Cougars’ run game not all bad
PULLMAN — After a day or two to watch film and review Friday night’s win against New Mexico, Washington State head coach Bill Doba came to a conclusion about his running game, which posted just 31 yards on 31 carries.
It could have been worse.
“I felt really bad about it until I saw the same defense,” Doba said. “BYU runs the same thing they do and held Notre Dame to 11 yards rushing. At least we had three times as much as they did.
“We really simplified the running game because of that pressure and because we didn’t want negative-yardage plays. We got back to the line of scrimmage at least most of the time,”
Doba said he was encouraged by the knowledge that his offense isn’t built to run effectively against that type of defense, and that could bode well for future games when the Cougars won’t face a flexing, blitzing scheme like the one run by the Lobos.
In fact, the Cougars took most of their traps and counters out of the playbook for fear of a blitzer attacking a gap vacated by a pulling lineman.
“I think in order to run against that, if we were going to see that defense a lot, you’re going to have to have a two-back offense,” Doba said. “We thought that we were going to be good enough to get some push and we didn’t. But we didn’t want to make a wholesale change in the offense for one ballgame.”
Before thinking things will automatically get better now that New Mexico is out of the way, be warned: Colorado held Colorado State to just 44 yards on 28 carries.
The offensive line had been a concern heading to Albuquerque and continued to be after the game because of the ground-game issues. Doba credited right tackle Sam Lightbody as having the best performance up front, and expressed confidence that right guard Norvell Holmes will improve as the season progresses.
He didn’t give as glowing a report on left guards Patrick Afif and Bobby Byrd, saying they played “OK” before adding that they needed to work on run blocking.
Wrapping it up
Doba also expressed some disappointment in the way his team tackled on Friday, and said the Cougars would use the long week in part to try and rectify those problems.
WSU will work on some open-field tackling drills in today’s practice, with four full sessions scheduled this week instead of the normal three. On Saturday, the Cougars did some running and lifting, and then the team had Sunday off.
“We can go back to base fundamentals (today) and not all that game plan work. We can introduce some of Colorado to them,” Doba said. “You tell the guy that’s carrying the ball that we don’t want you to drop your shoulder and run over anybody, we want to see you make a move, be an athlete, hit and spin, juke inside and outside. The kids have a lot of fun with it but it teaches the tackler.”
The final word
Asked if the narrow win was a perfect scenario for his team, giving them a positive result but still plenty to work on, Doba had the following to say:
“Our kids feel like they weren’t satisfied. They were happy and felt fortunate. I think we played a good football team. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare as the season goes along. But they weren’t content by any means and they were very open to anything we can do to try and help them get better.”
Still, he and the coaching staff face the task of trying to iron out the team’s perplexing up-and-down play in the second half. The Cougars gave up 222 yards in the third quarter on 22 plays, then 61 in the fourth on 18.
“We were two different teams in the third and fourth quarter,” Doba said. “I think that’s just youth and inexperience, and it’s the beginning of the season.”
Notes
The team’s nominees for Pac-10 player of the week were wideout Trandon Harvey on offense and cornerback Alex Teems on defense. Harvey had six catches for 46 yards and a touchdown, and Teems filled the stat sheet with six tackles, including one for a loss, three passes broken up and two interceptions. Doba also credited Teems with five “drive stops,” third-down plays where Teems prevented a conversion. … The Cougars apparently escaped New Mexico without a single significant injury. Pat Bennett suffered a stinger and perhaps a minor concussion, but Doba said Bennett felt fine by Saturday morning.
Middle linebacker Will Derting ended up with seven tackles, second best on the Cougar defense. But he was a little fatigued by game’s end after missing 10 days of practice because of his dislocated wrist. … Doba made sure to mention both junior kickoff man Graham Siderius and freshman kicker Loren Langley. Siderius, Doba said jokingly, was thinking about transferring to New Mexico after booming kickoffs in the elevation of Albuquerque. Langley went 3 for 3 on extra points, a fact made more significant after watching Oregon State lose to LSU Saturday night in part because of three missed PATs. Langley wanted to attempt a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter, but WSU opted to go for it and ended up scoring a touchdown later in the drive. … Jerome Harrison has moved up the depth chart to be Chris Bruhn’s primary backup. Allen Thompson has been hampered by a lower back strain, but could play if needed.