WSU highs and lows
High point of the game
With WSU up 28-21 late in the first half, Idaho had the ball on its 21-yard-line. On first down, redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Enderle tried to hit Lee Smith on the right sideline. But cornerback Devin Giles made a diving interception, giving the Cougars the ball on the Vandal 33. Six plays later Romeen Abdollmohammadi connected on a 31-yard field goal giving WSU a 10-point lead it would never relinquish.
Low point of the game
On a fourth-and-1 from the 9-yard-line, Enderle tossed a pass behind Maurice Shaw in the end zone. Senior safety Husain Abdullah had every chance to either knock the ball down or intercept it. Instead, Shaw wrestled the ball away from Abdullah and, after an official review, was credited with a touchdown. “I saw the ball and went ‘ah, this is routine,’ ” he said. “I went over there, I got lackadaisical, but he came, he took it and he made a nice play on the ball.” The touchdown gave Idaho a 14-7 first-quarter lead.
A pat on the back
Dwight Tardy has been knocking on the door of a 100-yard game since the season opened, gaining 96 against Wisconsin and 99 against San Diego State. The sophomore finally opened the door against the Vandals, rushing for 108 yards on 22 carries (4.9 per carry). He also bulled his way into the end zone twice, giving the 6-foot, 205-pound running back four touchdowns this season. And, with 303 yards, he’s well on his way to his goal, a 1,000-yard season.
Needs fixing
It’s the same thing as last week and the week before. The Cougars still need to shore up their pass defense, despite the four interceptions. Even head coach and defensive coordinator Bill Doba recognizes it. After explaining the defense tried some different things to bring pressure, he finished by saying “We didn’t cover well enough, so we’re still struggling a little bit. But we did (force) five turnovers.” Four of those were interceptions, so the secondary is moving in the right direction.
Three unanswered questions
“ How can the Cougars pressure the quarterback and still cover in the secondary? The complete recovery from injury of rush defensive end Lance Broadus – 7.5 sacks last season – should help. Broadus has played sparingly the past two weeks, but should play more this week.
“ Who is the No. 1 kicker? Actually, the job will probably be divided in two, with Abdollmohammadi continuing to do placements and freshman Wade Penner the kickoffs.
“ Is USC that good? The Trojans, this week’s opponent, are No. 1 in the country for a reason, but they have shown flashes of ordinary play and have been hit by some injuries. But their ordinary play is still pretty good, and so are their reserves.
Vince Grippi