Auburn reveals WSU issues

PULLMAN — Washington State’s players took the day off Sunday but it’s a safe bet that at least one or two TV screens in the coaches’ offices were going over a whole lot of film.

The Cougars took their long road trip to start the season figuring there would be plenty to glean after playing the No. 4 team in the country. That assumption still seems correct, but with 11 more games to play in the next 11 weeks the challenge for WSU will be to figure out just what to do with all the information it now has.

What, for instance, to do with the knowledge that starting quarterback Alex Brink did not turn in the performance the Cougars both needed and expected? Or with the fact that receivers were openly griping with the quarterback as the game progressed?

And defensively, how will they manage to eliminate the big gainers, as Auburn had five plays go for 34 yards or more?

Head coach Bill Doba and his staff have some work to do, especially with Idaho looking like anything but a pushover following its narrow loss at Michigan State.

Without a doubt the question on most people’s minds after the game concerned the quarterbacking situation, and the decision to take Gary Rogers out of the game after his one planned series resulted in a lightning-fast 90-yard touchdown drive.

Had Brink been more effective the switch back to the starter wouldn’t be as much of an issue. But with the Cougars claiming some momentum at that point in the game, it still seems odd that Doba wouldn’t stick with the hot hand to see if Rogers could lead WSU to another third-quarter score that would have cut the lead to five points.

That decision – sticking to the plan, as Doba and quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach said – is sure to be a continuing story, especially if the Cougars continue to use Rogers for a series and he enjoys similar success.

That said, Rogers also benefited Saturday from the fact that the Tigers held off on their blitzes on the touchdown drive, resuming once Brink returned.

In many respects, Saturday’s loss resembled many others in recent years against top-flight teams, the most notable examples coming against USC in 2004 and 2005. Against those squads, especially the ones with better defenses, the Cougar offense hasn’t been able to put up its usual point totals while the defense allows far too much to the opposition.

But if this Cougar team expects to be an improvement on the last two, it’ll have to figure out a way to reverse that trend. And it can’t afford to wait very long to do so, either.