Looks Like Same Old Cougars

Since the list of what the Washington State Cougars don’t have would stretch from here back to the help-wanteds, let’s be brief and focus on what they do have:

Delusions of adequacy.

Again.

It looks as if the alleged football resurgence of the Pacific-10 Conference will have to go on for now without the Cougars, who on Saturday night became the first team to be voted off the island.

Funny thing was, their ballot should have canceled out Stanford’s, and yet the vote was unanimous.

Yes, it’s a long autumn and one game does not a season make - man, did you notice WSU coach Mike Price spin-controlling that damage even before kickoff? - but what transpired on Martin Stadium’s new shag was painfully reminiscent of what made each of the last two autumns especially long until that spirited revival last November in Hawaii.

Admit it, you’re thinking it, too.

New turf, new uniforms, new locker rooms.

Same old Cougs.

This is not precisely the case. These Cougs are at least young and athletically gifted enough at a few critical positions to suggest the possibility of growth and improvement. All that was suggested in 1998 and 1999 was hopelessness and despair and God bless Southwestern Louisiana, or whatever it was being called back then.

Nor will the 24-10 blister the Cardinal inflicted look as bad in the black and white of a record book as the 54-17 open sore the Cougs exposed in this game a year ago. Alas, it was aired in living color over more or less national television, and it’s a mortal lock whatever audience Fox rustled up for the first half found more appealing entertainment before the second-half kickoff.

Regrouting the shower, for instance.

Not that all the numbers were so forgiving. Washington State’s 252 yards of offense, if you can call it that, was lower than any of the totals produced by the Cougs of 1998 or ‘99 - and, indeed, the worst output in 45 games since the 1996 opener at Colorado.

Which would account for that “Bring back Birnie” chant.

Sorry. It just slipped out.

That Colorado game, you might recall, was the second career start of a quarterback named Ryan Leaf. This was the second career start for Wazzu sophomore Jason Gesser. We’ll not draw any further parallels, but we certainly can’t stop you from using your imaginations.

In fact, we encourage it. Because, at the moment, the reality bites.

“This is the first time I’ve lost a game in my life,” said Gesser, meaning as a starter - being 1-0 as a Coug and 24-0 in high school. “I’m not used to this stuff.”

Neither is Price, no matter what the recent record might indicate.

“Offensively, that’s as poor a first half as I’ve coached in the 12 years I’ve been here,” said Price.

“Everything I thought we were going to do, Stanford did. They made great one-handed catches, they were on track, throwing the ball well. We were off track and out of our comfort zone. We weren’t doing the things we were doing the last three weeks. Looking back, I’d have liked to have come out and smashed-mouthed them on offense and we would have probably been better off. We tried to finesse them and we were just too jittery to make it work.”

This would apparently account for Gesser’s skittishness, for the indifferent running of Deon Burnett, for the ineffectual work of Wazzu’s offensive line and for the performance of the receiving corps, which had a severe case of the Nian Taylors.

Oddly enough, granted a quarter by Stanford to work it out of their system, the Cougars looked even more lost in the second period, when the visitors scored all 24 of their points and looked like the defending Pac-10 champions that some of us forgot they were.

Down 24-0 at intermission, the Cougs consoled themselves with a commendable - if not productive - second half, though the only real highlight was the punt that Curtis Nettles blocked and Josh Moen covered in the end zone. As the Cougars then lined up for the predictable pooch kick, Moen pumped his arms in an attempt to get the crowd going.

Alas, the crowd had already got itself going - out into the Pullman night.

“The second half, we could have tanked it,” reasoned Price. “If we were losers, we would have tanked it. But we didn’t. We didn’t show we’re winners on the football field and the scoreboard yet, but we will.”

Of course, Stanford decided to help the cause by giving some work to backup quarterback Chris Lewis when there was an opportunity to really put the hammer down - and which, if you think about it, is almost as insulting as trying to run up the score.

In any case, the Cougs weren’t paying attention - and good for them.

“We wanted to stay together as a team - we didn’t want to get divided,” said safety Billy Newman. “When they’re scoring and we’re not, that can become a problem.”

Especially when there was so much talk beforehand to the effect that a victory would make WSU’s season.

Now, well, the Cougars are going to have to make something else.

“We made plays the second half and you could see the touch of brilliance,” said running back Adam Hawkins. “But anytime you have three months to prepare for a football game, it’s crucial that you win it. We were prepared, but we just looked like a young, inexperienced football team.

“This could be a turning point for us.”

Maybe. But too many turning points just means you’re going in circles.