Cougs prepare for physical Cardinal

STANFORD, Calif. – Brian Danaher took Washington State’s loss to USC hard.

After the game, the redshirt sophomore offensive guard trudged into the media room and answered question after question.

No flinching. No evasion. No bull.

Just like he plays. The walk-on has earned his starting spot at right guard by being tougher, more physical and more direct than anyone else.

So, as the Cougars prepared for today’s game at Stanford, Danaher seemed as good as anyone to ask about the physical nature of this year’s Cardinal team.

“We watched them all week on film and they pride themselves on being physical,” Danaher said. “When they are in a gap, they fill a gap. And their linebackers, they read (keys) very well and then they fill.”

What Danaher is saying is the Cardinal linebacker corps – Clinton Snyder, Pat Maynor and, in the middle, Nick Macaluso – doesn’t attack on the snap. They wait a split second to see what’s developing, then they pounce. That’s made them hard to fool.

It becomes more of a man-on-man battle.

“We have to concentrate on what we’re doing, then go 100 percent,” said Danaher, the 6-foot-3, 287-pound Colfax native. “They don’t run too complex of a defense, though they do like to twist a lot. … When it comes to (today), we just have to identify (what they’re doing), go, and try to match their physicality.”

That’s a weekly occurrence in the Pac-10. The last two games, the Cougars have faced Oregon State and USC, two teams who believe in smash-mouth football up front.

“The Pac-10 is really physical this year,” said Danaher, whose left shoulder has shown the strain of the physical contact, causing him to miss practice time for a few weeks and the Oregon State game.

But the bye week helped him personally and the offensive line as a group – senior Vaughn Lesuma, who sat out the USC game with shoulder problems, returned.

“It allowed us to get healthier,” WSU coach Paul Wulff said. “Unfortunately, during the bye week we had several kids out, who weren’t cleared to practice. So that hurt us. But they are back this week, and it’s good to have them back so we can have a rotation in there and have some elements of competition.”

The offensive line needs to step up this week because Stanford has struggled to defend the pass this season and the Cougars want to take advantage. But quarterbacks Kevin Lopina, the starter, and J.T. Levenseller, the designated relief pitcher, will need time to throw.

“We’re looking to throw it around a little bit this week,” Danaher said. “And it really is on us. In fact, (offensive coordinator Todd) Sturdy said (Wednesday), ‘You know, guys, all you have to do is protect and things will be open this week.’

“We’ve got to take that personal. It’s on us.”