Another bowl trip doable for Cougars

PULLMAN - First, the facts. Washington State got to watch the Pac-10 football action from home on Saturday while enjoying its bye week. At 3-1, including a 1-0 mark in the conference, the Cougars find themselves in a position remarkably similar to the past three years.

And all those teams ended up with 10 wins.

Of course, not very many picked WSU to repeat that success in 2004, and in all likelihood not many would make such a prediction even now, either.

That’s because, with close wins on the road against New Mexico and Arizona, WSU is just seven points away from being 1-3, not 3-1. The close wins have been in many ways a reflection of youth, as penalties, turnovers and the like have kept games tight even when it appeared that the Cougars might be able to put an opponent away.

“We’ve had some tough games but we think that’s only going to help us,” said senior safety Jeremy Bohannon, who is one of nine Cougars on defense starting for the first time this year. “I think we’re doing pretty well for having a lot of young guys, guys that didn’t really have a lot of experience last year.”

But at the least, this young Cougars team has put itself in a strong position to spend the holidays at a bowl for the fourth year in a row. With the Pac-10 the owner of seven automatic bowl bids instead of last season’s six, three wins in the final seven Pac-10 games would almost certainly place the Cougars somewhere for the postseason.

But one look around the Pac-10 would suggest that anything could be possible this season. With some teams picked to finish in the conference’s upper echelon struggling - 1-4 Oregon State is Exhibit A - head coach Bill Doba has suggested that the conference race could be wide open.

“We plan on winning all the games from here on out,” defensive end Adam Braidwood said.

“You look at the (Pac-10) teams, they’re all pretty much new. Everybody’s got a new D-line, everybody’s got a new quarterback. It’s all been pretty even. You look at the Stanford-USC game, they (the Cardinal) came pretty close to beating them. I think it’s even all around.”

If the Cougars have designs on running the table, or coming close to it, it’s become clear that improvements must be made.

The Cougars offense has been slow to come around in 2004, struggling early when WSU briefly left its quarterback situation up in the air before returning to Josh Swogger as the starter. But the primary problems have stemmed from the lack of an effective running game.

Part of that has also been a function of inexperience, with new guards on the offensive line and new rushers in the backfield.

“We’re kind of fitting some of the stereotypes,” offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller of the team’s youth. “I’ve said all along that this is not an 11- or 12-game plan. For some of these guys, it’s a 20-, 30- and 40-game plan.

“It’s a slow, painful process right now.”

Not so on the defensive side of the ball. After struggling in the third quarter of the season opener at New Mexico, the Cougars defense has sparkled, consistently holding opponents in check and keeping WSU in every game thus far.

Because of that defense, the Cougars offense has had time to get on track, and that could bode well for the rest of the season. It also gives the Cougars another perspective: Instead of being seven points away from 1-3, they can also say they’re nine points away from 4-0.

“We’re gaining ground,” defensive coordinator Robb Akey said. “We’ve had some very positive things show up, and we got to get some things cleaned up.

“Am I happy we’re 3-1? Yeah. Am I disappointed we’re not 4-0? Yeah, I am. I think we got to keep those expectations on them.”