These Cougs Refuse To Be Left For Dead

You come expecting to see fissures, signals that Washington State football is ready to unravel. Something that shows the players are tuning out the coaches.

Something that symbolizes the losing has become accepted, that the defense is ticked off at the offense or vice versa. Something that indicates the program needs to be overhauled.

Instead, you see Dave Minnich making second- and third-effort yardage, and backup quarterback Matt Kegel thriving after entering a situation that couldn’t be worse. You see the defensive line hound Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, linebackers snuff out the run and the secondary hold up against fleet receivers. You see WSU own the statistics. You see the Cougars roll the dice three times on fourth down and succeed. You see what you didn’t expect to see. Except for seeing another WSU loss, that is.

Even the most ardent Cougars follower would confess beating seventh-ranked Oregon was a long shot, presumably made longer when starting quarterback Jason Gesser went down with a fractured left tibia early in the second quarter. You can beat the Cougars - as Oregon did, 27-24, in overtime at Martin Stadium on Saturday - but apparently you can’t bury them. WSU might lead the nation in pain tolerance.

“We’ve been to hell and back,” said safety Billy Newman, whose 3-6 team has dropped three overtime games. “We’re resilient. We just have to go out and play the last two games for the seniors.

“We are a good team. It’s just a play here and there. I get tired of saying it.”

One can only imagine experiencing it.

“We got cursed by the voodoo god or something,” linebacker Raonall Smith said. “I don’t know what to tell you. Every week, we play well and something or another comes back and bites us in the butt.”

Well, not every week. Last week’s loss to Oregon State was as subtle as a sledgehammer. The Cougars were whipped in every facet. It figured that conference-leading Oregon might administer a similar thrashing.

It didn’t happen. Instead, WSU had the Ducks on the run after Kegel trotted onto the field.

With WSU trailing 16-10, 265-pound Saul Patu ran down Gesser from behind, falling on Gesser’s left leg. Kegel entered facing second-and-23 at WSU’s 15-yard line, operating into the teeth of a stout wind. WSU eventually earned a first down. On the Cougars’ next series, Kegel fired three completions and Minnich plowed in from the 2, giving WSU a 17-16 lead at half.

It got better before it got worse.

Kegel directed a 71-yard drive, twice using his 6-foot-5 frame to convert on fourth downs with sneaks over the top of the pile.

And the Havre High Blue Ponies, uh, WSU led 24-16 early in the fourth quarter.

“As a backup, you have first-play jitters,” Kegel said. “I’d say after about the second play, everything was cool and I was back in Montana, leading the Blue Ponies down the field.”

“When we were up 24-16,” Minnich allowed, “I thought we had it.”

That’s where little foul-ups cropped up that would doom WSU. Collin Henderson neglected to fair catch a punt at the 18. The ball rolled dead at the Cougars’ 5.

Then, WSU was forced to punt. Oregon, taking advantage of the short field, was in the end zone two plays later and knotted the score at 24 with a two-point conversion.

In overtime, WSU messed up just enough - a costly holding penalty and an illegal substitution - to get saddled with another loss. Anousith Wilaikul’s 39-yard field goal was blocked, triggering another onslaught of agony.

“I’m sitting there, holding my teammates’ hands, squeezing the circulation out of them,” WSU cornerback Chris Martin said. “It would have been nice to see him make it, but we’re going to come back real upset and take it out on USC.”

You almost believe him, but it doesn’t really matter because Washington State coach Mike Price does.

“We have great character and integrity. They are a disciplined group,” he says. “We haven’t had any problems.”

No, just a high pain threshhold.