Injuries keep coming for Cougars
This week, coaches have time to adjust
PULLMAN – As he recounted the names, Paul Wulff had to stop a couple of times to refresh his memory. The injury list was that long.
From defensive ends to cornerbacks, from tight ends to linebackers, there’s seemingly not a Washington State position that hasn’t been thinned by injuries.
And now you can add long snapper to the list. Yes, it’s so bad, long snapper Zach Enyeart, who has been unerringly accurate on punts and kicks this season, hurt his shoulder Saturday trying to recover an Arizona muffed punt.
Wulff said Sunday he thinks Enyeart will be able to go against Arizona State this week, but starters such as Myron Beck (broken hand), Alfonso Jackson (stinger) and Tyrone Justin (ankle) are questionable at best for Saturday’s game with the 3-6 Sun Devils (2-4 in Pac-10 play).
Backups, including Tony Thompson (concussion), Andy Mattingly (ankle) and Aaron Gehring (shoulder), are “extremely questionable,” Wulff said.
At least this week the coaching staff has some warning.
Much of the defensive damage occurred late last week, forcing WSU (1-9 overall, 0-7 in conference) to put together a new scheme in short order.
“We really just had all Thursday to make some adjustments,” Wulff said, “so we did it on the run.”
The Cougar defense was still surprisingly strong at the point of attack, but Arizona’s running backs found enough space to put up 317 yards.
“We got a little soft on the backside and that hurt us,” Wulff said, who earlier had mentioned a continuing problem with missed tackles. “We need to be definitely stouter at the point of attack’s backside.
“(It’s) a little bit of an issue. But, you know, in fairness to the kids, heck, we were putting a lot of this in on Thursday.
“We were by no means really prepared to execute everything extremely well. We knew that going in.”
Speaking of execution, the Cougars once again killed their chances with turnovers, losing that battle 4-2. WSU has 33 turnovers and a plus/minus spread of minus-22, both by far the worst in the NCAA.
“Those negative plays have hurt our football team, no question,” Wulff said, citing the personnel turnover and the high number of younger players as the cause. “In my experience … when you see teams that have a lot of turnovers, that’s usually the correlation to every team, youth and inexperience.”
Some of the interceptions thrown this season, for example, have forced some of the coaches to scratch their heads, Wulff said.
“The coaches, like every fan out there, say the same thing, ‘Why?’ ” Wulff said. “The biggest thing we need to do is to continue to develop experience and understand the value of ball security.”
Notes
Wulff said because WSU was moving the ball well in the first half, they scrapped plans to insert backup quarterback J.T. Levenseller before intermission. However, he expects Levenseller to play in the first half this week. … A change in the kicking rotation will probably stand this week, with Wade Penner getting an opportunity, at least on extra points, and Nico Grasu as the backup. … Wulff took the opportunity to praise defensive tackle Toby Turpin once again, saying he’s “turned a corner” and has earned the right to play more.