Last chance for Cougs

Ten days ago one could have made a viable case that Bill Doba was on his way to being named Pac-10 coach of the year while the Cougars were headed for at least a third-place finish in the conference.

All of the sudden, the Cougars are teetering on the edge of losing out on a bowl bid and the coaching staff is left to search for answers with only five days left to find them.

If Washington State was humbled just more than a week ago by its 27-17 home loss to Arizona, it was shamed by Saturday night’s 47-14 loss to Arizona State. The Cougars weren’t able to keep the Sun Devils out of the end zone early in the first quarter and they weren’t able to keep them out of the end zone late in the fourth quarter, with the home team willing to run up the score as fans filed out.

It’s quite possible that no other time in Doba’s tenure as head coach has he seen WSU so thoroughly and unexpectedly outplayed. After the game, Doba instructed his captains not to talk to the team in the locker room, saying that only coaches would have the floor.

Regardless of who does the talking, WSU has to find its voice again in the week ahead. Doba and his staff haven’t connected with the players in these last two weeks of preparation, and that will need to change before taking on Washington in an Apple Cup that once looked like a match between surprise bowl teams. Now, it looks like a limp to the finish line.

After the game on Saturday night, defensive coordinator Robb Akey spoke of players’ instinct to try and make up for their teammates’ mistakes, and how damaging that was to the team’s chances.

“We’re trying to get things slowed down and get guys to just mow your own lawn,” Akey said. “You take care of your neighborhood, he takes care of his, and we’re fine. We need to get that neighborhood watch back in our defense.”

Those words couldn’t be truer than they are this week. A win still puts WSU in position to qualify for a bowl game, and even if it isn’t the high-level bowl once hoped for, making it to a 13th game would represent a step forward for the program.

But the worst-case scenario for November now looks frighteningly possible. If the Cougars fail to make a bowl game by losing their last three games, then sitting and watching for two weeks as other teams pass them by in the standings, this season will go down as one of the greater collapses in school history, and rightfully so.

The Cougars could use a whole lot of lawn mowers this week, and they’ll need them in perfect working order, too.