WSU considers a Maine game
PULLMAN – Washington State has had significant discussions with the University of Maine, a Division I-AA school coming off a 5-6 season, to fill its final opening for the 2005 football season.
The Cougars currently have Idaho scheduled for Sept. 3 and a road game at Nevada on Sept. 10, but both of the following two weeks remain open. WSU also has not yet booked a game at Qwest Field in Seattle, where it has played a non-conference game the last three seasons.
“We’re still in an active mode of searching for an opponent,” WSU athletic director Jim Sterk said, then addressing the possibility of facing the Black Bears on Sept. 17. “We just know that they’re available and that could be an option. We haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet. We’re still trying to search out and see if there are any changes. Sometimes in January, after the football season, there are changes with coaches and things like that that may occur. We know we’ve got somebody, but we can’t wait too long to lock somebody up or else we may lose that one and then we’ve got to start all over.”
Sterk said he would prefer to schedule a Division I-A school for the open slot, but it has been a yearlong search that thus far has been fruitless. And members of Maine’s athletic administration, while not officially ready to confirm the scheduling because no papers have been signed, are clearly excited about the possibility of playing WSU.
According to Steve Eckerson, the director of facility sales and marketing at Qwest Field, the stadium is being held open on both dates for WSU, pending the scheduling decision.
Even if the Cougars do schedule the Black Bears in September, Sterk said there is no guarantee that game would be played in Seattle. Should that game end up in Pullman, WSU would still have the opportunity to play a game at Qwest Field.
Idaho, WSU’s Seattle opponent in 2002, has expressed an interest in playing there again. To do so, the game would have to be moved to Sept. 24, because Washington is hosting Air Force at the stadium Sept. 3. That scenario essentially means WSU’s 2005 season would start with a bye, then the three non-conference games leading into Pac-10 play.
Sterk expressed a desire to keep the last week before the Pac-10 season open if possible so the Cougars can be rested and ready.
Playing Maine in 2005 would also raise some serious questions about WSU’s strength of schedule. Aside from Maine – a team that beat Mississippi State this year – the Vandals finished 2-10 and Nevada went 5-7, good for a seventh-place tie in the WAC.
Still, Sterk said he wasn’t too concerned about having a schedule that would be perceived as weak by most casual observers.
“At the end of the year, people look at the wins and the losses,” said Sterk, whose football team lost a non-conference game to Colorado in 2004 and missed out on bowl eligibility by one game. “We have a team that’s younger, that needs to grow up. That’s part of the strategy, too. Football is a very emotional game, and confidence is a good thing to have.”
Two more commitments
WSU received oral commitments from two Texans during the weekend. Both cornerback James Bradley, of South Garland High School, and running back DeMaundray Woolridge, of Keller High School, were on official visits and became the ninth and 10th players to commit to the recruiting class of 2005.
Commitments are non-binding and can not become official until the signing period beings Feb. 2.