Apple Cup Closed-Circuit Tickets Scarce In Spokane

Perhaps the best thing to come out of Washington State’s 27-11 loss to California Saturday - at least as far as WSU fans were concerned was the school’s release of details on the close-circuit telecast of the Cougars’ Nov. 18 Apple Cup game against Washington.

In a statement issued just before the start of the Cal game, athletic director Rick Dickson announced that WSU has been granted a waiver by the NCAA to provide closed-circuit television coverage of the game and send the signal back to Pullman and the university’s branch campuses in Spokane, Vancouver and the Tri-Cities.

According to Dickson’s statement, however, only 275 seats will be available to view the game in Spokane, where it will be shown on the 17th floor of the Farm Credit Bank Building. The site that will be able to accommodate the most people will be the Compton Union Building in Pullman, which has a capacity of 1,500.

The Tri-Cities campus site, at 100 Sprout Road in Richland, seats 250, and the Vancouver site at 1812 E. McLaughlin Blvd., on the Clark College campus, seats 200.

Tickets, which will be $10 for alumni, donors and season-ticket holders and $7 for WSU faculty, staff and students, must be purchased in advance at the branch campuses. Only the main campus site in Pullman will have tickets available at the door.

Facilities at each venue will open at 11:30 a.m., with the game scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m.

Those wishing more ticket information can call 1-800-GO COUGS or contact the branch campuses at 509-358-7540 in Spokane; 509-372-7231 in Richland, or 360-737-2186 in Vancouver.

The ticket information number for the C.U.B. in Pullman is 509-335-9626.

WSU was forced to petition to show the game because of NCAA sanctions against Washington that limit the Huskies to only four television appearances this year.

Those four appearances have already been used and the game is a sellout.

Homecoming bust

Saturday’s game was billed as a homecoming of sorts for WSU running back Frank Madu, who was a former prep star at nearby McAteer High in San Francisco.

That homecoming turned sour early, however, as the 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior coughed up the football early in the second quarter to set up Cal’s first touchdown.

Redshirt freshamn Ryan Leaf was quarterbacking and the to seemed to mishandle the handoff just before Bears defender Regan Upshaw put a big hit on Madu to force the fumble.

Je’Rod Cherry recovered for Cal on the Cougars’ 26-yard line and, three plays later, Pat Barnes flipped a 14-yard TD pass to Na’il Benjamin to put the Bears up 13-3.

Madu bruised ribs on the play and was used only sparingly the rest of the game. He finished with just 17 yards on 13 carries.

“That muff hurt us,” WSU coach Mike Price said of Madu’s fumble. “Frank kind of twisted his ankle when (Leaf) handed the ball two him and it never really got in there.”

Holmes hurt

The only other Cougar who was serioiusly banged up during Saturday’s loss was freshman defensive tackle Gary Holmes, who sprained his right knee early in the game and spent the rest of the afternoon on the sideline.

Price said the injury might keep Holmes out of this Saturday’s home finale against Stanford. But he added that he expected the 6-foot-7, 275-pounder to be back in time for the Nov. 18 Apple Cup clash against UW.

Knuff isn’t enough

The biggest running threat WSU had Saturday was junior tight end David Knuff, who lined up in the backfield on the Cougars’ first offensive possession and broke loose for a 26-yard gain on a counter around left end.

It was Knuff’s first carry from scrimmage and gave him an impressive yards-per-carry average - at least until late in the third quarter, when WSU ran the same play for a 2-yard loss.

Knuff said the Cougars used the play in several preseason fall scrimmages.

“That (first) play opened up like the Red Sea,” explained Knuff, a 6-3, 230-pounder with decent speed. “The offensive linemen, they’re all by buddies, and they said, ‘It’s his first carry, let’s try to make this stick in the playbook.’ They did a great job.”

Knuff said the O-line did an excellent job of blocking his second run, too, explaining that the yardage loss was his fault for not reading the trap block correctly.

, DataTimes