There was talk about Fresno State coach Pat Hill’s comments this week about the inability to get teams to play him in Fresno, Calif. UCLA’s Neuheisel, who hosts the Bulldogs on Saturday, thinks it is just a motivational ploy that’s fed by Hill. “Pat’s been doing that a long time at Fresno and it’s been working,” Neuheisel said. “No one is going to argue with his way of motivating his team.” … California is the first Pac-10 team to play a Mountain West team since the MWC swept the Pac-10 two weeks ago. But Jeff Tedford is not worried about carrying the conference banner. “Mainly it’s about how we play,” he said. “It’s not so much about the Mountain West or who we’re playing, it’s about us taking care of our business.”

Cougar notes

The oft-injured Jason Stripling is out for the rest of the season with a labrum injury in his shoulder. The redshirt junior linebacker will undergo surgery with a recovery time of four to six months, according to WSU head trainer Bill Drake. Stripling redshirted two years ago due to injury then missed last season with academic problems. He is expected to petition the NCAA for a sixth year. … Defensive end Kevin Kooyman’s right ankle, sprained against Portland State, was in a boot Tuesday. He is day to day. … Kenny Dunn, who missed last week with an ankle sprain, returned to practice and should play this week, but fellow linebacker Cory Evans is still out. Offensive guard Andrew Roxas, out three weeks with a knee sprain, went through non-contact drills, but isn’t expected to play this week. … Vaughn Lesuma played left tackle with the starters, pairing with B.J. Guerra on that side of the ball. Wulff said “we’re still trying to find some answers,” on that side of the ball. … According to Wulff, WSU’s defense missed just two tackles against Portland State.