Cougars Challenge The Odds Arizona Favored In Tucson
History is rarely on Washington State’s side, but the present will be when the Cougars play Arizona tonight.
Or will it?
For WSU, Ryan Leaf is the top-rated passer in the Pacific-10 Conference. Michael Black leads the conference in rushing. Chad Carpenter ranks among the receiving leaders.
For Arizona, Keith Smith is the Pac-10’s lowest-rated passer. Gary Taylor lags well behind the leading rushers. Richard Dice, an all-conference receiver in 1995, can’t be found among this year’s statistical leaders.
And yet the Wildcats are eight-point favorites.
The reasons are simple:
UA is playing at home in a rivalry it has owned. Despite close games in recent years, the Wildcats have won 16 of 24 in the series.
“It’s tough to win at Arizona,” WSU coach Mike Price said. “Ask Illinois. They were behind like 14-0 going into the fourth quarter and they had the ball at the 10-yard line, driving in to score - and it ends up 41-zip.”
Since rolling over in a 31-17 loss at Washington, Arizona has had two weeks to prepare for WSU.
Coach Dick Tomey felt the Wildcats played soft against the Huskies, so this week’s practices were hard-hitting. The bye week also allowed new offensive coordinator Homer Smith extra time to get creative.
“If you give him enough time, he can really produce some outstanding stats as an offensive coordinator,” UW coach Jim Lambright warned.
WSU may be 3-1, but the Cougars have feasted on defensively benign teams like Temple, Oregon and San Jose State.
And while Arizona no longer intimidates opponents with its Desert Swarm defense, the Wildcats have far more talent defensively than any team the Cougars have faced since a season-opening loss to Colorado.
The difference this year could be Leaf, who has thrown for a conference-high 13 touchdowns. He threw four TD passes in last week’s 52-16 win over San Jose State, but was knocked down 14 times by Price’s count.
“I’m glad I got knocked down a little bit against San
Jose,” Leaf said. “The Oregon game, I didn’t get touched that much. The Temple game, I didn’t get touched that much.
“It was a good reminder to me that I can still get knocked down, so that when we go to Arizona, I’m probably going to get knocked down a lot more there with that type of defense they have.”
Notes
The Cougars are healthy. Starting linebacker Johnny Nansen returns after arthroscopic knee surgery kept him out one week.
Flanker Shawn McWashington (ankle) practiced this week and will play tonight, although he won’t start.
At right offensive tackle, starter Ryan McShane is expected to play after missing one game with a sprained knee. Price said he hasn’t determined whether McShane or Rob Rainville will start.
Standout defensive tackle Joe Salave’a, injured in Arizona’s loss to UW, is expected to play tonight.
Sweat city
Today’s high temperature is expected to be in the mid-90s, although it should be significantly cooler by the 7 p.m. kickoff.
Quotebook
“For the last two years, we’ve been blitzing the heck out of that shotgun formation with Danny White and flushing him out of the pocket and running him down. We’re definitely not going to flush this cat (Keith Smith) out of the pocket, because he can run as fast or faster than anyone on the field.” - Price.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars at Arizona