Highs and lowS
High point of the game
If there is any ray of hope for the rest of the season, the drive Marshall Lobbestael and the offense put together in the second quarter provides it. The Cougars, trailing 21-0, took over on their 18 after a 46-yard Josh Syria punt. Mixing the run and the pass, Lobbestael moved WSU out to near midfield, where he found Ben Woodard for 18 yards on third-and-9. Two pass interference penalties – one negating an interception – helped from there, but mostly it was Lobbestael finding open receivers. His last throw, a 9-yard bullet to Jeshua Anderson, was in the perfect spot and beat double coverage.
Low point of the game
The Cougars fumbled twice. They lost both of them. The Ducks fumbled three times. They lost none. Such are the vagaries of football. But one Oregon fumble illustrated the way the ball was bouncing. Oregon led 49-7 in the third quarter and had true freshman Chris Harper playing quarterback. On a second-and-3, Harper tried to hand the ball off, but didn’t get it in far enough and it squirted forward, among the feet of WSU’s defensive linemen. Only Harper seemed to see it, however, and by the time he pounced on it, he had gained 2 yards. Instead of a turnover at midfield, nine plays later the Ducks scored once more.
A pat on the back
No matter how gray things look, Brandon Gibson has been the one constant. The senior wide receiver was seemingly impossible to cover Saturday, even with Oregon’s vaunted secondary keying off him. He finished with 10 catches for 103 yards, including a 25-yard reception. He moved into second place behind Jason Hill on the Cougars’ all-time career yards receiving list, with 2,481, trailing only Hill’s 2,704. With 155 career catches, Gibson is now third among WSU receivers, trailing Michael Bumpus (195) and Hugh Campbell (176).
Needs fixing
It’s obvious, isn’t it? The run defense has yet to stop a Football Bowl Subdivision team. Oklahoma State, 174 yards. Cal, 391. Baylor, 426. And Oregon, 346. That’s an average of 334 yards a game. Rushing. Even with the measly 8 yards Portland State was able to gain, WSU is still 118th in FBS rushing defense, second-to-last, at 269 yards per game on the ground. Nineteen FBS teams yield less than that in total offense.
Vince Grippi