Coug query: QB or not QB?

AUBURN, Ala. – It’s the 150th birthday of what was originally East Alabama Male College, and the banners on campus trumpet the slogan, “It begins at Auburn.”

And, yes, right here at Auburn it appeared to begin again for the Washington State Cougars on Saturday night.

The ugly omens. The flashes of brilliance. The hints of disaster. The enduring promise. And, of course, the quarterback nonsense.

Always the quarterback nonsense.

It’s getting to be what they grow best at Wazzu, and for an ag school, that’s saying something.

So the good, the bad and the weird all had the stage during the Cougars’ 40-14 loss to fourth-ranked Auburn, which won by just enough to keep its national championship pretensions legit, just as the Cougs kept it close enough long enough to – well, close isn’t the point, is it?

Sometimes with the Cougs, it’s tough to tell just what the point is.

Let’s reference the third quarter, with the game teetering toward blowout and the Jordan-Hare Stadium sellout of 87,451 teetering toward boredom, or blotto. It was at this point that the WSU staff followed through on its plan to insert backup quarterback Gary Rogers for a possession, just for the sake of experience.

Strangely enough, at the time the Cougs had their worst field position – the 10-yard line – in an evening of lousy starts. So, naturally, all Rogers did was complete five straight passes for 85 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown strike down the middle to tight end Cody Boyd, who was an open as an all-night diner. It pulled the Cougs to within 26-14, but just as important it sent a jolt of electricity through every Coug’s backside.

The weary defense even weathered a 42-yard run off a fake punt to keep Auburn from answering with any points. Then Rogers trotted back on the field to …

Wait. Starter Alex Brink trotted back on the field.

Momentum trotted back off.

Brink did get the Cougs to midfield before two incompletions and a no-gainer on a quarterback draw snuffed the drive. But if that wasn’t the end of Wazzu’s evening, the interception he threw with 8:41 to play was – the low point of a night during which Brink passed for just 67 yards.

Which begs the question: What the hell?

“We had planned to put Gary in at some point in the third quarter and that was the right time,” said quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach. “He did a nice job, but Alex is our guy. We put him back in there and it didn’t work out this time. You’re not going to be hot every night. … He’s our starting quarterback. He’s the guy who’s going to win games for us.”

This is absolutely the case – presuming the Cougars are going to win games, and they should. However disheartening the score, this was no humiliation and the Tigers will humiliate a few teams this year. A year ago, Brink had the best season, statistically, of any WSU sophomore QB in history, while Rogers didn’t get a meaningful grass stain on his pants.

“I strongly believe in Alex,” said receiver Jason Hill, “and I want Alex as our quarterback.”

So this is not about a quarterback controversy. It’s about overmanaging quarterbacks and not respecting momentum and situations, and it seems to be a carryover issue.

It’s very possible – no, likely – that had Rogers returned for an immediate encore, the Tigers make the necessary adjustments to their two-deep zone to make his life as miserable as they made it for Brink, whose night started with three sacks in his first four snaps. But what about playing the hot hand?

“I thought I was going to be able to stay in,” Rogers agreed, “but the coaches decided not to – and I respect that, totally. But I want to stay in and prove what I can do, and do it again and again.”

Imagine a poker player asking for a new deck to change his luck, raking a huge pot – and then calling for yet another new deck.

“Well, you can look at it one of two ways,” acknowledged Rosenbach. “We had a plan. We stuck to our plan.”

Did they consider sticking with Rogers, instead?

“No, because that wasn’t our plan.”

So the point is the sanctity of the plan? Well, if the plan was to put Rogers in for experience and he has exactly the experience you want him to get – and energizes your team with some hope in the bargain – wouldn’t you like to see if he can continue that experience?

This only reinforces the suspicion that this is exactly what staff feared would happen last year had they resorted to Brink’s backup, Josh Swogger, in the situations that clamored for relief – a course of overprotection that created more problems than it solved.

Brink’s performance Saturday wasn’t encouraging, nor is it really a problem.

“As a leader of this team and an experienced player,” he said, “I need to get through it. I’m going to learn a lot from it.”

Sounds like a plan. For everybody.