Cougs focus on fresh start

PULLMAN – Washington State University football coach Paul Wulff is already tired of hearing about last season.

And the new season doesn’t even start until this afternoon.

“We burned all our film from last year, so we can’t show anything,” Wulff joked this week, referring to last year’s 2-11 season that featured seven losses of more than 30 points.

So Wulff’s desire to get this season started is understandable, if only to see how his team can improve on its 1-8 Pac-10 mark.

Washington State’s opponent today, conference foe Stanford, might not be blamed if it wanted to take a peak back, at least to last year’s matchup between the teams.

“We don’t have any rear-view mirrors in our car here,” said coach Jim Harbaugh when asked about the Cardinal’s 58-0 win over WSU. “It’s a new season, both for our ballclub and for there’s.”

The Cardinal formula, which they used effectively in last year’s 5-7 season, is to pound you with 6-foot-1, 235-pound running back Toby Gerhart behind a large offensive line.

“We’ve got to become a relentless team,” Harbaugh said earlier this year. “We’ve got to do the hunting. You can’t kill us, we’re never going to quit, but eventually, we’re going to kill you.”

Asked this week if he thought his team would play better than they did against Stanford last year, Wulff blurted out his answer.

“Well, I sure darn hope so,” he said. “I think we’ve improved a lot. I think we’ve come a long ways and we’re an improved football team.”