Highs and Lows

High point of the season

This one is easy. It’s when Nico Grasu’s 37-yard, double-overtime-ending field goal passed through Martin Stadium’s east uprights, winning the Apple Cup 16-13 and kick starting a wild post-game celebration on the turf. For a team winless in conference up to that point – the average margin of defeat had been 47.4 points – a win, any win, was going to be big. But when it was over archrival Washington, it was even bigger, no matter how bad the Huskies were.

Low point of the season

With time winding down late in the first half against USC, the Trojans had a second-and-8 at the WSU 10-yard line. There was enough time for USC to put another score on the board, but coach Pete Carroll said no, pulling his team off the field and back toward the tunnel as the clock ran down. From the first few plays of the game, it was obvious the Trojans could name the final score (it would be 69-0), and Carroll decided the first half would end 41-0.

A pat on the back

After a 59-28 home defeat to Arizona, WSU’s defense had yielded more than 400 points in seven Pac-10 defeats. The group was ravaged by injuries. Everyone, from the coaches to the players, could have packed it in, playing out the string until the season ended. But they didn’t. The coaches changed base schemes, going with three down linemen, and the players decided enough was enough. Over the next three games, the defense yielded just seven touchdowns and kept the Cougars in striking distance in each of them.

Needs fixing

There was only one game this season when Washington State lined up with bigger and better players at most positions: Portland State. But against every Football Bowl Subdivision foe, the Cougars were outmanned. Against most, it was glaringly obvious in size and speed. The speed will have to be addressed in recruiting, but the size can be adjusted through intense work in the weight room. Maybe that’s why coach Paul Wulff said Monday that next season starts today.

Unanswered questions

• How many wins next season? Wulff said Monday he expects the Cougars to be improved in every aspect, from off-the-field performance to on-field results. Though next year’s schedule hasn’t been finalized – WSU is still looking for a third non-conference game, but that will probably be an FCS school – it should be a little easier in that WSU gets all of this year’s Pac-10 bottom feeders, except Washington, at home.

• What players won’t be back? Wulff expects there to be some attrition, though not much. But there probably will be a few scholarship players who leave by their own volition in search of more playing time. And there probably will be one or two academic casualties, if the past is any indication. In neither case, however, should the players be high-profile.

• How is the recruiting going? Some of WSU’s more high-profile recruits seem to be wavering a bit, and Wulff had a message for them: “In this day and age, you sure hope those individuals … and their parents are mature enough to honor their commitment. If we’ve committed to them, then, by golly, you would hope they would hold the same back.”

Vince Grippi, staff writer