Happy to play again

PULLMAN – Kevin Lopina started this, his senior season, as Washington State University’s starting quarterback, a spot he kept for two games.

In the ensuing three months, he’s been second string, injured, the scout team quarterback and, Saturday, the architect of WSU’s only scoring play, responsible for 135 of the Cougars’ 181 yards of total offense.

And he remembered why he plays the game.

“Sometimes, when you’re on the grind and you’re doing all this football, you lose what football’s really about,” Lopina said. “You know, it’s a game. You are supposed to have fun with your teammates and things like that.”

He rediscovered that while running the scout team for a couple of weeks, duty he said he volunteered for in an effort to help a WSU team that is 1-9 overall, 0-7 in the Pac-10.

“Going down there, just throwing the ball around, running around, it made me think I was in high school or Pop Warner again,” Lopina said. “And I think it gave me a regained confidence.”

He showed off the confidence on his 46-yard third-quarter touchdown toss to Jeffrey Solomon.

Despite UCLA trying to take away the deep route with a zone, Lopina found Solomon behind the defense down the left sideline.

“I told him, when I was out there, if they are in Cover 2, I’m going to go up top and hit them in the hole,” he said. “They were, I did and it worked.”

Despite his relief performance, Lopina knows the quarterback job is Jeff Tuel’s when he returns from his dislocated kneecap.

“It’s my senior year and I’ve got three games left, maybe, in my career,” Lopina said. “I just wanted to go out there, make a statement, have fun.”

Robertson honored

Washington State honored longtime radio broadcaster Bob Robertson on the field before the game.

And they will honor him in perpetuity, naming the booth he’s used for years at Martin Stadium the Bob Robertson Broadcast Suite.

Robertson, who has been named Washington Sportscaster of the Year 12 times, is in his 43rd season of broadcasting Cougars football games.

For 24 years he did double duty, covering the WSU basketball team as well.

Jekyll-and-Hyde day

Reid Forrest had one of the best punting games of his career – and one of the worst in results.

Forrest averaged 50.3 yards on six punts, including a 57-yarder on his first attempt.

But the junior also had a punt from the end zone blocked, the result of a mishandled snap and a strong UCLA rush.

Forrest sidestepped two Bruins but couldn’t avoid Sean Westgate, who took the ball off his arms, knocking it through the end zone for a safety and giving UCLA a 23-0 lead.

On his next punt, Forrest, using a rugby technique, boomed a 54-yarder that Terrence Austin took back all the way to the WSU 2-yard line. However, the runback was nullified by an illegal block.

By then, Forrest was running off the field, his left arm hanging limply by his side. After punting the ball, he had been hit, causing a shoulder subluxation, a slight dislocation.

“It didn’t come all the way out, so it’s just a minor sprain,” said Forrest, who returned to punt in the second half.

O-line gets reacquainted

The offensive line WSU expected to start every game this season returned to the field for the first time since the Hawaii game in week two.

The group did an improved job of pass protection, giving up two sacks – WSU had yielded an average of five per game coming in – but still didn’t reach its goals, according to senior center Kenny Alfred.

“One thing that was nice to see was a little improvement in the offensive line play,” Alfred said. “We’re finally at a point where we have some guys back. We’re actually gaining the ability to have some cohesiveness, which is something we needed pretty desperately.

“At the same time, something extremely disappointing from today was those mistakes. Those things that kill drives, those things kill possibilities and opportunities we had open to us.”

As his career winds down, Alfred wants to see improvement.

“I want guys who are willing to fight from the first snap to the last snap,” he said.