Cougars Underwhelming In Final Scrimmage

Washington State’s final football workout of double days was supposed to be a “thud” scrimmage.

Instead it was a dud scrimmage. Dropped passes. Bad penalties. Poor kicking. Turnovers. The Cougars’ ineptness ran the gamut.

“We’re not as good as we thought we were,’ said WSU coach Mike Price.

If Saturday was any indication, the Cougars are nowhere near as good as they thought they were. The first-string offense could not move the ball on the scout defense. Quarterback Jason Gesser was being pressured and sacked by freshmen, while seniors, juniors and the rest of the offense looked on.

“It’s a team game,” said Price. “And when you have 10 guys playing and one not, that’s not a team.” And when the Cougars finally did get a play, like a 35-yard touchdown to Milton Wynn it was called back because of holding.

“I don’t know what it was, whether we were tired or it was lack of focus,” said Gesser. “It was one of those days when you really don’t know what to do.

“You try and be supportive and then there were guys acting like it was a joke out there,” the sophomore continued. “Then you get (angry) at them and they are all mad because you got (angry) at them. You don’t know what to do.”

What the Cougars need to do is regain the form they had a week ago. In the second scrimmage of fall camp, the three quarterbacks combined for 540 passing yards. At that time, the practices were looking crisp and players were responding. Lately, that hasn’t happened.

“We started off with a bang and we started going up and then we started to plateau and then we have been going up and down ever since,” said Gesser. “We’ve been having too many of those the last couple of practices. We need to quit it or we’re going to have to pay for it.

“We’ve got to start climbing up again and reach that peak before the Stanford game,” he continued. “We’ve got to figure it out.”

Following the scrimmage the team took off for its annual retreat at Camp Larson. Usually this is a time for rejuvenation and bonding. Gesser doesn’t know whether or not he will address his offensive team members about what has been going on, lately. But he does know something has got to change before practice starts again on Monday.

“I don’t know how to react to them right now,” Gesser said. “It’s hard being in this position trying to rally them and not getting on them when they think they are horrible. But we’ve got to have that urgency to play the game.”

Injury report

The Cougars suffered two injuries Saturday. Running back Adam Hawkins severely bruised a knee and could be out for the opener. Offensive lineman Sam Lightbody broke a thumb and Price fears he may be lost for an extended amount of time. The Cougars have also lost wide receiver Farwan Zubedi for the opener. Zubedi was hospitalized due to a staph infection. Zubedi’s infection stems from a cut on one knee.

Kicking game

Nick Lambert may have lost the starting kicking job Saturday. He missed both his field-goal attempts. Anousith Wilaikul hit 1 of 2. Punter Alan Cox also struggled.