Cougs Now Poll-Cats Price, Players Try To Play It Cool After Gaining 19th Spot In Wire-Service Ratings

Mike Price called Washington State’s first Top 25 football rating in three seasons “appropriate and deserved.”

Not “momentous and profound.” Not even “gratifying and fulfilling.”

Simply “appropriate and deserved.”

This in spite of the fact that his Cougars are 2-0 after Saturday’s momentous, profound, gratifying and fulfilling victory over Southern California at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

They are ranked 19th in the latest Associated Press poll, released Sunday. They are being mentioned in the same sentence as terms like “Rose Bowl” and “Pacific-10 Conference race,” and there are no punch lines.

They are all of these things, but they are not blowing kazoos and wearing party hats. Not yet, anyway.

Instead, these Cougars are either pretending that they expected to complete an unprecedented sweep of the L.A. schools, or possibly they are onto something here.

During two-a-day practices this fall, quarterback Ryan Leaf and his teammates often used the word “special” to describe this WSU team. At the time, it sounded like typical preseason talk. But anyone who witnessed Saturday’s 28-21 victory might be inclined to start believing them.

“We just have a great team this year, man, and I’m excited about it,” strong safety Duane Stewart allowed.

Sure, they celebrated wildly in the moments immediately following their historic victory. “But we celebrated last week, too (after beating UCLA on Aug. 30),” Leaf pointed out. “You have to celebrate after a win.”

Less than an hour after beating SC, however, Leaf was already emphasizing the importance of avoiding a letdown when the Cougars travel to Champaign, Ill., later this week.

“The biggest game in the world to me right now is Illinois next week,” Leaf stressed.

By Sunday afternoon, the Cougars were running and lifting weights. “We really didn’t do much celebrating,” Price said during a conference call Sunday. “We have a lot of maturity on this team.”

Notes

Starting today, the Cougars will no longer practice on Mondays that follow games. It’s all part of what one might call Operation November - Price’s plan to keep the team from wearing down late in the season. … Of USC’s 17 possessions, eight covered less than 10 yards and only four netted more than 20. Two possessions actually resulted in negative yardage. One key: WSU linebackers Steve Gleason, Todd Nelson and Brandon Moore seemed significantly faster than USC’s tailbacks, perhaps because of the big push WSU’s defensive line was getting. “Their toss sweep, which was their big play last year, they ran it about three or four times and probably got about 5 yards total,” Stewart said.

The Cougars’ lack of depth at tight end didn’t seem too significant when Love Jefferson was dragging USC safety Antuan Simmons into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. … Of WSU’s eerie second-half letdowns against UCLA and USC, Price said, “We need to keep our focus and intensity, go for the jugular. But the people we’re letting off the hook aren’t bad. (USC) could have had some stumble-bum back returning kickoffs, and they certainly didn’t.” R. Jay Soward opened the second half with a 95-yard kickoff return, pulling the Trojans within 21-13.

Price lauded Leaf’s judgement in changing plays at the line of scrimmage. Specifically, Leaf audibled out of a run on the play that resulted in Kevin McKenzie’s game-winning touchdown catch. “He doesn’t have to think about it twice,” Price said. “If I tell him to call a play any time he wants, I had better mean it, because he’ll do it any time he wants.” By Price’s estimate, Leaf audibles no more than 25 percent of the time.

Injury update

Backup defensive end Jesse Ratcliff, a regular on special teams, suffered a potentially serious knee injury. Tests are scheduled. … Stewart suffered a pulled hamstring, but should be ready for Illinois. … Delmar Morais may not be so lucky. The defensive tackle recently underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will try to return in two weeks. … Leaf has a sore knee after suffering a minor hyperextension while tackling USC’s Brian Kelly in the second half. Kelly had two interceptions. … Tight end Jon Kincaid, who has not practiced since breaking and dislocating an ankle last Sept. 21 against Oregon, is expected to return to practice this week and could play in the Sept. 27 game against Boise State.

Quotable

“I haven’t heard of anything like that. Maybe I was shaking my head ‘no’ so hard I couldn’t hear what he was saying.” - Price, when asked if athletic director Rick Dickson had mentioned anything about a rumored proposal concerning a home-and-home series with Nebraska, in which WSU’s home game to be played at the Kingdome.

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