Crying Wulff Over This Tall Cougars Tale

This is the week when history tends to tap people on the shoulder.

Fans want to talk about ‘92 and the Apple Cup blizzard or ‘90 when the Hanson brothers - No, not the ones from Slapshot, the ones from Spokane’s Mead High - were on opposite sides of the field.

But the players? Most of them are worried about passing History, not catching up with the history of the Apple Cup.

Take last year, for instance.

Washington State coach Mike Price has a video put together for those who do not know the tradition of the Apple Cup. The team gathers to watch it, and this happens:

“We showed a little bit of video and it showed a little bit of snow,” said Price. “And it showed Don James dusting of the snow off the top of his parka and one of our good players, a young player, asked me “Who was that?’ I said ‘That’s Don James. And he said, ‘Who’s he?’

“He said he thought Jim Lambright had been the coach there forever,” Price continued. “It was not a Washington kid. But you gotta be kidding me. But they don’t know. Kevin Brown (a California product), what does he know about it?

“So, we try and educate them a little bit.”

But every once in a while that education does include a tall tale or two.

The one motivational story Price likes to tell every year concerns Paul Wulff. And his version is better than the real one.

According to Price, the current Eastern Washington assistant and former Cougars center had to have an emergency appendectomy on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the Apple Cup in 1989.

“But he played every snap on Saturday,” said Price.

That story sounded so good Price told the Cougar Club in Spokane the same story on Monday night.

Unfortunately, history and the 1989 press clipping ruined Price’s story.

Yes, Wulff did have emergency surgery. But it was on Oct. 31. Not a few days before the Apple Cup.

And he did miss a game on Nov. 11 against Cal.

But 18 days after the surgery, Wulff came back and played in the Apple Cup, a 20-9 Cougar loss.

Brown out

Washington’s Jim Lambright coveted Kevin Brown when he was a running back at San Francisco City College. The current Cougar took a recruiting trip to Washington, the coaches called constantly, Brown was going to be the Huskies running back.

So, there was Lambright on Monday waxing on and on about Cougars running back Keith Brown. Keith Brown this, Keith Brown that. Then he stopped himself.

“Was I calling him Keith?” he asked. “It’s Kevin. I guess when you don’t get them, you try and forget about them.”

Chances are Lambright is not forgetting about Brown during this week’s preparation. The sophomore is the Pac-10’s leading rusher with 961 yards. If he breaks 1,000, he will be the first Cougar to do so for a losing team since Rueben Mayes. He also is just 57 yards short of tying Rich Swinton’s rushing record for sophomores. Swinton had 1,078 yards in 1988.

Brown’s run for the record has been bolstered by three consecutive 100-play yard games. In the last game, he went over 200.

Quarterback questions

Steve Birnbaum and Paul Mencke may have been rotating for the last three games, but according to Lambright, Mencke is the player that should be taking most of the snaps.

“The way he carries himself out there and the attitude that he takes into every play, you can tell he is their guy.”

But the Huskies defensive line really doesn’t care who is playing quarterback.

“Our job’s the same,” said Mac Tuiaea. “We just have to get in there and get a rush on them to force the mistakes.”

The Huskies defense leads the Pac-10 with 48 sacks. But the secondary only has four interceptions.

“They are leading the nation in sacks, so they probably got to the quarterback before he let the bad passes go,” said Price. “And that could probably help us.

“Maybe we shouldn’t block quite as good, cut down on the interception rate.”

But the WSU quarterbacks might not be the only people clad in crimson throwing the ball on Saturday.

“We are playing some new formations, reverse, halfback passes, everything I can think of,” said Price. “I’m not kidding, we are doing it all.”

Tickets available

A limited number of Apple Cup football tickets originally reserved for the University of Washington have been returned to host Washington State and are now available to the general public.

About 200 of the 300 tickets that were returned Monday remain. The tickets are $35 each. Call 800-GO-COUGS or 509-335-9626.

Washington State officials also warned not to buy tickets from students. In order to use a student ticket, you must present a current WSU ID card. If you have a student ticket and do not have an ID card, you will not be admitted to the game.

Going home again

Senior tight end Love Jefferson will not be finishing his collegiate career at Washington State. Jefferson, who is from Southern California, will return home after the semester is finished. He will still play in the Hula Bowl in January and make himself eligible for the NFL draft.

If he is not drafted, Jefferson will enroll in Long Beach State to complete his degree in psychology.

“I had been thinking about it for awhile,” said Jefferson. “My mom is all alone and she has got my little brother there, and I want to be a part of his life. He’s starting to play football now and I want to be there to go to his games.”

Down and out DeSaussure

Huskies senior wide receiver Andre DeSaussure did not heed Lambright’s warning about trash talking and may have to sit out the Apple Cup.

DeSaussure told the Tacoma News Tribune: “It’s (Pullman) a place you can go and have a good time as far as there being a lot of drunk people.”

He was also asked if he had ever taken a recruiting trip to WSU. His response: “I’d die first.”

Lambright said DeSaussure has been demoted to third string and probably won’t make the trip.

DeSaussure is Washington’s second-leading receiver with 25 catches for 491 yards and two touchdowns.

Hackett back in practice

Junior wide receiver Leaford Hackett was back in practice Tuesday after being sidelined more than a week because of a concussion suffered in the Arizona game.

Hackett, who leads the team in receptions with 45, was wearing a non-contact jersey, but did participate in drills and said afterward he felt fine.

Hackett will undergo a MRI Thursday to determine whether or not he is able to play in the Apple Cup.

Defensive lineman Gary Holmes also practiced and Price said he expected Holmes to play more of a role in this game.

Around the Pac-10

Four Pac-10 teams (UCLA, Arizona, Oregon and USC) have the number of wins to qualify them for postseason play.

Three others (Washington, Cal and Arizona State) are sitting at 5-5 and would qualify if they were able to win their upcoming rival games.

The Pac-10 has agreements with five bowls - Rose, Sun, Holiday, Aloha and Oahu - and it looks as if the Las Vegas Bowl will take the sixth-place finisher in the conference.

But if UCLA plays in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship, the Rose Bowl is not obligated to take the Wildcats. It could take any Division I team with eight or more wins, except the SEC, ACC and Big East champs, who all are committed to bowls.