Cougars pushed around

PULLMAN – A day later Paul Wulff still felt the same way.

His Washington State defense had been pushed around by a better team in the Cougars’ 63-14 loss to Oregon.

It wasn’t the Ducks’ offensive scheme. It wasn’t their multiple misdirections. It was, for the most part, just an offense that was superior.

“They’ve got some great talent,” Wulff said of the 4-1 Ducks, ranked 23rd this week. “They could have run any scheme they wanted to run and it was going to work. They’re big, physical fifth-year seniors – they had four seniors on their O-line – and their running backs were big and physical. They’ve got an All-American tight end.

“Like we said, they pushed our guys all over the place and created gaps. That’s what happened in the game and we just couldn’t match up there.”

The Cougar defense has been pushed around all year by Football Bowl Subdivision schools, giving up 334 yards rushing and 483.5 yards in total offense in those four games.

But Wulff thinks the defensive shortcomings can be attributed to many factors, despite the return of many starters from last season.

• Last year’s defense had some big guys up front that are sorely missed, including Ropati Pitoitua and Aaron Johnson.

“We’ve lost a few D-linemen that provided some run capability, some stoutness inside,” Wulff said when asked the difference between this year and last. “That’s part of the issue. The other issue from last year, when the offense can move the ball and score some points, that keeps the defense in it mentally, gives them hope.”

• Speaking of the offense, the turnover margin – WSU is second to last in the NCAA – is wearing on the defense.

“The turnovers weren’t as big an issue last year as they are this year,” he said. “I think we’re minus-13 in turnovers right now, and we’re only five games into it. That’s very, very poor.

“Those factors have stressed our defense so much.”

So will WSU try to gamble some more in an effort to force some turnovers of its own?

“We’ve talked about that,” Wulff said. “But you know, if we’re going to grow our kids and grow our program, we have to hang our hat on something. We need to make sure we’re sound and doing the things we need to do.”

• There has been a lack of execution.

“For us to be successful on defense when we face a really good team like we did (Saturday),” Wulff said, “we’ve got to be 100 percent right. Absolutely 100 percent right in our execution.

“We have to be that right because we don’t have enough kids making individual plays, which a lot of people do have. Right now, we don’t have that on defense.”

Notes

WSU’s 1-4 start is the worst since Mike Price’s 1999 team lost four in a row to open the season. That team finished 3-9 overall and 1-7 in the Pac-10. … The offensive line will go through another makeover, but the starters may not change. Wulff said Joe Eppele will move to the right side and challenge Micah Hannam for the starting spot at tackle. Steven Ayers will move back to the left side where he’ll compete with Vaughn Lesuma at tackle.