WSU: Here’s to old times
TUCSON, Ariz. – It was only three years ago that WSU’s Dwight Tardy and Arizona’s Nic Grigsby were teammates. That was back in Southern California at St. Paul High in Santa Fe Springs, where Tardy was the senior starting running back and Grigsby was the sophomore backup.
Grigsby took center stage Saturday night in the Wildcats’ 48-20 rout of Washington State.
But the route each took to becoming a Pac-10 starter was different.
The next season Tardy was redshirting in Pullman and Grigsby was the Swordsmen’s starting tailback. In 2006 Tardy was making his mark as a Cougars freshman, rushing for a team-high 667 yards. Grigsby was a high school star, although he was no longer at St. Paul, having transferred to California High in Whittier, where he rushed for 1,273 yards on just 137 carries.
This season Tardy has taken over the spotlight, coming into Saturday night’s game with 330 rushing yards. Grigsby’s season started slower, but he started against Cal last weekend, rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown. That was good enough to earn another start against WSU.
In their first college matchup, Grigsby had the upper hand, exploding from the blocks, gaining 75 yards in the first quarter – he had 98 coming in – and 110 by halftime. He finished with a school freshman-record 186 yards on 30 carries. Tardy missed time in the second quarter with a right-hand injury. He finished with 66 yards on 12 carries.
Grigsby also played a role in the Wildcats’ passing game, catching nine balls for 76 yards, including his first collegiate touchdown on a 22-yard hookup with Willie Tuitama.
Doc, I have a game to see
Mike Stoops wasn’t feeling all that well Friday. The University of Arizona head coach’s stomach hurt, and it had nothing to do with the Wildcats’ 1-3 record.
The 45-year-old Stoops checked into Arizona’s University Medical Center, where he was treated for symptoms consistent with kidney stones. After two hours of treatment, he was released with painkillers. He was on the sidelines at Arizona Stadium.
Stoops is scheduled to return Monday for further treatment.
Something’s in the air
When Dick Tomey was the head coach at Arizona from 1987 to 2000, his teams were known for their defense, the Desert Swarm as it was called. The offense’s job was to take care of the ball and not put the defense at a disadvantage.
Maybe that’s why in the first six years of the Tomey era, Arizona never had a quarterback throw more than 198 passes in a season.
But going into Saturday’s game, the Wildcats’ Willie Tuitama and his backup, Kris Heavner, had thrown 200 passes – a third of the way through the year.
By the way, first-year WSU defensive line coach Marty Long was part of the UA staff when Tomey was fired in 2000.
Brink reaches another peak
Alex Brink broke another WSU passing record, this time Jason Gesser’s career attempts mark. He did it in style.
The 14-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson that tied the score at 20 with 12:38 left in the third quarter was Brink’s 1,119th attempt at WSU. He already had set the Cougars’ career mark for completions.
Expect (usually) a close game
The Pac-10 series in Tucson between Arizona and the Cougars is about as close as a series could be.
Going into Saturday’s game, the conference games since 1979, when the Wildcats joined the Pac-10, were 7-6 in UA’s favor. But there’s more. The total score in the 13 Arizona home games was a razor-thin 342-339 in the Wildcats’ favor.
This place looks familiar
After five games, the Cougars are finally going to play two games at a repeat site. It will happen Saturday when they host Arizona State.
In the first five weeks of the season, WSU has played on five different fields: Camp Randall Stadium, Qwest Field, Martin Stadium, the Los Angeles Coliseum and Arizona Stadium.