Cougs show oddsmakers a thing or two

RENO – For a time Friday, Washington State University’s game face could just as easily have been one of those what-the-hell-are-we- doing-here expressions.

As they sweated out the day at their hotel before another evening kickoff, the Cougars could salve the boredom by watching retired nurses and schoolteachers glumly plug their pensions into the dollar slots.

Out at Mackay Stadium, the indifferent turnout for the home team’s season opener – 17,552 – made the halftime exodus-for-beer bunch back in Pullman look positively true blue by comparison.

Unfestive as the pre-game atmosphere was already, it grew horrifically grim when Green Beret skydiver Dave Larson crashed to earth in the perilous wind, breaking a hip and fracturing his left arm as he left an ugly skid mark in the turf.

Ready for some football? Eh.

Ready for some Zoloft, maybe.

The Cougars have taken riskier football ventures than this first junket to Reno, but this had a bummer vibe in the wings from the beginning – starting with the bugaboo of playing a team from the other side of college football’s tracks in its own stadium, never a good idea.

Which made the middle and the end of the Cougars’ 55-21 romp over Nevada all the more satisfying.

“We were, what, seven-point favorites,” said tight end Troy Bienemann – who actually missed it on the low side by 21/2 points, “and they were talking about it being a shootout?

“That’s a slap in the face to our defense. I think the defense came out and they made a statement just as the offense made a statement. The fashion in which we won is going to be a great jumping point for us.”

If there was a spoilsport caveat to this blitz, it would be that the Wolf Pack is, after all, seven years removed from a winning record here in the backwaters of Division I-A football.

So galled at that ongoing state of affairs was Nevada’s blustery little general, Chris Ault, that no sooner did he fire his football coach, Chris Tormey, and re-install himself in the job after the 2003 season that he went out and scheduled Buffalo and Sacramento State last year to give himself a head start on keno, though even that didn’t work.

Ault is in his third incarnation as head coach at Nevada. You can probably find odds at one of the sports books on him crawling out of the coffin one day to coach the Pack.

Nights like this one might hasten him to that grave.

“There was a lack of courage,” Ault contended, referring to the quick slide the Pack went into when WSU’s Eric Frampton ran back an interception for the game’s first touchdown.

Ault has been known to huff that back when he had the Wolf Pack purring a decade ago, he couldn’t book a date against a Pacific-10 Conference team, that the Oregons and Washington States wouldn’t return his phone calls – or couldn’t, because apparently their hands were trembling too much to properly dial. Only when he turned over the job to mortals did the Pac-10 come to the table.

Of course, Nevada is now 1-10 against those teams. There have been worse lickings in that collection than what the Cougs administered Friday night, but that’s strictly a final-score distinction. Wazzu had the Wolf Pack buried 48-7 before the first team was given the rest of the evening off.

“I can’t remember ever resting my receivers that early in a game before,” said offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller.

The Cougars dominated in almost every way imaginable. They scored on Frampton’s pick, passes of every mode and measure by both Alex Brink and Josh Swogger and even a flawless kicking game. Of course, no Coug was more spectacular than the redoubtable Michael Bumpus, who carried one punt back 87 yards for a touchdown and had 157 yards worth on the night.

“Michael Bumpus is a human highlight film,” said WSU defensive end Mkristo Bruce. “One of the equipment guys was saying he’s Dominique Wilkins on a football field. Every time there’s a punt, we’re coming off the field to coach (Robb) Akey and we’re trying to listen to him, but I always have to peek over and see what Michael Bumpus is going to do.

“He always does something exciting any time he has the ball in his hands.”

The differences on this night were distinct and many. In talent, especially when Ault didn’t start star receiver Nichiren Flowers to send a message. In preparation – the WSU staff was ready for nearly any Nevada wrinkle, despite the Pack’s new “pistol” offense, though it more resembled a popgun. And in will – the case in point being the Cougars’ 99-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, kept alive by a gutsy third-down pass to Jason Hill deep in their own end and later a fourth-down throw to Bienemann.

“We even second-guessed ourselves there,” Levenseller said of the throw to Hill from the 2-yard line. “But we needed a first down. We could have got stopped on a dive play and been at the same spot, so you might as well take a shot at it. Interestingly, we rehearsed that play in our practice Wednesday from about the same spot.

“So practice does help sometimes.”

Oh, it was a tonic. Confidence should be sky high after this one.

Idaho’s confidence. Oh, sure, the Cougs’ confidence, too, but the Vandals played Wazzu to the wall last week and they’ll enjoy this video presentation every bit as much.

As for the Cougs, they’ll again need to remind themselves that this was not an unexpected outcome and that further domination is due next week against Grambling State. This goes in the grade book, but it’s hardly the final.

“But it was nice to win this way,” Levenseller acknowledged, “and have these kids cheering for each other and having fun.”

And going home knowing they did exactly what they came here to do.