highs and lows
High point of the game
The Cougars lost the coin flip and Baylor let them have the opening kickoff. Chris Ivory returned it 50 yards, giving WSU a start in BU territory. From there, Kevin Lopina and the Cougars’ offense converted three third downs, including a third-and-goal from the 1. Chantz Staden cut behind center Kenny Alfred’s block to score and give WSU its first lead of the season.
Low point of the game
It came on the next Washington State possession. Baylor had tied the game on a Robert Griffin 1-yard run and the Cougars took over at their 27. On first down, Staden was met in the hole by middle linebacker Joe Pawelek and the hit fired up the Baylor crowd. Under a wave of sound, Lopina went into the shotgun and put a receiver in motion. He moved his leg to do just that, but Alfred thought he wanted the snap. It came back hot and hit Lopina, checking the right side, in the face mask. The ball bounced forward and Pawelek pounced on it. Two plays later, Griffin found Ernest Smith in the end zone and Baylor had regained the advantage.
A pat on the back
Even though the WSU offense has yet to get untracked, you can’t blame Brandon Gibson. The senior wide receiver made big catch after big catch in the first half and finished with eight receptions for 128 yards, including a 40-yard hookup with Gary Rogers in the fourth quarter.
Needs fixing
The run defense has been porous the last two games, yielding 817 yards, including numerous medium-to-long runs between the tackles. There are no magic bullets or new players coming in, so the only way to improve the run defense is through execution. Against Baylor, the Cougars not only missed more tackles than the first two games combined but they also had trouble, according to assistant coach Chris Ball, lining up correctly. That has to be fixed this week.
Three unanswered questions
•How will WSU react to the slow start? With an almost completely new staff trying to build a new culture, the 0-3 start can either ignite a determination to improve or cause questions to bubble to the surface. The road this group of Cougars decides to follow will map out the rest of the season.
•What receiver will step up to help Gibson? It could be tight end Devin Frischknecht, but he’s been limited recently by injuries. It could be wideout Jeshua Anderson, who looks to be recovering from his August hernia surgery. It might even be freshman Kevin Norrell, who is showing a knack of catching the ball over the middle. Someone needs to emerge.
•Is Portland State a panacea? The Vikings, a member of the Big Sky Conference, will come into Martin Stadium with a 1-1 record after their 38-24 loss at UC Davis on Saturday night. But no matter their record, a Championship Subdivision (formerly 1-AA) team, in theory, shouldn’t be able to compete consistently with the Pac-10’s Cougars.