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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cougs say Apple Cup is ‘must win’

PULLMAN — With each passing week, the Pac-10’s bowl picture gets a little bit clearer.

But Washington State knows that its own situation won’t be fully understood until well after its season is over.

It’s possible that the Cougars could make a bowl game with an Apple Cup win, and it’s possible that they could miss out on a bowl game with an Apple Cup win. The same can be said for a loss in this week’s game against Washington.

So the Cougars are looking at this game in the easiest way possible.

“We’re taking it as a must-win,” quarterback Alex Brink said. “There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. We’ve got to win this ballgame.”

The junior is probably correct, too. A win means that either an Arizona or a UCLA loss – both of those teams have two games left – would send the Cougars into one of the Pac-10’s six affiliated bowl games, although which one is not exactly clear. (Most likely, it would be the Las Vegas Bowl or the Emerald Bowl.)

A loss, however, would mean that one win by any two teams out of the Arizona State, Arizona and UCLA group could doom the Cougars. If that happens, the best position WSU could claim would be a tie for the league’s final bowl slots, in which case it would have to hope for an invite over its conference rivals.

Since UCLA still has to play USC and Arizona still has to play Oregon, however, the Cougars know that a win means they’re almost certainly in.

Injury update

There were a couple of surprises on the practice field Tuesday, most notably when defensive tackle Aaron Johnson came out to practice after coaches had been told the junior would not be able to play this week with an elbow sprain.

Johnson also sprained the other elbow earlier this season, so he came to practice sporty tape and/or a bulky brace on both arms.

Fellow defensive tackles Ropati Pitoitua and Feveae’i Ahmu both practiced as well, and it’s possible that all three could be ready for the Apple Cup.

At running back, Derrell Hutsona (ankle) and DeMaundray Woolridge (stinger) made appearances on the practice field, although Woolridge did not complete the session.

And at wide receiver, neither Jason Hill nor Michael Bumpus participated, although head coach Bill Doba said before practice that he expected Bumpus would do at least some jogging to test out his high ankle sprain.

Pad-free practice

For the first time in his head coaching career, Doba is opting to take the Cougars out of pads for the full week of practice.

It’s an unusual – but not unheard of – tactic employed by coaches who think their teams need a break. After 11 straight weeks with games and a slew of injuries, Doba thought his team fit the bill. (Seeing two consecutive sluggish losses didn’t hurt, either.)

“I think after looking at the tapes on Sunday we looked tired. I just thought, ‘You know, let’s try it.’ We’ve been pads on Tuesday and helmets and shoulder pads or helmets only on Wednesday, and it hasn’t been working the last two weeks. So let’s see what no pads will do.”

Notes

Doba said he’s impressed by the play of Chris Ivory at linebacker. Ivory, a true freshman, played at running back to start the season and ran for an 80-yard touchdown against Idaho. But WSU tried him out on defense recently because of depth issues, and it appears that there is now at least a chance that Ivory could stay on that side of the ball.