Cougars put on game faces early

PULLMAN – With a week to go, it’s dress rehearsal time.

The Washington State Cougars will spend today, the last Saturday before the season opener Sept. 1 at Wisconsin, in game mode. They’ll show up at the usual game-day time, they’ll stretch at the appropriate time, they’ll scrimmage at a game tempo, but not with a game intensity.

And it all will be adjusted so it’s at the same time as the opener, which is why practice time was changed Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“We’re going try to get substitutions done at game-time tempo,” WSU head coach Bill Doba explained. “The offense will go in with a 25-second clock, we’ll go maybe three or four plays and then we’ll punt, make sure the punt team gets on and off right. Then we’ll do the same thing, making sure we get all phases of the kicking game covered.”

The last practice of the week wasn’t the Cougars’ best but it featured a 45-yard Romeen Abdollmohammadi field goal, culminating in a quick-play drill in which the field-goal team got on the field, set up and got the kick off in 8 seconds.

“It was OK, it wasn’t super, but it was OK,” Doba said of the practice. “We’ve just got to be careful not to do too much.”

“A note to spectators: If you want to attend a WSU workout, it’s not a good idea to wear an Oregon State T-shirt. One female fan had an orange Beavers shirt on at practice and was greeted with a few cross looks.

“Mike Graise has been coming on at defensive end. The junior from Los Angeles has been running more often with the top line, using his 6-foot-3, 211-pound frame at rush end. He split time Friday with Matt Mullennix, the Liberty High graduate who has filled the spot most of the fall. The incumbent starter, Lance Broadus, is still out from off-season shoulder injury and isn’t expected to return until the Idaho game.

“Starters Brandon Gibson and Chima Nwachukwu, both in shorts and a T-shirt, did a lot of running during practice, indicating they should be back soon.