Cougs, Bruins in similar fix

PULLMAN – Listen to Rick Neuheisel talk and at times you swear you’re listening to Paul Wulff.

Listen to Wulff, the first-year Washington State coach, talk and it’s as if you’re listening to Neuheisel, also in his first year at his alma mater, UCLA.

Not in the way they express themselves – Neuheisel is a former quarterback with a law degree and speaks like it – but in the subject matter they cover.

In some ways, these two football teams are running down parallel tracks.

Both are using their third-string quarterback. Both have battled injuries and changes on their offensive line. Both need a win this week, when they meet in the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.

“Yeah, there are (similarities),” Wulff said this week. “After watching both teams on film – you know, in the off-season there were two coaching changes in the conference, at UCLA and at Washington State, and if you just watch film, you can see why.

“You understand why there needed to be changes. Both schools are going through that as we speak.”

The usual reason coaches are replaced have to do with wins and losses, and UCLA – or WSU for that matter – is no different. The Bruins turned to Neuheisel, the former Colorado and UW coach who is 5-0 against the Cougars, when Karl Dorrell didn’t win – enough.

Neuheisel immediately gave Bruin fans hope – and ripped it away. UCLA opened the season with a 27-24 overtime win over Tennessee but followed that with a 59-0 crushing at BYU, a 31-10 loss at home to Arizona and a 36-31 loss to Fresno State, also in the Rose Bowl.

WSU has been worse, losing two Pac-10 home games by a combined 129-17 score and posting its only win over a middle-of-the-pack Football Championship Subdivision team.

But, thanks to their struggles, the Bruins aren’t blowing their horn this week.

“We’re certainly not in a place to be overlooking anybody,” Neuheisel said.

Part of that is the uncertainty that comes with playing a third-string quarterback. In the Bruins case, it’s junior Kevin Craft, who came to Westwood via San Diego State and Mt. San Antonio CC, and has been thrown into the boiler after injuries to Ben Olson and Pat Cowan.

The son of a coach, Craft started slowly, throwing four interceptions in the first half against Tennessee. But since then he’s ranged from outstanding – a 12 of 14 fourth quarter against the Vols – to below average – 15 of 31 against Arizona – to passable – 11 of 20 for 150 yards and a touchdown last week.

Of course, WSU is on the same line, with Marshall Lobbestael taking over from Kevin Lopina and Gary Rogers, both sidelined with back injuries suffered in the lone Cougars win.

“That’s a tough thing for any team to endure,” Neuheisel said of losing the starting quarterback, “because not only does (the starter) have all the reps, and all the experience, he’s also kind of the leader.

“For another guy to go in, it takes a special young man to go in there and get things up to speed quickly.”

Wulff is beginning to think he has that type of young man in Lobbestael, despite the redshirt freshman’s less-than-stellar statistics against Oregon (22 of 41 for 192 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a fumble).

Wulff said this week Lobbestael is improving faster than he expected and his future is bright.

But that’s for tomorrow. Today the Cougars and the Bruins have to figure out ways to keep their quarterbacks healthy behind offensive lines that are in a state of flux.

WSU, which has started four different groups in the first five games, is making another change this week, giving redshirt freshman Steven Ayers a chance to win the left tackle position.

UCLA is just as jumbled, with only right tackle Nick Ekbatani starting all four games. Still, Neuheisel sees hope there, triggered by 234 yards rushing against Fresno State.

“We’re beginning to kind of develop a little bit of an identity with respect to which five guys are going to play,” he said.

Both schools’ overall identity right now is one they want to change.

“They’ve had a pretty tough schedule, as we’ve had, they’ve done some good things at times, as we have,” Wulff said. “Inconsistency lives right now in both teams.”

And there is only one way to change that in the long run, according to Wulff.

“I read a quote where he said they’ve got to recruit and recruit hard,” he said about Neuheisel. “And I echo that. That’s why it is where it is. We’re (recruiting hard).

“The one thing I like about our team, though, is I’ve got some young kids playing and they’re going to keep getting better. … The thing about our team that is encouraging is they are working hard. They’re doing the right things right now. That’s all I can ask of them.”

Which is another sentiment echoed by Neuheisel, shown a light at the end of the tunnel by his team’s decent performance against No. 22 Fresno State.

“We’ve just got to have a sense of urgency about us, a relentless attitude this week at practice, and see if we can’t continue to improve at the same rate that we improved a week ago,” Neuheisel said.

Cougar notes

Wednesday wasn’t a good day to be a WSU running back. It started with Logwone Mitz turning an ankle, continued when Chris Ivory pulled up with a hamstring strain and ended with Dwight Tardy limping off favoring his right leg. The severity of the injuries is unknown, but none of the trio left practice. With so much of the running back corps watching, sophomore Marcus Richmond moved from wide receiver to the backfield and took snaps with Chantz Staden. … Steven Ayers has been working with the No. 1 offensive line at left tackle but didn’t finish practice, suffering from a sore shoulder. His status is also unknown.