It’S All About Execution Both Coaches Agree: Avoiding Mistakes Will Be The Key To Winning The Apple Cup

Today it will be brother against brother. Best friend against best friend. Veteran against newcomer. Washington against Washington State.

Today’s the Apple Cup, the climax of a week of hype and hyperbole for some, the beginning of a year of bragging rights for others.

Take Collin Henderson. He’ll suit up for Washington State in his first Apple Cup. His best friend since the third grade, Todd Elstrom, will be on the other side of the field.

Or Russell and Anthony Mizin. Russell will play in his first Apple Cup for the Cougars. Anthony will be in his last for the Huskies. Then there is Washington State’s Mike Price and Washington’s Rick Neuheisel.

Price, a 10-year veteran coach in the Apple Cup, has spent the week regaling his players with blasts from the past, highlight videos and a Huskies joke session following each practice.

When Neuheisel was asked what he knew about the Apple Cup he responded by saying not as much as he should. He found out how important when players, fans and even reporters educated him. And the Montlake Millionaire is a quick study as is obvious by his 5-2 trip through the Pac-10 in his first season.

But both the coaches and the players know while it is the subplots that make the pregame week special, it’s execution that matters on game day.

“I don’t think either team needs to play above their potential and capability,” said Price, whose team is 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the Pac-10. “The team that makes the most mistakes will lose the game.”

Problem is figuring out which team that will be. Both squads have proven they have a penchant for miscues.

Week in and week out, the Cougars offensive line does the hokey pokey up front, sticking anything and everything over the line before the snap. Washington State averages 9.6 flags per game.

And apparently all that jumping wears the line out because they have given up 30 sacks, the second most in the Pac-10 this year.

But before you start betting the mortgage on the Huskies take a listen to Neuheisel.

“We have not blown anybody out,” he said. “We were the benefactor of a few Oregon State mistakes that made the game one-sided early, but we have not blown anyone out and that is not our team.

“Our team is a good team that plays hard and when it plays hard it gives itself a chance to win and we have found ways to win,” Neuheisel continued. “We hope to do that this week but we have to understand that just by showing up we don’t make the other team cower. It’s about playing and playing efficiently and hopefully we can get that done this week.”

What he means is if Marques Tuiasosopo plays efficiently and well, then the Huskies have a pretty good shot of winning.

The versatile junior quarterback is the key to what Washington does on offense. He is the second leading rusher on the team. He had more than 200 yards in one game. And on average he accounts for 259 of the team’s 393 yards per game.

Tuiasosopo’s numbers have led to questions about his ability to run the option and how to stop him. Price has countered by saying he runs it on only one-eighth of the Washington plays.

What Price has failed to mention though is that the threat is always there and that puts some defenses on their heels. To make sure that doesn’t happen to them, the Cougars have tinkered with the defense.

Tupo Tuupo, a linebacker, could see considerable time at defensive end.

“He gives us a little bit more quickness,” said Price. “A little bit better outside pass rush. We would like to have a little more quickness to surround that kid (Tuiasosopo).”

Ing Aleaga, whose brother Ink played for the Huskies, is starting on the interior defensive line in place of Tomasi Kongiaka to give the Cougars more of push up the middle. And WSU may also bring heat from outside linebackers Raonall Smith, Steve Gleason and Grady Emmerson. But WSU cannot forget about Tuiasosopo’s ability to pass.

If Gerald Harris (thigh bruise) and Chris Juergens (ankle) are healthy, the Huskies could prove to have too many weapons for the banged-up Cougars secondary.

As for the Cougars on offense, they finally have the same line starting for the second consecutive week.

“I can’t believe it,” said Price.

Quarterback Steve Birnbaum has looked good in practice. And, Price said he is one of the best wet-ball quarterbacks he has ever seen. That’s a good thing since the forecast calls for rain.

Birnbaum won’t have Leaford Hackett available to him at the start of the game. Hackett, who is tied for the team lead in receptions, is still nursing a sore ankle but should play.

Henderson will start in Hackett’s spot. The Cougars’ other true freshman on offense, Deon Burnett, will be trying to get closer to the Pac-10 freshman rushing record set by Stanford’s Darrin Nelson in 1977. Burnett needs 213 yards to surpass Nelson’s 1,069 yards.

“We have had 20 freshmen who have played in the last four games and they don’t know Sonny Sixkiller from Jack Thompson, so we have done a real good job of giving them a history lesson,” said Price. “It’s been a lot of fun. It is starting to get them caught up in the tradition of the game.”

Now it’s time to play the game.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL Rival this A sampling of today’s big games. Florida State at Florida: Winner stays in national title hunt. Alabama at Auburn: With a win, Alabama goes to the SEC championship game. California at Stanford: With a win, the Cardinal off to Rose Bowl for the first time since Jan. 1, 1972. UCLA at USC: No bowl implications. For the first time since 1958 neither team will have a winning record. Oregon State at Oregon: For first time since 1948 season, both teams are headed to bowl games. Ohio State at Michigan: The Wolverines are hoping for a BCS bid, possibly against Nebraska.