Highs and lows

High point of the game

The second half opened with the Cougars trailing 41-0, the lone bright spot Matt Mullennix’s block of the Trojans’ fourth extra-point attempt. But WSU left the locker room with fire and, for what would be 10 times in the game, started a drive at its 20. On the first play Logwone Mitz blasted through a hole and up the middle for 9 yards. On the second play the hole was even bigger and Mitz hit it hard, headed for a long gain. That’s as high as it would get in the 69-0 defeat. Because Brian Cushing knocked the ball away from Mitz, Josh Pinkard recovered and what energy WSU had disappeared.

Low point of the game

Patrick Rooney’s opening kickoff was perfect, landing at the 23-yard line in a hole among four Trojans. Those in front of the ball were worried about blocking, those behind seemingly unworried about picking it up. There the ball sat, a gift waiting to be opened. With it were possible points and sure momentum. But none of the Cougars could get there. Ronald Johnson jumped on it, wrested the ball from any WSU player with designs on it and, just a couple minutes later, USC was up 7-0. The rout was on.

A pat on the back

Just about anyone might have been able to pinpoint Jeshua Anderson as the Cougars’ leading receiver before the game. USC has a tendency to take away the other team’s most potent receiving threat with safety help, so Brandon Gibson was going to find catches tough to come by. But anyone who would have predicted prior to kickoff Anderson would be WSU’s second-leading rusher is a soothsayer. The sophomore split end added 28 yards on three carries – including a 24-yard reverse – to go with his four catches for 29 yards.

Needs fixing

There is little that can be done with most of the things wrong right now. Players can get healthy, and that would help, but most of WSU’s problems aren’t going to be fixed overnight – or in a bye week. However, any attitude problem can be adjusted. As Andy Mattingly said Saturday: “If you throw that first punch and never stop throwing punches, it will wear them out. That’s what we have to do. … We just need to not back down and throw that first punch and not stop throwing (them). Just keep punching them in the mouth.”

Three unanswered questions

• Who will get healthy over the bye week? There were four offensive starters missing Saturday’s game, and many others hobbled by injuries. Running backs Dwight Tardy and Chris Ivory have a shot to be back against Stanford, as does tight end Devin Frischknecht. Left tackle Vaughn Lesuma may be as well, though his shoulder sprain may linger. Anyone else out might just be gone for the season.

• Is there a chance for another win? There are a couple opportunities out there, but it depends on whether the Cougars want to grasp them – and fight to keep them. Mattingly and Kevin Lopina, among others, alluded to a strain of defeatism starting to affect the team, and that it has to be stamped out. If it isn’t, what limited chances are available will disappear.

• How long will the next scoring streak last? Probably not another 280 games. Such a development is the product of talent, design and, yes, luck. During the past 24 years there have been games in which the Cougar offense sputtered. In those cases either the defense bailed it out or the other team did. But such luck had to run out sooner or later.

Vince Grippi, staff writer