Two tight for you?
PASADENA, Calif. – All week, the Washington State University Cougars talked about the advantage they would have with the team’s top two tight ends, Troy Bienemann and Cody Boyd, returning to action.
Bienemann had been severely limited by a deep shin bruise and Boyd, his primary backup, missed all of October with a separated shoulder.
Against UCLA, that perceived edge came to fruition.
WSU ran a two-tight end set for much of the day, and that formation allowed running back Jerome Harrison to plow through the Bruins defense for nearly 250 rushing yards.
“We had two tight ends for the first time in a long time, since the Arizona game,” said WSU head coach Bill Doba, who had relied on a variety of formations to try and compensate during the month of October. “So we were able to block the edges better. We were able to run it up the middle better because we could spread the defense.”
The two tight ends didn’t have much of an effect in the passing game. Bienemann caught one pass early in the fourth quarter, and Boyd didn’t record a pass reception.
But Boyd did make one vitally important grab to close out the Bruins. After UCLA scored a touchdown with 42 seconds left to pull within two of the Cougars, kicker Justin Medlock skipped an onside kick directly at Boyd. The ball bounced high, and the 6-foot-7 Boyd had to reach over his head to make the catch. Had a shorter Cougars player been standing in his place, it’s possible that a jump ball would have resulted, giving the Bruins a chance to recover.
“It’s coming right at me, I have to go up and get it, and not let it go out of bounds or get past me,” Boyd said. “It felt real good just to be out there and playing again.”
Bruins’ offense bruised
While the Cougars were reaping the benefits of having two key offensive contributors back, the Bruins were stung badly when their two best offensive players, running back Maurice Drew and tight end Marcedes Lewis, went down with injuries in the first half.
Drew has averaged 179.8 all-purpose yards a game this year, second in the nation. But he ran the ball once for minus-6 yards before spraining an ankle on a punt return.
Lewis bruised his tailbone on a 19-yard grab in the second quarter, taking away quarterback Drew Olson’s safety valve in the passing game.
Ready to offer a leg
After a close contest in training camp in August, freshman kicker Loren Langley won the place-kicking duties over junior Graham Siderius. But Langley has struggled to hit field goals this season, and after a 28-yard miss in the third quarter – making him 5 for 11 on the year – Doba sent Siderius in for the first field-goal attempt of his career.
“The young kid is a good kicker and he’s going to be a great kicker,” Doba said of Langley. “I just saw him when he missed that one, and he looked like he was really frustrated. I thought, you know, we’re putting a lot of pressure on a true freshman. And let’s give him a break and see what happens.”
Siderius has kicked off all year, and he calmly stepped on the field and nailed a 31-yarder.
Notes
The Rose Bowl was slightly more than two-thirds full with a crowd of 62,251. … WSU cornerback Alex Teems (neck) and wideout Chris Jordan (groin) both tried to warm up before the game but were unable to play. … During the game, WSU defensive tackle Aaron Johnson suffered an MCL sprain in his right knee and will miss 2-4 weeks. … The Cougars are 2-1 in the Pac-10 on the road and 0-3 at home. … Jason Hill pulled in his 10th receiving touchdown of the year, good for a fourth-place tie on WSU’s single-season list. Three players are tied at the top with 11. … Former WSU pitcher and current major league veteran Aaron Sele was on the Rose Bowl sidelines. … Jeremy Bohannon recorded the third interception of his WSU career, with one coming earlier this year against Colorado, the other last season at Oregon. … WSU has a four-game winning streak over UCLA, the longest for the Cougars in series history.