Walk-On Stands Out
Scott Lunde wasn’t supposed to be here.
But everyone in Crimson and Gray was glad the walk-on was.
The Vancouver, Wash., product downed two punts inside Boise State’s 2-yard line and the second allowed Washington State to force a punt, get the ball at the BSU 39, and go in for the game-winning touchdown.
“Lunde executed his job perfectly,” said punter Alan Cox. “I went over and thanked him.”
Cox wasn’t the only one.
“He has been a real patient, quiet guy,” said special teams standout Brad Philley. “Then Nakoa (McElrath) goes down and last week, he comes in and makes three big plays for us. And this week, they threw him out there in a few more situations to make plays and he did it again.”
“I just try to get in there and contribute on special teams,” Lunde said.
He almost was contributing for Oregon State instead of Washington State. Two years ago, he committed to the Beavers. But OSU coach Mike Riley left for the San Diego Chargers and Lunde was left searching for a place to play.
“I had to walk on somewhere,” Lunde said. “So I went around to colleges asking about the receivers coaches. And I heard Levy (Mike Levenseller) was the best one in the Pac-10.”
Lunde is buried on the wide receiver depth chart behind Milton Wynn, Marcus Williams and many other scholarship players. But that hasn’t stopped him from excelling on special teams.
“Wherever they put me, I’m going to go 100 percent,” said Lunde.
Kegel contributes
WSU coach Mike Price has been telling everybody since the second game of the season that backup quarterback Matt Kegel was going to play.
In the fifth game of the year, the redshirt freshman got his chance.
“It was kind of neat seeing Kegel out there for once,” said wide receiver Collin Henderson. “Last year, he was my roommate and we always talk about being on the cover of Sports Illustrated together.”
Kegel didn’t pull off any Sports Illustrated heroics in the first game of his career. But he did keep a crucial drive alive.
In the second quarter, starter Jason Gesser was kicked in a leg and had to go out for a play. Facing a third-and-6 at the Boise State 31, Kegel came in and ran up the middle for 8 yards on a draw play.
The Cougars got a field goal out of the drive.
“That was a key first down he got for us,” said Henderson. “He didn’t fumble. He didn’t do anything stupid. He got the first down, which is what we wanted.”
Numbers crunching
After the first game of the season, a 24-10 loss to Stanford, Gesser had a quarterback rating of 82.02.
In the last four, he has a rating of 170.41. During that time span, the Cougars have gone 3-1 and Gesser has thrown 103 passes without an interception. He also has 998 yards passing and nine touchdowns.
Many happy returns
Spokane’s Erik Coleman took over kickoff return duties from Curtis Nettles and turned in two of the best returns of the year. The freshman from Spokane’s Lewis and Clark High School returned the kicks for 75 total yards with a long of 40. The 40-yarder came with the game tied at 35-35 and gave the Cougars the field position to pin the Broncos inside their own 10-yard-line.
“Coach (Kasey) Dunn gave me the opportunity and I just wanted to do everything I could,” he said.
Injury report
Defensive lineman Rien Long sprained an ankle. Gesser had a slight concussion. Wide receiver Curtis Nettles suffered a concussion.
Notes
Washington State was 2 of 3 on fourth-down conversions. The Cougars are now 8 of 10 on the year … Since replacing Nick Lambert last week, WSU kicker Anousith Wilaikul has not missed. The walk-on senior is 5 of 5 on field goals and 4 of 4 on extra-point attempts…. Prior to the game, Boise State had lost to six Pacific-10 Conference teams by a combined score of 256-68… . WSU had 11 penalties for 115 yards. … Safety Mory Banks has intercepted a pass in three straight games… . Jason Gesser was sacked seven times, a season-high.