Right combination
PULLMAN – The best defense, it turns out, is a good offense. Just ask Washington State. A week after getting ground up by an Auburn offense that seemingly spent all night on the field, the Cougars defense had the advantage of resting Saturday while its offensive mates did a number on the Idaho defense.
“Defensively (the key) was the offense,” safety Eric Frampton said. “When we work together and we mesh well, things start happening. We start making plays on offense. We start getting fueled on defense. It’s just smoother.”
Forced to throw the ball for much of the second half, Idaho gained just 83 yards on 32 rushes, and things weren’t any easier on Vandals quarterback Steve Wichman, who completed 11 of 31 passes.
WSU managed to make the big play on a couple of occasions, none more individually impressive than a one-handed Lance Broadus interception.
The defensive end fended off a block, then, falling backward, reached out with his left hand and pulled in the Wichman throw on the Idaho 13.
“They came in the game thinking they were going to win,” Broadus said. “They were talking, I guess, a lot of trash. We came out and talked with our pads.”
Running free
The Cougars, meanwhile, had no problems moving the ball on the ground. Their 344 yards were a WSU-best since the 1988 season opener. Almost every back in the Cougars stead got a chance to get in on the action.
Starter DeMaundray Woolridge sat out with a thigh bruise, although head coach Bill Doba said Woolridge would have played if the game was close in its later minutes. In his place, Dwight Tardy and Derrell Hutsona combined for 170 yards. But it was a late score by Christopher Ivory that impressed the most.
The true freshman, on his first collegiate carry, scampered 80 yards for a touchdown. (Kevin McCall later added a 53-yard score to further the ground game’s dominance.)
“Every time I turned around there was a different back in there,” offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller said.
WSU ran for 274 yards on 24 carries in the second half alone.
Fourth downer
Idaho was a yard away from possibly turning the Battle of the Palouse into a contest. The Vandals, trailing 21-3, had driven from their 22 to WSU’s 2. On first down, Jayson Bird picked up 1 yard. A second-down pass didn’t fool WSU safety Tyron Brackenridge, who nearly made an interception. Bird was then stuffed for no gain and he was hauled down in the backfield by linebacker Scott Davis on fourth down.
“There wasn’t a lot there,” Bird said, “but I still should be able to get a yard.”
Davis used his speed to get around an attempted block by tackle Nate VanderPol.
“Fourth-and-1, that’s kind of a pride issue for an offensive line,” VanderPol said. “Obviously, we wanted to punch it in. It was a huge momentum swing.”
The Cougars capitalized with a swift five-play, 96-yard drive, scoring on quarterback Alex Brink’s 1-yard keeper to take a commanding 28-3 lead.
“That was big,” WSU coach Bill Doba said. “That kind of broke their back.”
Notes
WSU hadn’t scored 56 points since beating Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) 77-7 on Nov. 8, 1997. … The Cougars lead the all-time series 69-17-3. … WSU tight end Cody Boyd injured his hand in the first half, Doba said. The senior was scheduled to have X-rays taken Saturday night and he did not play in the second half. … Idaho coach Dennis Erickson, summing up his team’s injury situation: “We didn’t hit anybody hard enough to get hurt.”