Cougs’ magic season dramatically altered
PULLMAN – Flat. Uninspired. Lifeless. Pick an adjective, any of the three seems to accurately describe Washington State’s performance against Arizona on Saturday.
And because of it, a season that looked magical three days ago now hangs in the balance. Talk of an undefeated final month that once sounded reasonable now sounds outlandish and even foolish.
While the panic alarms go off in the minds of Cougars fans across Washington and beyond, it’s worth noting that Saturday’s loss, in the grand scheme of things, is not an unusual one at all.
Teams that first experience significant success (going into Saturday’s game, WSU was ranked for the first time in three years) often experience a setback, and it often comes against a seemingly inferior opponent.
What happened in the two previous weeks against Oregon and UCLA was almost certainly not a fluke, and there are a number of reasons why WSU could return to that level of play or something close to it for the last two weeks of the regular season. Doing so would probably net two wins.
That said, the results of losing 27-17 at home to Arizona are almost entirely negative, and they have ramifications that could damage the Cougars well into the future, too.
Further evaluation in the day after the game has shown that Jason Hill and Michael Bumpus, the team’s top two wide receivers, do indeed have high ankle sprains and although the door is being left open for them to play this week, in all likelihood the injuries will keep them both out into December, meaning they’d be available only for a bowl game.
And the 4-3 defense that WSU would love to use – and probably needed against Arizona – depends on having defensive tackle Ropati Pitoitua back from a knee injury. His return for this week’s game at Arizona State is questionable.
The Cougars have dealt with injuries this season, though, and to use them as an excuse now would be faulty. Their best drive of the day against Arizona came with Hill and Bumpus already sidelined; their two big wins against Oregon and UCLA came without Pitoitua.
What happened to WSU against Arizona was a classic letdown, a situation where the team walking out of the locker room thought more of itself than was warranted. It’s a sure recipe for disaster, and it seemed that from the head coach to the assistants to the team captains to the last freshman on the roster, no one did anything to put the brakes on it.
Bill Doba’s cautionary tales about not being guaranteed a bowl game with six wins now seem much more relevant, as a pair of losses down the stretch would imperil the Cougars’ postseason hopes.
The Cougars can easily change things with a win this week, but until they do things will remain in doubt. For that, they have only one place to assign blame – themselves.