It Sure Seems Some Change Is Necessary

Two things about Deon Burnett and his halftime hike at the Apple Cup:

If he’d shown that kind of hellbent attitude for finding the hole when he carried the football, then David Minnich never would have beaten him out for the running back job.

Not to condone a player’s mefirst-and-only huff, but some of the Washington State University softcore who are all over his case might want to check the mirror. Burnett was only one of about 10,000 Cougs who quit on their team at intermission - and a good portion of them do it every home game.

And while we’re at it, a few more things about the state of the Cougs: Since athletic director Jim Sterk has made it clear that Mike Price is not only his guy, but the greatest thing to hit Washington State since the walk-in beer cooler, might at least some tweaking of Price’s cabinet - or how it’s deployed - be considered?

It is one thing to tell your boosters you’re a lock for a bowl game and then not deliver. Shades of Emily Litella: never mind.

But then to trot out the raggedy rationalization that you were only a few plays from actually living up to that boast (Yeah, that makes it all better) invites greater scrutiny of some of the game-day decisions which once again helped keep Wazzu home for the holidays. (And for accuracy’s sake, we’ll again point out that Wazzu was a few plays from a 2-9 season, too.)

Maybe Price’s “difference” plays don’t jibe with these, but here’s a list to chew on:

1) The overtime interception which made Wazzu a loser against Arizona on a play Price conceded the Cougars rarely practice;

2) The decision to eschew in overtime against Arizona State the elementary pass plays to Milton Wynn and Marcus Williams which had tormented the Sun Devils all day, leading to another crushing disappointment;

3) The fourth-and-1 fiasco before halftime of the Apple Cup, which took away the Cougs’ chances of even a miracle comeback.

Yes, we’re nitpicking a handful of calls out of 1,600 this season. But since the half-full bloc merrily goes that route to put fresh paint on failure, the half-empties must get the same consideration.

No coaching staff is going to bat 1.000, but the Cougars would seem to need improvement with runners in scoring position - which, perhaps, speaks to the chain of communication on game day and the cry for an assertive, veteran presence in the press box. WSU is one of only three Pac-10 schools - UCLA and ASU are the others - whose offensive coordinators spend Saturdays on the sideline rather than as the eye in the sky (and now the ASU staff is out of work). Likewise, WSU is just one of two programs (UCLA being the other) which devotes two of its full-time assistants to the defensive line.

There is no one right way to do things. But three years of dreadfulness would suggest some worth in engaging in a dialogue on a different way at Wazzu. Next year’s long-suffering seniors deserve that much.

Two promising quarterbacks are certainly better than one - or none - but let’s acknowledge that situation is fraught with its own peril, too. For every quarterback time share in college football that works, you can probably find two that haven’t. Gumming up even just a single victory can be the difference, say, between playing on New Year’s Day and playing in some backwater bowl - or no bowl at all.

Finding enough snaps to accommodate both Jason Gesser and Matt Kegel next fall will be a challenge that Price, frankly, hasn’t finessed all that well in his previous chances. And to be fair, he has a lot of company in that club. It’s damned difficult.

Maybe they’ll be the perfect couple. But both have a lot of growing to do; their passing numbers the last five games - 62 of 154 with 7 interceptions and just 955 yards - indicate as much, and that opposing defenses were wising up, as WSU opponents generally do come November.

Reports were that several teammates tried to stop Deon Burnett from his burst out the back door, making it the first time he’s run through contact all season.

OK, the penalties. Hate to break it to you, folks, but the most penalized team in WSU history was also the best - the 1997 Pac-10 champs rolling up 1,053 yards in my-bads. Price’s two other bowl teams, in 1992 and ‘94, also ranked near the bottom of the Pac-10 in comportment.

The difference, of course, is that those teams had the talent or the poise or the chutzpah to overcome both the normal, excusable penalties and the gross lapses in judgment. But it does speak to a recurring problem under Price - that of his 12 WSU teams, 10 have finished eighth or lower in the Pac-10 penalty count.

If it’s true that, most years, the Cougars are going to have to over-achieve mightily just to compete, shouldn’t there be a more diligent effort in practice to minimize these self-inflicted wounds? Isn’t a little more negative reinforcement in order? Are the players really being held accountable? Apparently not, since at least one of the Cougars insisted Saturday evening that all of WSU’s Apple Cup penalty problems “were the referees’ fault.”

On that note, memo to Cougars linebacker James Price: Since you’re already not speaking to the media, perhaps you should extend your boycott to the game officials next season.

Hey, things are getting better in Pullman. Unlike the last running back out of town, Deon Burnett didn’t have a laptop under one arm.