Quarterback decision could go down to wire

PULLMAN – A decision has not yet been made on who will start at quarterback for Washington State come Sept. 1. And it appears that the Cougar coaching staff has even taken to having some fun with it while those around them await a decision.

“I might go every other series,” head coach Bill Doba said, a suggestion that violates every rule of quarterbacking he seems to hold near and dear. “And I might not.”

Minutes later, quarterback coach Timm Rosenbach took things a step further.

“Or like (Steve) Spurrier did that one year, run them in every other play,” he said.

Doba, standing nearby, chimed in again.

“The long downs, let Josh throw the long ball, and the accurate passes that we’ve got to have …”

Doba didn’t have to finish the joke. WSU played its third scrimmage Friday, and for those keeping score Josh Swogger, he of the bigger arm, lesser mobility and five injury-riddled starts of 2004, went 11 of 18 for 164 yards and one impressive 52-yard touchdown toss to Jason Hill. Alex Brink, who’s been cast as the less physically gifted but more free-wheeling passer who made six starts in relief of Swogger, went 8 of 20 for 64 yards, throwing a touchdown to Hill as well, plus one interception.

Statistically speaking, that would be Swogger’s best outing from the three scrimmages and Brink’s worst. But with no timetable set and no definitive criteria laid out for the followers of Cougar football, counting every incompletion and every catch could well amount to a waste of time.

“I’ll probably spend the next two days at least probably looking at stuff trying to figure out where we’re at,” Rosenbach said. “This is a little skewed. The practices are just as important. Scrimmages are fine, but what they do in practice counts.”

Both coaches were pressed repeatedly following the scrimmage for some idea as to when a decision would be made. And while neither had anything remotely concrete to offer, Rosenbach did agree that game planning would have to begin in earnest by a week before the Sept. 1 kickoff. So it might be reasonable to expect a decision within the next four or five days. Might be.

“We’d like to pick one of them pretty soon, get them out of their misery.” Doba said. “And us too and you guys too.

“About the time I think one of them is going to do it the other one does well. It’s been pretty even. And I think we could win with either one of them.”

As a whole, Doba left little doubt that he wasn’t pleased with the scrimmage as a whole, especially coming after one of the most up-tempo practices of the year the night before.

“These are the dog days. This is a tough time,” he said. “We had a great practice (Thursday) night, very spirited, and (Friday) we were just sluggish coming in and out of the huddle. It was not a winning effort.”

Brink suggested that the warm weather, the length of camp and the grind of playing the same foe every day has taken its toll on WSU.

“We’re obviously mentally and physically worn out,” Brink said. “We’re ready to play against another team, I think. We’ve been banging heads against each other and hurting each other enough for the past few weeks. I think we’re ready to play a real game.”

That may be true, but there is one significant catch: The Cougars need to pick a quarterback before they play a game.

And as the post-scrimmage shoulder shrugs would indicate, that’s not going to happen just yet.

“It’s tough when you don’t have a game,” Rosenbach said. “As real as you try to make the scrimmage, it’s not a game situation. When you run a series and you score a touchdown or you punt, the offense goes back on the field. So there’s not time to take a player and correct a play or talk to a player.

“You guys want an answer and to be honest with you I can’t give one. You just have to look at it and see what happens.”