Brink banks on last shot

LOS ANGELES – From the beginning, Alex Brink understood there would be expectations. Washington State University quarterbacks are burdened with them. Tradition does that.

“Personally, I’ve accomplished a lot of things I set out to do,” WSU’s senior quarterback said Thursday. “As far as team goals, I think we’ve fallen short of where I would have liked to be.”

And that’s the rub. In more than two years as a starter, Brink has moved up the Pacific-10 Conference’s passing ladder (he enters 2007 28th all time in passing yardage – 7,096 – and tied for 27th in touchdowns thrown – 50) and has received individual glory – second-team All-Pac-10 last season.

But the Cougars have yet to go to a bowl game, or have a winning season.

“You can be a first-team All-American, and your team doesn’t go to a bowl game, it really doesn’t mean anything,” Brink said while kicking off his final year Thursday in Los Angeles, sitting next to head coach Bill Doba at the Pac-10 football media day, fielding questions from the West Coast media.

“Any sort of individual awards, any sort of accomplishment that comes from outside the program is all based on how a team does. And that’s how it should be, because football is the ultimate team sport.”

Brink’s last chance to lead the Cougars to a bowl game starts Aug. 5, when WSU opens practice for 2007, a season that starts Sept. 1 at highly rated Wisconsin. It may be Brink’s last hurrah, but he doesn’t feel any more pressure than he already has.

“There’s always been pressure on me,” Brink said, mentioning his sophomore season when he was named the starter ahead of the more experienced Josh Swogger.

Such are the expectations of the quarterback.

“I don’t think you can blame Alex for the losses and not going to a bowl game. He’s done his share and he’s put up some good numbers,” Doba said. “I don’t think he’s gotten the credit he deserves.”

At least there wasn’t much pressure at the media function. With Doba as his wingman, Brink didn’t have to talk too often.

“I’m just the guy who sits next to him and laughs, so people know it’s OK to laugh,” Brink said before launching into the reasons why Doba is so important to him. One of the attributes Brink mentioned was how Doba can keep everyone loose, even a large banquet hall of media members.

Doba’s best lines revolved around the Cougars’ chances to be successful this year. Those chances are pretty slim, according to the assembled media, who picked the Cougs to finish eighth in the 10-team conference.

But Doba understands some things will have to break – or, to be more precise, not break – for WSU to be successful.

“The key is staying healthy,” Doba said, “and having a little luck.”

The luck isn’t holding yet. The Cougars have already lost one starter, offensive guard Andy Roof (see sidebar), some valuable backups and may lose a couple of more next week after summer school grades are announced.

The health part didn’t happen last season, a year that started 6-3 and ended at 6-6. It also ended without a bowl berth, the third consecutive year without a postseason game.

“We started last season as a good season,” Doba said, “before we had some key injuries – though I don’t want to blame injuries, we did struggle a bit at the end. These guys didn’t like that. They’ve recommitted themselves and they want to win.”

Part of that finish has to be carried by Brink, who admits he didn’t do his most important job – leading the team to victory – the last three games.

“Those games just fueled our desire to be a team that finishes,” Brink said. “That’s been a big word around our program the past couple years. Last year, it was more about finishing games, and I think we did that pretty well. But then we got satisfied with the things we had accomplished, and we didn’t finish the season.

“This summer I’ve seen a recommitment to be the type of team that not only finishes games, but finishes a season as well.”

Being successful this season will be challenged from the start, with the Cougars opening at one of the Big Ten favorites, the nationally ranked Badgers.

“If you are going to play someone tough, probably your best chance is in that first game,” Doba said. “They may overprepare, they may underprepare. But they’ve got an excellent team and it’s going to be tough.”

That was almost exactly Doba’s attitude last year, when the Cougs opened at Auburn, also highly ranked at the time. The Cougars traveled to Alabama and were handcuffed on offense, losing 40-14.

“Going to Auburn last year, we were a better football team coming out of there then we were going in,” Doba said.