West Side stinker not show expected
SEATTLE – Say this about Colorado: If this is the best team booze and escort service honies can buy, then the staff recruiting pimp could have done as well with priests and fruit punch.
Alas, that doesn’t leave much to say about the Washington State Cougars.
Possibly that’s why so many of them declined the opportunity to say anything at all after Saturday’s debacle, a 20-12 Colorado escape at Qwest Field – preferring instead the quickest getaway out of the big, scary city.
They may not be back soon. Athletic director Jim Sterk reportedly is having trouble lining up an opponent for a Seattle game in 2005.
Someone should remind him that the Cougars’ own worst enemy – themselves – is available any weekend, and the guarantee is cheap.
On the other hand, maybe a year off would be best. Let the place air out.
For most of four quarters on Saturday, the Cougars pushed around a “name” Big 12 opponent, though lately Colorado’s name has been mud – and the Buffaloes getting pushed around has become increasingly commonplace. Wazzu came up with one of the best defensive performances in school history and had a coming out party for sophomore wide receiver Jason Hill – and otherwise melted down like a caramel in the Kalahari.
Worst of all, the Cougs did it in a town theirs for the taking.
In the third installment of WSU’s weekend slumber party in Seattle, 56,188 revelers – minus a small knot of Coloradoans – queued into the Qwest feeling all good about the 30-win run of the past three seasons, the remarkable comeback a week ago against New Mexico and the juicy mysteries still to be unearthed among the young and restless replacements for the most accomplished football players in school history.
They walked away with questions about the Not Ready for Pioneer Square Players, and even some about how they were deployed.
“Sometimes the big crowd got in our heads,” confessed slotback Marty Martin, “and we didn’t concentrate the way we need to.”
He was talking about the eight dropped passes among the Cougar receivers, but it took a stew of screwups to screw up a magnificent defensive effort. Never have the Cougars, at least since 1976 when such records became available, surrendered so few yards (just 125) and lost. But then you have to factor in:
“ Three turnovers, one an interception returned for a touchdown;
“ A blocked punt recovered in the end zone for another TD;
“ Two missed field goals;
“ A botched hold on another field-goal attempt;
“ And a ham-handed shuttle of quarterbacks which, in fairness, eventually produced some spark and drama at game’s end.
That will undoubtedly foment considerable debate this week whether Saturday’s relief pitcher, freshman Alex Brink, should leapfrog ahead of starter Josh Swogger – and if coach Bill Doba gets testy about it, as many a football coach does, he only has himself to blame.
“We’ll look at the video and see how practice goes,” is all Doba would say Saturday.
Brink did direct the Cougars back from the near-dead, though without Hill – who had 206 of WSU’s 387 yards through the air – running free and just outwilling CU defenders, the only direction the Cougar offense would have been headed was south. And it was Brink headed for the end zone and a chance at a tie and overtime with 5 seconds to go.
Of course, it was Brink who fumbled when that dash was halted on the Colorado 2-yard line, and Brink who fumbled two other times (included the field-goal snap) and Brink who threw the awful pick that put the Cougars down 17-6.
All Swogger did was see five of his passes dropped in the first quarter and a half and then get an undeserved hook.
“He just looked confused, panicky,” said Doba. “He threw a couple of balls early when he still had time to hold on to it, so we let him stand on the sidelines to see what he was doing.”
When Brink twice coughed it up on fumbles on the ensuing possessions (“Alex wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire at that point, either,” Doba admitted), Swogger was sent back in – with his rhythm and, it seemed, his confidence shot by both the drops and the benching. After his return, he would complete just two of 13 passes.
Not that there was a consensus on that.
“Josh has a lot of confidence in the receivers,” said slotback Marty Martin. “He’s a smart guy, and he understands it’s a larger crowd and a bigger team and it was just a matter of concentration. We needed to lock in better and we didn’t do that, but I don’t think that bothered Josh. It did make it difficult to find a rhythm.”
Flanker Trandon Harvey was a little more plain-spoken.
“If I was him,” Harvey said, “I would have been discouraged.”
In any case, it seemed a premature pull – especially when it had been such a priority in the spring and fall to establish a No. 1 quarterback.
But football failure is always a team effort, and it showed in the drops and misfires and sacks (eight of them) and futility in running the football. Discounting the yardage from sacks, scrambles and plays that were supposed to be passes, the Cougars have still only gained 107 yards on the ground in two weeks.
And Saturday’s stat of the game: in 40 plays in CU territory, the Cougs managed all of 57 yards. Yet they still outgained the Buffs nearly 4-to-1.
“We had guys where they belonged a little better today,” acknowledged defensive coordinator Robb Akey.
Corrected Doba, “The defense played their tails off.”
Indeed, the defense is for the most part fine – stout, quick to the ball, remarkably steady for a unit with nine new starters. There was even a hint of depth, with subs Aaron Johnson and Odell Howard filling in capably for injured starters at defensive tackle and making life miserable for CU quarterback Joel Klatt – who also looked pretty miserable on his own.
In the stands, they were saluted in the traditional fashion – with the “Jaws” clap, and maybe that’s the problem – maybe the offense feels left out. Maybe it needs its own fan salute.
Can somebody lead a group Heimlich?