Something was sure bobbled
PULLMAN – Put Brandon Gibson in stripes and Washington State beats Arizona State on Saturday afternoon, 24-23.
Because from Gibson’s perspective – and nearly everyone at Martin Stadium except for back judge Gregory Wilson and the replay official in the booth – he scored a touchdown on a second-quarter pass from Alex Brink that would have covered 32 yards.
But Wilson – immediately and decisively – waved it off as no catch. The replay ruling backed him up. And the Cougars settled for a 35-yard Romeen Abdollmohammadi field goal for the game’s first points instead of a touchdown that would have made the difference in the Cougars’ third straight loss, 23-20 to the 18th-ranked Sun Devils.
Gibson beat ASU cornerback Chris Baloney on a post pattern, caught Brink’s well-placed ball and got two feet down before the end line, losing control when he hit the ground out of bounds. Wilson gestured that Gibson had bobbled the ball.
“I said, ‘No way I bobbled it, sir,’ ” Gibson said. “It was a complete catch, 100 percent sure. It may have come out when I landed, but I caught it, got two feet in, fell, then let go of it. I thought it was going to be overturned.”
Gibson had another touchdown catch reviewed later in the second quarter. This time he managed to shake free of ASU’s Justin Tryon on a streak down the right sideline, though Tryon did momentarily force him out of bounds. Tryon then slipped and Gibson was wide open – getting a foot down before sailing over the goal line and out of bounds.
But this one was quickly upheld.
“I knew that one was in,” Gibson said. “No way. If they’d taken that one away from me, I don’t know what I would have done – I would have lost my mind.”
More special hijinx
It was another bizarre day of both highs and lows for the Cougars’ kicking and return teams.
On the plus side, punter Reid Forrest averaged 42.2 on six punts, not including a shank that was wiped out by a roughing-the-punter call against ASU. Xavier Hicks blocked a Sun Devil PAT kick, and Abdollmohammadi made field goals of 35 and 38 yards.
But he also missed the potential game-tying kick from 46 yards – wide left – and the Cougs suffered some field position losses on kickoffs and even on returns, one when Scott Selby was flagged for a dead-ball personal foul on an ASU kick that sailed out of the end zone. And, of course, there was the kick WSU coach Bill Doba decided not to try – another 46-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter when the Cougars went for it on fourth-and-7, and tight end Jed Collins came up a yard short of the first down.
“We just felt we had a better chance (not kicking it),” Doba said. “The offense felt they had a good play. It was from about the same distance as the one we missed.”
The end of a trend
Two big flip-flops in game-opening momentum cropped up.
The Cougars had surrendered points on the opposition’s first possession in each of their first five games – three touchdowns and two field goals. This time the Cougars pitched a shutout until late in the second quarter.
But the WSU offense has also managed to get out of the blocks fast this season – with only a punt against Idaho breaking up four first-possession touchdowns. But this time, the Cougars had to punt three times in the first quarter, managing just one first down.
“Everything has to be going in the right direction, everybody has to be doing everything right,” said quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach, “and if one or two guys aren’t doing it correctly, it throws the whole machine out of whack. That’s probably where the slow start came from.”
Going to Gibson
Gibson was slowed by a bruised heel that kept him out of action some of the third quarter, but he came back to make a key 26-yard catch-and-run on the drive when the Cougars tied the game at 20 – and was the primary receiver on WSU’s third-down pass that didn’t connect and forced the Cougs to try a tying field goal at the end, which failed.
Rosenbach didn’t have any qualms about making Gibson the go-to-guy in that situation.
“I mean, Brandon’s always walking around and it doesn’t look like he can get from here to Regents (Dining Hall) to eat,” Rosenbach said. “But when he starts running, he looks pretty good.”
Anderson steps up
One man’s injury can become another’s opportunity. The injury was to Charles Dillon’s shoulder. The opportunity was Jeshua Anderson’s.
The freshman speedster took advantage.
Anderson had three receptions for 98 yards, both career highs – after just six games to be sure – including what could have proved to be a game changer.
That came in the final minute, when the Cougars tried to rally from a three-point deficit.
With the Sun Devils staying in their press man-to-man, quarterback Alex Brink put his faith in an 18-year-old. And Anderson came through despite the tight coverage of Omar Bolden, another freshman.
“That last route, he’s probably the fastest guy on the field, he was running by him, that guy was with him, and I just put it up for him to go get it,” Brink said. “He made the play. That was awesome.”
The soft-spoken Anderson made one other big play, going over cornerback Chris Baloney late in the first half and grabbing another Brink toss, this one for 47 yards. That led to Gibson’s touchdown catch one play later, giving WSU a 10-7 halftime lead.
“Jesh grew up real fast in this game,” Brink said. “He made some great plays. When teams are playing man, you’ve got to make plays over guys and in coverage. He was able to do that.
Anderson also earned praise from Doba, who patted him on the back and said “nice job, kid,” before Anderson took the podium to answer the media’s questions.
“It was a great opportunity,” he said of his increased playing time. “Charles Dillon got kind of nicked up in the game. I’ve been practicing in his spot all week just learning stuff – Coach (Mike Levenseller) has been helping me with that – hopefully I did good today. He’ll be grading me tomorrow.”