HIGHS AND LOWS
High point of the game
It would be easy to pick the Dwight Tardy touchdown that gave WSU its first Pac-10 lead, 7-0. But the Cougars’ next score was more telling. Arizona had scored 14 unanswered points and was threatening to put the game away early. But WSU saw something on the left side of UA’s defense and exploited it with two Logwone Mitz runs, the second for 42 yards to Arizona’s 4. On the first play of the second quarter, Kevin Lopina ran a bootleg around right end for the game-tying score.
Low point of the game
The Cougars trailed by just a touchdown, 21-14, late in the first quarter. The Wildcats, who had punted on their previous possession, had first down at their 31. The ball was tossed to Nic Grigsby going right. WSU’s containment was good and cornerback Romeo Pellum came up hard before diving toward Grigsby’s knees. But as soon as Pellum lowered his head, Grigsby jumped, hurdling the prone Pellum and racing to the 50-yard line. A face-mask penalty was added on and UA was at WSU’s 35. Three plays later it was 28-14.
A pat on the back
Lopina suffered a back injury in WSU’s lone win over Portland State. He returned against USC when he still wasn’t 100 percent. Against Stanford he struggled in the wet conditions. But Saturday he showed he was back, moving well and surviving three sacks, including one blindside hit that was reminiscent of the blow he suffered against PSU. Though his stats were average (8 of 15 for 94 yards passing, 16 yards rushing on 12 carries) and he threw two hard-to-fathom interceptions, he still sparked the Cougar offense to its best effort against a Pac-10 team.
Needs fixing
Turnovers have handicapped the offense since the season opener. And they still are. Lopina’s two first-half interceptions were killers, especially the second that led directly to a late Arizona score. The third-quarter fumble not only led to another Arizona score, it also denied WSU a chance to run a trick play that looked to be open. The simple fact is the Cougars’ minus-22 turnover ratio is the worst in the nation. So are their 33 turnovers.
Three unanswered questions
• How long will the emotion last? The Cougars took the Martin Stadium turf Saturday displaying a passion that has been seen only in rare spurts this season. But it’s a little easier to play with emotion at home, in front of a Pullman crowd that, despite the miserable weather, was supportive and loud. Such will be the case for the Apple Cup, but there are two winnable road games still ahead. Will the emotion show up in Tempe on Saturday?
• Is there a three- or four-man defensive front in the future? A dearth of healthy defensive linemen led to the Cougars playing their 3-3-5 alignment with the same three defensive linemen the entire game against the Wildcats. In some ways it worked, forcing Arizona to move down the field methodically. Still, WSU gave up 317 rushing yards and 531 in total offense. With Andy Mattingly and Kevin Kooyman probably back this week, how will the Cougars line up against ASU?
• Which Arizona State team will show up? The Sun Devils were expected to challenge for the conference title. But a six-game losing streak took care of that. And then Washington took care of the losing streak on Saturday as the Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 39-19. The Sun Devils rushed for a season-high 182 yards against UW, showing a balanced offense for the first time this year. Running back Keegan Herring, limited by injuries all season, broke free for 144 yards on 22 carries.
Vince Grippi, staff writer