Did Washington State coach Mike Leach bungle the clock management late in the loss to Stanford?

No.

But because my email inbox and Twitter mentions contain a fair number of people who are displeased with WSU not doing more to run out the clock once it retained possession with a one-point lead and 5:08 left, I figured I should address why I disagree with them here.

It did not make sense to change the offense at that juncture in the game, because the Cougars still needed to score points. If John Thompson had not been tackled just short of the goal line on WSU's two-point conversion attempt, and the Cougars had a three-point lead, perhaps the decision-making changes. But I doubt it.

When the Cougars took over, Stanford still had all three of its timeouts left. If WSU was stopped and forced to punt at any point – a more likely eventuality if the Cougars began a predictable sequence of running on every play just to take two minutes or so off the clock – Stanford would have gotten the ball back with plenty of time to drive for a game-winning field goal.

Changing the play calling was not yet the right call because adding to the lead was more important than taking time off the clock. If WSU had picked up another couple first downs and was in field goal range with around two minutes left, then it might have made sense to run the ball to force Stanford to burn its timeouts before taking a four-point lead. But even so, the Cougars did rush the ball twice on the drive in question.

It may be more fair to question whether or not the Cougars should have waited longer to snap the ball before attempting their passes, taking time off the clock without changing the play calling. But the WSU offense thrives when it is playing at a fast tempo. Holding the offense back until late in the play clock would have made the plays less likely to be successful, thereby making it more likely the Cardinal would get the ball back.

Falk's interception came with 3:27 left in the game. That's too much time for the Cougars to start playing keep-away against a team that still has all three timeouts. And while in hindsight it may seem that putting the ball in the air raises the likelihood of a turnover, consider that the Cougars have actually fumbled often than Falk has been intercepted this season.

Now, on to the links.

-- As is our custom, we have a First Look at WSU's upcoming opponent in Tuesday's paper.

-- Our WSU notebook leads with Leach's suggestion that the Pac-12 investigate Arizona State's alleged signal stealing.

-- Next week's UCLA game is going to be played at night.

-- Mike Leach, Jamal Morrow, Taylor Taliulu and Cole Madison met the media yesterday.

-- Jeff Nusser wrote about how close the Cougars appear to being very good.

-- Coug-a-Sutra has gives the Stanford game the postmortem treatment.

-- Stefanie Loh also wrote about the Sun Devils pilfering play calls.

-- Few UCLA players have ever faced Oregon State before.

-- Oregon's Royce Freeman can still make a claim to be college football's best player.

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