WSU notebook: Roxas relaxed when it counted
PULLMAN – Andrew Roxas admitted to being more than just a little nervous heading into Saturday’s Pacific-10 Conference football game against UCLA.
But Washington State’s freshman offensive lineman, who was making his first college start at center, hid his emotions well – especially from his teammates.
“To be honest with you, I couldn’t tell,” junior offensive tackle Vaughn Lesuma said when asked if Roxas had shown any pregame nervousness.
Not that what Roxas was feeling before the game really mattered.
Because once the bell rung in front of a Martin Stadium crowd of 31,027, the 6-foot-1, 295-pounder from Sun Valley, Calif., responded like a battle-tested veteran in helping the Cougars amass 31 first downs and 545 yards of total offense in a 27-7 win over the Bruins.
Roxas, playing in place of injured sophomore starter Kenny Alfred (concussion), was in on every offensive snap in a game that featured a career day by running back Dwight Tardy, who rushed for 214 yards to two of WSU’s touchdowns, no sacks and only one mishandled center-to-quarterback exchange.
Listed as a backup guard, he slid over to replace Alfred and played the center position for the first time in his career – although he has worked there during practice, according to offensive line coach George Yarno.
“All the players play all the positions (on the O-line),” Yarno said. “The younger players all learn how to snap the football. We just wanted to put the best five on the field at the time, and he’s our sixth guy, so if anybody gets hurt, he’s the first one in the game.”
When asked if Roxas has played any center in high school, Yarno said he didn’t know and didn’t care.
“He has since he’s been here,” Yarno said. “He’s really worked hard and he did a great job today. For a true freshman to start against UCLA, play whatever snaps we had, have only one bad snap the entire game, make calls, block, (help us) rush for whatever we rushed for and no sacks – it was a monumental accomplishment for that man, and I’m proud of him because he just did a tremendous job.”
According to Yarno, Roxas arrived on campus showing immense potential.
“He’s a very compact player and he has great balance and great feet,” he said. “He’s further along technically that most freshmen who come in. He was well-coached in high school and he really took to what we were doing right away and elevated himself to that sixth player early.”
Tardy needed respite
Despite being in the middle of a career day, Washington State running back Dwight Tardy wasn’t on the field midway through the third quarter when the Cougars came up empty on a first-and-goal situation from UCLA’s 1-yard line.
WSU was leading 13-7 at the time when it used back-to-back pass interference calls and a couple of nice runs by backup tailback Kevin McCall to march to the doorstep of the end zone, only to be stuffed on three straight running plays.
It looked like the Cougars’ failure to punch the ball in might prove costly after the Bruins’ blocked Romeen Abdollmohammadi’s 18-yard field-goal try.
As it turned out it didn’t, but after the game, Tardy said he was missing in action because of a shin injury he suffered earlier in the botched drive.
“I got hit in the shin and it was, like, excruciating pain, so I had to step out for a second,” Tardy said. “Then we go the two PIs (penalties) and a 20-yard from Kevin to get down there. I wished I was in there, but we were doing fine, so I was on the sidelines just waiting it out.”
Quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach, who also calls plays from the press box, said he would normally expect to have Tardy on the field in that situation.
“The trainers were working on him, I guess, so circumstances wouldn’t allow it,” he added. “But we also felt Kevin was capable of doing it, and he is. With three tries from the 1-yard line you’ve got to get it in there, but we didn’t get any push.
“If we do, it doesn’t matter who’s running the ball.”
A hard-hitting game
Xavier Hicks was playing strong safety because of an injury to starter Alfonso Jackson. The sophomore came up with eight tackles, but none was as big as the hit he delivered in the second quarter on UCLA’s Brandon Breazell.
The senior wide receiver broke over the middle in pursuit of a Pat Cowan pass. As the ball arrived, so did Hicks, delivering a blow to Breazell’s sternum, knocking the ball loose.
It also knocked Breazell, UCLA’s leading receiver, out of the game, with multiple rib contusions. Breazell, who came in with 31 catches and already had three, never returned.
He had been preceded to the locker room by UCLA’s leading rusher Kahlil Bell, who left with 5 minutes left in the first quarter after suffering a sprained right knee. Bell, the Pac-10’s fourth-leading rusher with 728 yards, had opened the game with a 50-yard scoring run.
“They are a good team and they’re a little nicked up, too,” WSU head coach Bill Doba said. “When Breazell got hurt, he’s their go-to guy, I think that hurt them. And then they lost (Bell) also.”
“It didn’t help that we lost a