Cougars come out flat, then get flattened by Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Just three plays into Saturday’s game, Washington State was in trouble. On a third-and-7, Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson lofted a pass down the left sideline, and wideout Mike Hass went over WSU’s Karl Paymah to reel it in for 25 yards and a first down.
From there, the Oregon State offense was rolling, and the Cougars were flattened on the Reser Stadium turf.
The Beavers scored a touchdown on that first drive and didn’t stop there, sending WSU back to Pullman with a 38-19 loss and severely dampened hopes for postseason play.
The Cougars (3-4, 1-3 Pac-10) have now lost three games in a row for the first time since 2000, and its poor play out of the gate against Oregon State doesn’t bode well for a matchup against No. 1 USC next weekend.
“You can’t start that slow. I thought our kids competed in the second half. But we can’t start that slow,” a visibly agitated WSU head coach Bill Doba said. “I didn’t get any sense (of being unprepared). I thought we were ready to play. There’s no flat. We can’t be flat.”
The Cougar defense didn’t give up unsightly chunks of yardage — 441 in all, not nearly as bad as the 646 allowed to Oregon two weeks earlier — but Anderson and the Beaver offense were clearly a step ahead for much of the game.
“It was our base defense that we were in. We just didn’t finish and didn’t make plays,” defensive coordinator Robb Akey said. “I’m surprised in the way we played today, to be honest with you guys. I was happy with our preparation in the course of the week, and I really expected us to play well so I’m really disappointed with our performance on the field. In the pregame I thought we were ready to go. Obviously something didn’t work because we had a long drive our first time on the field there. We just didn’t execute our defense, and it’s painful for me to stand here and tell you that.”
The Cougar offense didn’t run a single play with the score tied on Saturday, something that didn’t help freshman quarterback Alex Brink, who was making the first start of his career after starter Josh Swogger had surgery for a broken left foot.
WSU didn’t score a touchdown until there was just 4:33 remaining in the third quarter, and by then Oregon State (3-4, 2-2) had built up a 31-5 advantage.
Brink didn’t have the luxury of depending on a rushing game, since his team had to make up ground so early, and he struggled to find open receivers for much of the day against a solid Beavers secondary. The Eugene, Ore., native finished 15 of 41 for 201 yards with one touchdown throw and two interceptions.
“I thought Alex Brink did a nice job in the first start, but he’s got to have some help, you know?” Doba said. “You have to go get the ball, you can’t just let the damn thing float in there.
“I thought he kept his poise while we were getting our butt kicked. He stayed in there, hung in there and competed the whole damn time. Tough situation for a kid.”
Brink said after the game that a better performance on his part would have made the difference for the Cougars. But in truth, given the defense’s struggle to stop Oregon State, only a near-flawless game would have kept WSU close, and few expected a 19-year-old in his first start to provide such an effort.
To their credit, the Cougars have avoided pointing fingers within the locker room. Instead, both players and coaches are harping on their lack of consistency, especially frustrating on a young team that has shown it has the talent to control the flow of games.
“That is the worst part, knowing that some of the guys in that locker room, you look at them and in a couple years they’re going to be playing on Sunday — if not next year,” said running back Jerome Harrison, who also made his first start with Chris Bruhn sidelined because of a knee injury. “We’re still losing and it’s a real sick feeling in your stomach and a bad taste in your mouth. You look at the guys, and how are we doing this with this talent? It’s very frustrating.”