Cougars Don’t Want To Be Own Worst Enemies Last Year’s Loss To Beavers Divided Team

Granted, it’s only Oregon State, a team that hasn’t had a winning football season since 1970 and is a disappointing 1-4 in 1995 after unthinkable losses to Pacific and North Texas.

Yet there is a dramatic sense of resolve around the Washington State practice field this week as the Cougars prepare for Saturday’s 2 p.m. Pacific-10 Conference showdown against OSU in Martin Stadium.

That resolve, it seems, is deeply rooted in what happened last year at Corvallis, Ore., when a highly favored 6-3 WSU team went into Parker Stadium expecting to reduce the Beavers to road kill on its way to a prestigious bowl game.

Instead, the Cougars handed OSU a pair of touchdowns on a fumble return and pass interception and got their doors blown off, 21-3.

The unexpected loss sent shock waves rippling throughout the WSU program and further widened the chasm between the Cougars’ young, struggling offense and vocal, veteran defense.

It was no secret that the two units had not been getting along. The defense, ranked among the best in the country all year, felt the offense, the least productive in the Pac-10, was not holding up its end of the deal.

And certain members of that defense weren’t afraid to air their disgust.

“Last year, you would have had to have been here to understand all of the things that went on,” said sophomore offensive tackle Cory Solomon. “There were a lot of individuals on the team. We had a lot of personalities on the defense that weren’t afraid to talk trash and the offense couldn’t say anything because the defense went out on the field and backed it up.”

Solomon said the split started shortly after a 10-9 road loss to Tennessee in which WSU’s defense held the Volunteers to 229 yards of total offense but received nary a touchdown of support from the offense.

The schism worsened after that and peaked, according to quarterback Chad Davis, right after the late-season loss to Oregon State.

“That was the worst point of the year,” recalled Davis, who was knocked out of the game with bruised ribs. “There had been struggles, there had been fights, there had been arguments between us all year.

“But when that happened, the seniors really took it the wrong way and that’s when the finger-pointing really started.”

Senior offensive tackle John Scukanec called the loss to OSU and the negative reaction by the defense the “low point” of the season.

“It had been simmering all year - the tension,” he said. “And after that game, it finally boiled over, especially with us giving them two touchdowns on turnovers. It just snapped.”

The next week, with arch-rival Washington due into Martin Stadium for its annual Apple Cup matchup, defensive tackle Chad Eaton went public with his disdain, saying he wished the offense would just down the football when it was on the field and let the defense try to score.

Eaton’s comments sent offensive tackle Clay Reis over the edge and he and Eaton almost came to blows. But in the end, the two decided to settle their differences at a team meeting that was called at midweek.

“We had the meeting before the Apple Cup,” Scukanec said, “and we said we could either lose again and end the year with everybody at each other’s throat, or we could rally together, beat the Huskies and end on a good note.”

The Cougars managed to reunite in time to dust off UW 23-6 and tame Baylor 10-3 in the Alamo Bowl in late December.

“We really came out and played well against U-Dub,” Davis said. “We played together and showed we cared about each other.”

That new-found unity, Davis added, has carried on this season and played a major role in WSU’s refusal to fold during last Saturday’s 35-21 loss at No. 2-ranked Nebraska.

But everyone on the team remembers what happened after the OSU game last fall, and they realize that another upset loss to the Beavers might again ferment dissension.

“We certainly didn’t expect to go down there and get beat like we did,” Scukanec said. “They laid one on us, laid one on us pretty good.

“This is a different team and a different team - both for us and them, but we certainly remember how it felt to walk off that field last year after we got whupped.

“It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had we’re going to do everything we can Saturday to give a little of it back.”

, DataTimes