Battered WSU Defense Could Use A Better Script
In the spirit of this whole life-imitates-art thing, Washington State University Productions presents to you “The Green Mile,” the story of the Cougars defense.
No, no. This title wasn’t chosen because the Cougars have opposing offenses feeling like they are marching toward a death sentence. But rather because a green mile is what the Cougars have given up on defense in five games this year.
Washington State’s defense has allowed opponents to chew up 1,966 yards of green in five games. That’s actually a good 200 yards more than a mile.
The problem is the director of this horror flick, WSU coach Mike Price, is at a loss about what to do. “Got any suggestions?” he asked. Understandably, his critics went quiet.
Now, if this were Hollywood, Michael Clarke Duncan could be brought on the set immediately and things might turn just as fast. But this is Pullman, and the defensive cast can’t be replaced. Because there is no one to replace them. The best WSU has to offer is already on the field.
Obviously, the best has not been good enough. Not when Idaho is rolling up 462 yards and driving down the field for the game-winning touchdown in the last 3 minutes to beat you.
“We are not getting a good pass rush. Our linebackers aren’t dropping into the right zone. And that is putting too much stress on the secondary,” said Price.
No amount of special effects or editing is going to fix that. The biggest problem in this production is that the players on the defensive line don’t know how to act - on the field, that is. The 11 available players for the defensive line had a combined 27 starts coming into the season, and Austin Matson had 20 of those. Tomasi Kongaika had six. Eric Boose had one.
This has led to finger-in-the-dike defensive schemes.
“When you don’t have that talent and the kids are young, you’ve got to start guessing,” said defensive coordinator Bill Doba. “You sometimes guess wrong. And you are going to have big plays against you.”
For instance, against Boise State, the Broncos continued to run to the tight-end side. So the Cougars set up a cross, so they could tackle the player on the tight-end side. Boom. The Broncos didn’t go that way on that particular play, and the Cougars gave up a big gain.
“It’s not that they don’t have the ability,” said Doba. “It’s that they don’t have technique yet. We’ve got guys playing with flippers (arms) and shoulder pads instead of hands.”
That has people in the audience sitting on their hands.
But the Cougars are trying to rework the script.
Some things they are doing are simple, like when freshman defensive tackle Tai Tupai was told to start rooming with Matson, a senior, on the road.
“Just doing that has really helped me because Austin is such a leader out there and someone I look up to,” said Tupai.
Others changes are more complicated.
“We’ve got to be able to cut the package down and yet have enough stuff that we give our young kids a chance to have some success, especially our young D-linemen,” said Doba. “We’ve got to make sure we keep it simple.”
But if it is too simple, opposing offenses will figure it out and exploit it. So the Cougars have to strike a balance. That’s not an easy task when you are dealing with unproven, inexperienced players.
“You have to execute,” said Doba.
If the Cougars don’t start to execute and fix things in a hurry, a sequel could be in the making.
Whistle-blower
Two of the officials who were involved in last season’s Arizona-Washington State game’s Hail-Marythat-wasn’t were quietly fired in the off-season by the Pac-10. Jerry Gastellum and Bob Wucetich ruled that Arizona’s Bobby Wade caught a pass from Keith Smart on the last play of the game to beat the Cougars, 30-24.
The replay showed the ball hit the turf.
“I think a lot of pressure was put on (Pac-10 commissioner) Tom Hansen,” Gastellum told the Arizona Daily Star of Tucson. “They can play with numbers and evaluations any way they want to, but the reason my contract wasn’t renewed was because of that call. That’s what I believe.”