Grip on Sports: If Albert Einstein were still around and a college football fan, he would wonder why the Cougars insist on playing Washington the same way year after year – and expect a different result
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Snakebit might be the right term to use concerning Washington State’s recent Apple Cup loses but only if you consider the Cougars seem to have decided to jump into a pit of rattlers – without boots. Read on.
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• Bad luck can be self-inflicted. For example, the bad luck Washington State had for the first few years of Mike Leach’s coaching tenure in season openers. It seemed really random and odd, until this week.
Then sixth-year linebacker Peyton Pelluer spilled the beans in an interview with our Theo Lawson. It seems the Cougars never really game-planned for the games. That they just went out and played, according to Pelluer, and never practiced against what they expected to face. Boom, upset losses. Then Leach changed his tune, the Cougars began getting better prepared and, boom, wins.
Which brings us to Friday night, the latest in a handful of Chris Petersen Apple Cup wins.
After the Huskies prevailed 28-15, Jimmie Lake, who played his high school football at North Central and his college ball in Cheney, let everyone in on a secret. The Huskies have the key to stopping Leach’s offense.
OK, it’s not much of a secret. What was secret was the disdain the UW defense has for Leach’s Air Raid. Such attitudes rarely see the glare of the television lights, but they did yesterday.
It was downright disrespectful. (And if you want to see how disrespectful, read Josh Wright’s story and this and this from the other side of the state.)
But the Huskies have earned the right to say what they want. They have dominated Leach’s teams each year since Petersen was hired. It’s ugly and, if Lake is to be believed, not going to change.
• Speaking of ugly, the myth of Washington State’s snow supremacy vanished in a white cloud last night.
To be good in playing in adverse conditions, as snow is for the Air Raid offense, you have to have some experience with it. It was just the Cougars (bad) luck their outstanding quarterback, Gardner Minshew, hadn’t played in the stuff before. At least not as a Cougar.
Heck, it’s been such a mild fall, WSU hasn’t even practiced in it.
Remember when Napoleon Kaufman and the Huskies showed up for the Snow Bowl and were discombobulated by the whole frozen precipitation thing?
“UW’s speedy running back Napoleon Kaufman was neutralized on the ice, Washington receivers looked intimidated amidst the snowflakes and only gritty Husky quarterback Mark Brunnel looked up to the challenge,” former Moscow-Pullman Daily News columnist Harry Missildine wrote back in 1992.
The tables turned yesterday. Instead of looking like his usual jovial self, Minshew seemed a bit tight and unsure, even before the game began. When it started, the UW defense kept him from ever getting comfortable. Heck, his first pass hit Husky safety Taylor Rapp in the hands. He dropped it, but a tone was set.
If Minshew had grown up in, say, Walla Walla or Pullman, or had a winter under his pads to gain experience throwing the ball in such conditions, things might have been different.
On the other side, Washington State’s speed advantage against the UW offense disappeared in a storm of slips and slides, taken aback by the lack of footing. Again, let’s harken back to 1992, when the Cougars were built for the elements.
After that game Mike Price had this to say: “We’re a pretty good snow team. I thought it would be a negating factor for our defense because they’re so fast.”
Size and strength won out over speed then. It did yesterday as well.
• If there was one group who had a poorer first half than the Cougars, then it would have to be the always maligned Pac-12 officiating crew.
There was one stretch that might be used by conference fans to illustrate their frustration with another area that hasn’t improved under commissioner Larry Scott’s oversight. (And we won’t even mention the missed targeting call in the USC game that may have changed the course of the season for the conference.)
At the end of the first quarter, there was an untimed down following a facemask call on Tay Martin on the play that should have ended the period. This was one play Fox did show a replay. What it showed, and announcers Brady Quinn and Joe Davis commented upon, was Jordan Miller first hit Martin with two hands to the face, which is illegal. It wasn’t called, though Martin’s response was.
On the ensuing untimed play, Max Borghi caught a short pass over the middle and was taken to the ground by linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven – with a facemask involved. There was no flag.
After the Huskies received the punt, Ahmed Salvon took the ball down to the 18, where he stepped out of bounds. Except the ball was marked at the 16. Again, Fox showed the replay. And it was obvious the ball showed have been two yards further upfield – to everyone but the replay official, who did not buzz in.
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WSU: The local coverage is pretty thorough even with the S-R playing a sub at a key spot. Theo Lawson quarterbacked the crew with his game analysis and the difference makers. Art Thiel, filling in for John Blanchette, has a column. Tom Clouse has a story on dealing with the snow and another on Minshew. … Josh has the UW piece. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo report. … The guys in the office put together the highlights. … I have my TV Take, which, after reading my email this morning, maybe wasn’t tough enough on the Fox crew. … Larry Weir previewed the game in his Press Box pod. … The Huskies see winning the Apple Cup as a birthright of sorts these days and who can argue with them. Washington has won six consecutive times in the series and feel, going in, it will win. … The Cougars seem to play as if they expect bad things to happen, and they do. They will still probably play in a big-time bowl, though, which is amazing. And have a shot at a school-record 11 wins. … There was some national coverage of the game as well. … The Husky band didn’t make it, so WSU’s band took up the baton for it.
Elsewhere in the Pac-12, there was another rivalry game yesterday and it occurred in Oregon. The Ducks routed Oregon State in Corvallis, sure, but they also lost quarterback Justin Herbert to a shoulder injury. It may make their bowl season different. … There will be another rivalry game played today, in Tucson as Arizona and Arizona State match up. … Chip Kelly and David Shaw renew a rivalry of sorts today as UCLA hosts Stanford. … Notre Dame is USC’s top rival and the reason why the Trojans’ Clay Helton may be coaching his last game. … Utah and BYU are rivals but this game is different because of what awaits the Utes next week. … Colorado and California are not rivals, so this game seems a bit out of place. … In basketball, UCLA couldn’t help the conference’s fortunes as it lost again in Las Vegas. … Utah picked up a win.
Gonzaga: Will the Zags be No. 1 next week? I’m guessing not. No. 2 Kansas defeated No. 5 Tennessee last night and will probably ascend to the polls’ top spot. Jim Meehan has more on this debate, and on the win over Duke, in today’s paper. … The GU women bounced back with a win the Vancouver Showcase tournament.
Idaho: The Vandals will play for the Big Sky volleyball title tonight. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State begins the FCS playoffs with a game against Incarnate Word.
Whitworth: The Pirates are in Minnesota for a showdown with offensive-powerhouse St. John’s University. Dan Thompson presents a preview of today’s NCAA Division III second-round football playoff game.
Chiefs: Riley Woods is getting his chance and he’s taking advantage of it. Dan has more in this story.
Preps: The state football semifinals will be played today, probably on a lot of snow-covered fields. That’s part of the allure. Dave Nichols has a preview of the games featuring local teams. … Dave also has this notebook with a list of academic awards.
Seahawks: Tyler Lockett is making catches in traffic. … The Hawks again won’t have K.J. Wright this week. … What are the keys to this pivotal game in Carolina?
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• I’m not part of the Crimson faithful, but many people I am close with are. They are hurting today. Treat them kindly, if you can. Until later …