Cougars feeling the pressure

PULLMAN – By now, this all was supposed to have been taken care of. Two weeks ago, the Cougars planned to pad their Pac-10 standing with a win against Arizona. A week ago, Washington State head coach Bill Doba spoke about laying all the cards out on the table against Arizona State.

But here the Cougars are, after losses to the two Arizona schools, sitting at 6-5 and quite possibly in need of a win against archrival Washington in order to secure their postseason fate.

And as a result, they can’t help but feel the heat.

“From everyone,” agreed wide receiver Jason Hill, who might have to miss this game with a high ankle sprain. “From player to player. From coach to coach, player to coach, coach to player.

“From the media and you guys. It’s everywhere. From the alumni. It’s a lot of pressure. The last couple of years, we’ve struggled. It’s tough to be on the brink early in the season to do something great. And this season, we’ve been really close to doing something great. I hear that word a lot – close. All of last year, a lot this year, about us being close. Close don’t quite cut it.”

This game could have been made all the more interesting if Washington had won last week against lowly Stanford. Had that been the case, the Huskies would have entered the Apple Cup 5-6, needing a win to become bowl-eligible. Instead, UW is 4-7 and playing the role of a potential spoiler this week.

“Misery loves company,” Huskies linebacker Scott White said. “We’re obviously in a position of not going to the postseason this year, and we’d hopefully like some company. And what better company than the Cougs?”

The Huskies have lost six games in a row, but after these last two losses WSU appears to be battling plenty of confidence issues of its own.

After the last two weeks, the Cougars can at least take solace in the fact the Huskies don’t play in Arizona. But for a team that was playing like – and talking like – an upper-level bowl team less than two weeks ago, being in their current position seems to have them rattled.

Now, they have four days to recover.

“Yeah, I think the confidence is down,” Hill said. “But guys have got to pull through. There’s bumps in every road, it’s just about how you respond. And those guys didn’t respond well to the challenges before them last weekend.

“But I feel confident in this week, guys getting it back.”