It’s time for a progress (and lack thereof) report
PULLMAN – In words that could easily come back to haunt him by season’s end, head coach Bill Doba said before this season started that the 2005 Cougars were a bowl-caliber team. Now, at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference, the bowl-bound thinking is starting to look more like fallacy than fact.
The head coach knows that as of the midway point, his team has fallen off the pace.
“We’re not where we wanted to be obviously or where we expected to be,” Doba said. “We thought we’d be, you know, 6-0 right now or at least be 5-1.”
Doba dismissed the idea that playing a weak non-conference schedule ended up being a detriment to his team. But the early wins may have masked Washington State’s deficiencies – weaknesses that were exposed as soon as better teams came knocking.
“You’ve just got to work with what you have,” Doba said. “It’s not like the NFL, where if a kid’s not as good as you think he is, you ship him off and bring in somebody else. You’ve got these guys, you recruited them, and you’ve just got to try to make them better.”
Six games in and five to go, so here are the plaudits and pans for the first half of the Cougars season.
Midseason MVP
Jason Hill
How is it possible to pick a player who missed almost six quarters and played at less than full speed for another four? Easy. Even though running back Jerome Harrison gets a long look here, it seems that his production doesn’t necessarily vault the Cougars to a better performance. It’s clear that Hill’s does at wide receiver.
The junior was unstoppable before injuring a quadriceps at Oregon State, and so too were the Cougars. As soon as he went out – even with Harrison going for 218 yards against Stanford – no Hill meant no offense. Hill is probably this team’s best player on the field and quite possibly its best pro prospect as well. This is the Cougars’ best go-to option when the going gets rough, and it almost certainly will at times given the quality of opponents still left.
Midseason surprise
Offensive line
In the off-season, it was a concern. No longer. The Cougars’ front five on offense have opened huge holes for Harrison and given up a scant five sacks, fewest in the Pac-10. It’s a shame that neither left tackle Bobby Byrd or center Nick Mihlhauser is likely to garner first-team All-Pac-10 honors because of USC’s Winston Justice and Arizona State’s Grayling Love, but both are having outstanding seasons.
Most assumed that the loss of tackles Calvin Armstrong and Sam Lightbody after last season would damage this already shaky bunch, but that’s not so. Offensive line coach George Yarno simplified things a bit over the summer and has done a fine job.
Midseason disappointment
Coaching
The secondary has been shaky; that was expected. The quarterback play has been streaky; that, too, isn’t a surprise. What is disconcerting for the 2005 Cougars is the apparent lack of direction, and that responsibility has to go first to the staff.
WSU’s identity is as a team that can’t hold a lead. The leadership needed to keep those late losses from happening just hasn’t been there, and as Doba has said many times this season, leadership has to start with the coaching staff. In fairness, it’s probably true that the Cougs aren’t as good as some might have thought before the conference season. But that’s still no excuse for some of WSU’s ills.
Best game
Nevada
As soon as safety Eric Frampton intercepted a first-quarter pass and took it to the end zone – probably the biggest play by a Cougars defender all year – things were rolling for WSU, which looked good on offense, defense and special teams. Nevada’s not a good team this season, but the Cougars made them look worse than they are.
Worst game
Stanford
A few weeks after playing Nevada, WSU made Stanford look much better than reality, and in Pullman to boot. The Cougars opened flat, failed to adjust and couldn’t make any clutch plays to spark a rally. It was a weak effort from a team that needed a win.
What to watch in second half
The second half
Sorry to be coy, but given WSU’s inability to win close games late, the most important thing left in this season will be whether the Cougars can figure out how to hang on if they get ahead early. Getting those quick leads won’t be easy given the opponents still left, but it’ll be even easier to lose them if the Cougars don’t show more toughness in the face of adversity. There’s only one team on the schedule – Washington – that WSU figures to have any chance of blowing out. So the second half will be where games are won and lost for WSU, and it could be a late-season key.