Cougars 45 Aztecs 17
High point of the game
With 10 minutes left in the first half and the Cougars leading by a touchdown, freshman speedster Jeshua Anderson split out wide right, part of a four-wide set. He ran a streak down the sideline, blew past cornerback Aaron Moore and gathered in Alex Brink’s perfectly thrown pass for a 39-yard score, Anderson’s first as a Cougar. Offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller had told Anderson on Friday morning the play was coming and he would score on it.
Low point of the game
San Diego State’s Brandon Bornes longest run last year was 31 yards. Midway through the first quarter Saturday he nearly doubled that, bursting off left tackle and racing through a walled-off Cougar defense on a 59-yard scoring run. The play put the Aztecs up 10-7, but seemed to awaken the WSU defense, which stopped SDSU on its next seven possessions.
A pat on the back
Charles Dillon returned the Aztecs first kickoff 23 yards but, when he was tackled, suffered a deep contusion to his left thigh. But the senior wide receiver didn’t let it slow him down – or destroy his concentration. On the first play from scrimmage, he reached to his left while moving right to pluck a Brink pass off the ground – it was close enough that it had to be reviewed – for a 17-yard gain and a kick start for the WSU offense.
Needs fixing
None of the WSU coaches or players would attribute the slow start defensively – SDSU had a third of its total offense on its first two possessions – to anything other than getting used to the speed of the game and the tempo of the Aztec offense. But the same type of start against a better team could cost the Cougars down the road.
Three unanswered questions
• Just how good is the Cougar offense? The fourth-best offensive game in Cougar history – better than 996 others – can’t all be attributed to poor San Diego State defense.
• Is this the best receiver corps in WSU’s recent history? It has a chance to be considered thus, especially with an experienced senior quarterback throwing the passes.
• Which Idaho team will former WSU defensive coordinator Robb Akey bring into Martin Stadium on Saturday? The choices are between the one that played top-ranked USC tough on the road or the one that struggled against Cal Poly at home.
Vince Grippi