Brink steps up in win over Ducks

PULLMAN – Alex Brink didn’t want to talk about it this past week, and he hadn’t ever wanted to talk about it all that much. But that didn’t mean that his teammates hadn’t noticed how much beating Oregon was going to mean to the Washington State quarterback.

“It was definitely personal,” H-back Jed Collins said. “He told us in his own way that it was a game he definitely wanted to win. Coming up short the last two years, he really wanted to turn that around and finish today. He didn’t show it on the field, but in preparation he kind of said, ‘Let’s go, guys.’ “

Growing up in Eugene just minutes away from the Oregon campus, Brink went to Duck games throughout his childhood. As the quarterback at Sheldon High School, he was a teammate of Oregon coach Mike Bellotti’s son.

But it was clear to the quarterback that his hometown school had very little interest in him.

“No official (visit), no offer, no … I mean, I went to their camps but that was my choice, not because they asked me,” Brink said.

“I didn’t want it to be a big deal during the week, but this game means a lot to me. It always does. It’s going to forever. Just to stick it to them like that and play well, it feels good.

“This is kind of my game.”

And after losing last season to Oregon, Brink responded this year with the best performance of his career in the biggest win of his career.

The Cougar signal-caller missed on three of his first six throws, but was perfect on his last 17 – every single one after his first attempt of the second quarter. He completed a school record 87 percent of his passes, going 20 for 23. (He also needed four stitches after the game because of a first-quarter helmet to the chin.)

On WSU’s first drive Brink threw an interception but the WSU quarterback said it didn’t seem to rattle anyone, and a controlled 179 yards of passing and two touchdowns would seem to indicate just that.

“It was kind of a combination of bad throw, bad route, that kind of thing,” Brink said of the interception. “We got back to the sideline and we were like, ‘All right, let’s go.’

“I feel like I’m pretty good at reading coverages. When the receivers run the right routes and (I) get the protection, then we’re going to get the ball completed.”

A week earlier after a poorer effort against Cal, Brink missed on a postgame Gatorade bottle toss intended for a nearby garbage can. It was a symbolic miss that drew the attention of more than one media member in the next day’s newspapers.

So after Brink had gotten this particular win under his belt, the quarterback – looking more relaxed than ever before – nudged a reporter on the elbow.

“Hey, big guy, how ‘bout this?” he cooed, holding up another near-empty bottle.

The toss grazed the plastic lining before landing with a thud at the bottom of the bucket, and the stitched-up quarterback never looked back.