Issue affects Cougs’ high hopes

In history’s greatest movie, “Diner,” two of the characters debate the seminal question of taste in the 1950s: Sinatra or Mathis?

Sinatra, it’s argued, is “the lord” – big in movies, big in nightclubs, big in records. The counterpoint: When it’s time to make out, Mathis is on the turntable.

To settle the issue, a third buddy is consulted. Sinatra or Mathis?

“Presley,” he concludes.

This bit of Hollywood esoterica is exhumed as a jumping-into point for the Great Washington State Quarterback Debate of 2005. Except that in the current conundrum, there is no lord, the Cougs are not making out at all and Elvis – which is to say, Wazzu’s pretension of being a bowl team – has left the building.

You show me three wins in the minefield ahead and I’ll show you balloons and cake at the confirmation hearings for the new Supreme Court nominee.

In the throes of woe after anticipated victories over the likes of Oregon State and Stanford veered into calamity, the Wazzu community is in full Sinatra-vs.-Mathis froth over the merits of relieving starting quarterback Alex Brink and giving Josh Swogger his old job back.

Yes, there is even the odd voice vote for Presley. Er, Gary Rogers.

Talk about all shook up.

Hey, this is what fans do. Sports writers, too.

The reasoning may not even be so much that Swogger would be such a dramatic improvement, but that if the games ahead are already losses on paper, then what could a change possibly hurt, other than Alex Brink’s feelings?

I know, I know. That’s no way to run a football team. But the Cougars haven’t given their people much else to go on, have they?

Before preparations for UCLA and homecoming this Saturday even started, WSU coach Bill Doba tried to quell the groundswell for change.

“No, I don’t think it’s warranted just yet,” he said. “It’s how you practice. I don’t think the quarterback’s the problem. We had 400 yards, I think, of total offense, and he lost two of his receivers.”

And then the warning, after insisting the issue hasn’t even been considered:

“Get off of it, men.”

Hmm. Hope you fans got better reception on the coach’s statewide radio show last night.

Actually, Doba is doing his damnedest to protect a player under some fire, and if that’s perceived as a problem, then the Cougars should sign the coach to a lifetime contract right now. There is enough kindling stacked already without Doba being obliged to strike the match.

But I’m guessing the notion of a personnel change at quarterback has been kicked around behind closed doors, if only in passing. If it hasn’t, then these guys aren’t nearly as smart as their track record suggests.

Why would discussion of any possible solution be put off limits?

Oh, right. Because the quarterback’s not the problem.

This is where coach and constituency seem to part company, but maybe it’s just a semantic issue. True, the quarterback is not the problem, as in the only problem. There is the matter of those two injured receivers, including Jason Hill, WSU’s resident game breaker. The tight ends have not been as good as advertised. The defense is devoid of real playmakers, and that was true even before middle linebacker Will Derting bunged up his knee. There is little in the way of a pass rush, the corners have been shaky, the safeties not enough help. Special teams have been decidedly unspecial.

But Brink has certainly been a problem, too – and probably the only problem to which the Cougs have a reasonable alternative.

In the last six quarters, he’s thrown six interceptions in 63 attempts – or one more than he threw all of last season in 194. We’ve been told they haven’t all been his fault and, well, those who’ve say it are entitled to that opinion. We’ve also been told he’s been victimized by drops, but Swogger had more passes dropped in the Colorado game last year than Brink’s had dropped all season.

He has thrown perilously into underneath coverages, and the long balls he hung up there against the Idahos and Gramblings are now being scoped by better defensive backs.

And, yes, he’s completed a couple of beauties – just enough to tease us into thinking it’s not an issue of arm strength.

But the most damning stat relevant to the quarterback is that Jerome Harrison ran for 218 yards last Saturday.

There have been 10 200-yard games in WSU history. Only once before – Kevin Brown’s 202-yard effort against Stanford in 1998 – have the Cougars lost when a running back went for 200, and that was in an era when everything seemed to be the quarterback’s fault.

Surely it was revealing that when the Cougars had their last chance against Stanford, 86 yards from the end zone and at least 60 from a tying field-goal attempt, and just 61 seconds to get there, that two of the first three plays were handoffs to Harrison.

It was their best chance, something made clear when the fourth play became an interception.

It also reminded us that there were two games a year ago – against New Mexico and Arizona – that Swogger won in the fourth quarter with his arm, even after poor-to-middling performance to that point.

This is all spitballing. Swogger was as erratic when healthy last year as Brink has been this season, and the coaching staff installed Brink as the starter this fall based on rigorous competition in practice.

What is it Doba said? It’s how you practice.

But whatever Brink has shown in practice, it isn’t translating in the games. The notion that Swogger could provide a spark or a change of pace certainly shouldn’t be off the table. When cornerback Don Turner was torched for a couple of touchdowns Saturday, the staff didn’t hesitate to send in a replacement. And that didn’t destroy Don Turner.

Sometimes, it’s not how you practice. It’s how you play.