Jacob Thorpe

Washington State athletic director Bill Moos made it clear he wants to keep football coach Mike Leach around for the long haul, extending the coach’s contract through the 2018 season.

TUCSON, Ariz. – It took a trip to the desert for the Washington State football team to find its oasis. The Cougars (5-5, 3-4) ended a three-game losing streak that spanned five weeks by earning a 24-17 victory over Arizona (6-4, 3-4 Pac-12) in front of a partisan – if somewhat thin – Wildcats home crowd. “It’s a positive,” coach Mike Leach said. “You talk about playing four quarters, you talk about finishing, in our case in particular I thought we did a good job of focusing on individual plays and not getting ahead of ourselves and not extending any anxiety on a bad play or celebrating a good play.”

TUCSON, Ariz. – Like USC and Cal before them, Arizona fell in front of its home crowd to a WSU team that has had more success on the road than in Pullman this season. The last time the Cougars won multiple conference road games was during the 2006 season when they beat Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA in their respective stadiums. That year’s team picked up a Pac-10 win at home, however, beating Oregon 34-23. The Cougars will need to defeat Utah next week to give their hometown fans and students a Pac-12 victory.

Like USC and Cal before them, Arizona fell in front of its home crowd to a WSU team that has had more success on the road than in Pullman this season.

TUCSON, Ariz. – A lot has happened since the last time the Washington State football team faced Arizona in 2010. Both programs fired underperforming coaches and hired high-profile replacements known for their respective high-octane offenses. While the bowl-eligible Wildcats (6-3, 3-3 Pac-12) appear further along in their rebuilding process than the Cougars, WSU (4-5, 2-4) can take a big step on the road to respectability with a win in Tucson today. Still, the Cougars aren’t treating the game any differently.