Cougar offense struggles again in scrimmage
PULLMAN — Defensive co-captains Will Derting and Hamza Abdullah watched Wednesday night’s scrimmage from the sidelines. It didn’t make much of a difference.
The Cougars’ second scrimmage of the summer in Martin Stadium looked much like the first, with the Washington State offense making little headway against the defense.
“The two guys they voted captain aren’t out there, but they’re flying around like they are,” defensive coordinator Robb Akey said. “That’s why I’m really happy.
“We’ve been putting some things in and they’re taking it well.”
Both quarterbacks Josh Swogger and Alex Brink struggled to move the chains. Swogger went 8 for 18 for 66 yards, his last completion good for the day’s lone score. Brink went 4 of 10 and ended up with just 18 yards passing.
“Well, obviously we need a whole lot of work — again,” head coach Bill Doba said after seeing all three offensive units struggle. “Early, the defense is always ahead a little bit.”
But with just 15 days left until the opening kickoff in Albuquerque against New Mexico, and just one significant intrasquad scrimmage left, time is starting to run short for the Cougar offense to get jump started.
The lone bright spot on offense was running back Jerome Harrison, a junior college transfer who didn’t play in the first scrimmage this fall. Harrison was largely responsible for the one scoring drive, bouncing off tacklers and finding his way through piles for 55 yards on 12 carries. Harrison got most of the carries because starting tailback Chris Bruhn, who has been dealing with a quadriceps contusion, played just the first series.
Aside from Harrison, though, the defense was clearly the star. Brian Hall and Tyron Brackenridge both intercepted passes, and defensive ends Adam West, Adam Braidwood and Mkristo Bruce collected one sack apiece.
The Cougar blitz packages were highly successful in putting pressure on the quarterback despite the return of a pair of injured linemen on offense, left tackle Calvin Armstrong and left guard Patrick Afif.
Freshman Loren Langley may have taken a step forward in his duel with Graham Siderius for the kicking duties by nailing one of his two attempts from 47 yards, significantly better than his best from the first scrimmage.
The field goal and extra-point attempts were only there for the two kickers because of the controlled nature of the scrimmage, though. Were it not for the coaches putting the Cougars in range, it appeared the WSU defense had no designs on letting the offense anywhere near the red zone for much of the night.
“We can’t line up wrong, we can’t be offsides, we’ve got to have center-quarterback exchanges,” Doba said. “We finally got it going, got a drive in there, but it was like, ‘You guys are either going to get it done this drive, or we’re going to be here until midnight.’
“That got their attention.”