Cougars Play One They Need To Win WSU, Temple Football Teams Try To Curtail Recent String Of Defeats

Seven straight losses. No road wins since 1994. A discouraging defeat to open the season.

And you thought Temple was suffering.

“We need to win,” Washington State football coach Mike Price said this week, setting an urgent tone for tonight’s otherwise vapid matchup with Temple. “These guys deserve better than this.”

The Cougars haven’t won since October 1995, matching the longest skid of Price’s seven-plus years in Pullman. The 1990 and ‘91 teams also conspired to lose seven straight.

For WSU, the Owls appear to be just what the doctor ordered - providing that doctor isn’t Cliff Huxtable.

Bill Cosby, Temple’s most famous alum, donates generously to the university and often makes house calls to the Owls’ sideline. But the former prime-time pediatrician has gone unrewarded by a football program that would seem better suited for his stand-up comedy routines than a spot in the Top 25.

Temple is 8-48 since 1991, including last week’s 28-24 triumph in Ypsilanti, Mich. - the Owls’ favorite vacation spot. Under fourth-year coach Ron Dickerson, Temple is 2-0 at Eastern Michigan, 3-29 everywhere else.

That bleak reality apparently hasn’t dented Dickerson’s confidence, even if the Owls are 10-point underdogs tonight.

“I like the way our kids reacted after the Eastern Michigan game,” he told the Philadelphia Daily News. “This may sound egotistical, but we acted like, ‘Well, we should have won.”’

Dickerson, who has avoided West Coast media, apparently was less than awed by the Cougars’ performance in a 37-19 loss at Colorado last week.

“We think we’re a better football team (than WSU),” he told the Philadelphia Daily News, “but until you line up, you don’t know.”

Price, who led the Cougars through a light practice Friday night at Franklin Field, found the comments amusing. Would he be passing them along to his players?

“No, no, no, no. Me?” Price joked. “Absolutely not. No motivational tool like that would I ever use.”

Pregame posturing aside, Price said he expects this Temple team to be far better than the 1992 version, which the Cougars pounded 51-10 in Pullman.

“They were 1-10 last year - I’m not going to tell you that they’re going to be going to the Rose Bowl this year,” Price said. “But they are definitely a challenging opponent. Much better than I anticipated.

“We’re going to have to improve to beat them, no question about it.”

WSU’s most formidable opponent may be this city’s unrelenting humidity. After the long flight from Spokane, players were looking forward to catching a breath of fresh air at Philadelphia International.

“But it felt like we were still on the plane,” Price said.

Worse, even.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, for instance, the humidity was holding firm at 62 percent, making it feel far warmer than the 81-degree reading. It’s as if the rain never stops - it just hovers.

Persistent winds and intermittent showers made Friday night’s practice more bearable, but conditions were hardly ideal.

“It feels like there’s lotion on my hands,” one player said.

Today’s forecast calls for more wind, which could limit a quarterback’s ability to get the ball downfield. That would seem to favor WSU, considering Ryan Leaf’s throwing arm is stronger than that of his Temple counterpart, Henry Burris.

After Leaf and the offense struggled against Colorado, Price said the Cougars might simplify their attack. Friday night, he wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t know how much we’re going to simplify,” the coach said. “I think the weather will probably dictate that.

“If it’s just like this, we should be fine. I’m just kind of waiting.”

Crowd noise won’t be a factor.

Notes

Tonight’s game is at Franklin Field, on the University of Pennsylvania campus, because Veterans Stadium is being used by baseball’s Phillies. The Owls are 6-9-1 in home games at Franklin Field, which is best known as host of the Penn Relays. … Temple averaged just 4,406 fans for home games in 1995. … WSU running back Miguel Meriwether and linebacker Steve Gleason, both backups, made the trip despite injuries. Neither is expected to play much. Receiver Bryant Thomas stayed behind after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and is expected to return for the Oregon game, Price said. … Temple will be without three injured starters - offensive tackle Eric Johnson (knee), center Rick Smith (shoulder) and receiver Kevin Walker (collarbone).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars at Temple

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TODAY’S TOP 25 GAMES (1) Nebraska vs. Michigan State (2) Tennessee vs. UCLA (3) Florida State vs. Duke (4) Florida vs. Georgia Southern (5) Colorado at Colorado State (7) Penn State vs. Louisville (8) Texas vs. New Mexico State (9) Syracuse vs. (24) North Carolina (10) Ohio State vs. Rice (11) Miami vs. The Citadel (13) Northwestern at Wake Forest (14) Alabama vs. Southern Miss. (15) Virginia Tech at Akron (17) LSU vs. Houston (18) Auburn vs. Fresno State (19) Southern Cal at Illinois (20) Arizona State vs. Washington (21) Kansas State vs. Indiana State (22) Iowa vs. Arizona (23) Virginia vs. C. Michigan