Special mission

BERKELEY, Calif. – With the loss of leading rusher Dwight Tardy, the Washington State Cougars will enter tonight’s Pac-10 Conference football game at Cal’s Memorial Stadium sporting a new backfield rotation.

Call it a running back pack. Instead of one guy getting 30 carries, the load will be spread among two or three backs.

“We’ll start with Kevin McCall and see how he does,” WSU head coach Bill Doba said earlier this week. “If, obviously, he does well, runs well, we’ll stick with him. (And) it’s not just running – it’s protection also.

“We’ll have to play it by ear after that, quite honestly.”

McCall is a 5-foot-11, 213-pound fifth-year senior who came into the season with 18 career carries, one of which resulted in a touchdown – a 53-yard run last season in the rout of Idaho.

But other than that, there hasn’t been much on his highlight film.

“He struggled to play, he fumbled the ball (too much), quite honestly,” Doba said. “But this year, coming into his (senior) year, he volunteered for special teams, the kickoff team, the punt team, everything.”

The special teams’ loss – “He’s going to be off those now so we make sure we have a healthy running back,” Doba said – is the offense’s gain.

“He’s run the ball well (this season),” Doba said, “and he protects well.”

If McCall needs a rest or isn’t getting the job done, the Cougars will go to redshirt freshman Marcus Richmond (6-1, 215 pounds), “and you know you could slip (senior tight end) Jed Collins in there too if you had to, (if we need) protection, and he’s not too bad running the football himself,” Doba said.

Sophomore Chris Ivory would be atop the depth chart, but the 6-foot, 228-pounder is still out because of a concussion he suffered in the 23-20 loss to No. 6 Arizona State nearly a month ago.

No matter who is at running back, the Cougars (3-5 overall, 1-4 in conference) expect to try to emulate last week’s success, when they ran for 274 yards in a 27-7 upset of then-Pac-10-leading UCLA.

“We’re going to go,” Doba said of the game with the Bears (5-3, 2-3). “We’re not going to cancel the game or anything.”