Time, season slipping away from Doba
PULLMAN – His team had just lost by 30 points at home the day before, and no rest was in sight with a 7:30 a.m. appointment to meet some recruits at their hotel for breakfast.
Standing in the lobby, Washington State head coach Bill Doba wondered why no one he was supposed to meet had showed up. Then the realization struck – he had forgotten to set his clock back one hour Saturday night, and it was actually 6:30 a.m.
“Things have not been great,” said Doba, obviously weary from a four-game losing streak and a busy weekend.
The Cougars (3-5, 1-4 Pac-10) have put themselves in the unenviable position of needing wins in all three games down the stretch to secure a bowl bid, and with the team struggling in all three phases of the game, it would be a near-miraculous accomplishment.
This most recent loss, a 42-12 blowout at the hands of No. 1 USC, may be the least surprising of the year given the caliber of the opponent. Yet it still underscored just how far WSU is from competing with the cream of the crop this year, something that would have seemed unlikely after the team sprinted to a 3-1 start, one that could easily have been 4-0 were it not for a close loss to Colorado.
WSU has a young roster, which helps to explain much of the inconsistency that has been a hallmark of the team’s play this year, but Doba said he thought things would have been more favorable for his team nonetheless.
“I honestly thought we’d be a lot better,” the second-year head coach said, turning his attention to what he can do to try and salvage the season. “I think you draw on 42 years of experience, I guess. And even going back to high school, we went through some lean years, too. It’s hard to put a finger on it and it’s tough to get that confidence back, but it’s something that you just have to do.”
Before Doba can try and build up his team’s confidence, though, he has to recover from the aftereffects himself. And it was apparent Sunday night that, even before he had the opportunity to extensively review the USC game film, the post-loss healing process was still underway.
“I’m not overjoyed, by any means. It’s tough,” Doba said. “I’m going to tell you, you work your tail off and things kind of blow up in your face. That’s part of the job. This is what you do. This is Sunday night, give me a couple days, anyway.
“It’s tough on the fans for one night, and it’s hell for me for a whole week.”
Doba didn’t need to watch USC on tape after the fact to recognize just how good USC is this season. Asked if they compared favorably with last year’s national championship team, Doba said he felt the 2004 version of the Trojans was better and more complete. And the only Pac-10 team he could think of that would match this year’s Trojan team in quality was the 1991 Washington national championship squad.
“They’ve got some weapons,” Doba said, understating the situation. “The biggest difference is (Reggie) Bush is running harder up the middle. He’s an inside runner and an outside runner. Obviously they miss Mike Williams, but I think their defense is better.”
For the second week in a row, the Cougars will be facing a Southern California Pac-10 team that is coming off of a shutout victory. Before playing WSU, USC had blanked Washington 38-0, and on Saturday UCLA beat Stanford 21-0.
The Bruins (5-3, 3-2) are looking to secure a bowl bid of their own and the Cougars will have to hit the road this weekend to try and reverse the losing skid.
“I don’t have any bag of tricks,” Doba said. “I just feel bad for our seniors. I want them to have a winning season in the worst way. We’ve got a three-game season left for those guys, and we have to try and win all three of them. But I think we have to concentrate on one at a time, obviously, and try to beat UCLA.”
Notes
The first injury report coming out of Saturday’s game doesn’t contain any terrible news for WSU, especially given some of the severe injuries the team has incurred along the way this season. Defensive tackle Steve Cook has a sprained foot, but Doba said he is probable to play this week. Linebacker Brian Hall has a stinger, but once again Doba sounded confident that it would not be a long-term problem. … WSU could also get two offensive players back in the fold this week. Both running back Chris Bruhn and tight end Cody Boyd will attempt a return to contact in practice on Tuesday. If they can successfully negotiate the week, they should be able to play against the Bruins.