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1 The Cougars need to get healthy. For the first time this season, WSU enters a Saturday with a couple of key players questionable. Receiver Marquess Wilson, who has already set a WSU single-season receiving mark with 1,197 yards on 67 catches, watched practice until Thursday, dealing with a sore hip. Safety Deone Bucannon watched until Thursday as well, nursing an ankle hurt Monday night. Right tackle Dan Spitz injured an ankle Wednesday and was out Thursday. Against a red-hot Utah team, the Cougars need all those guys.

2 Draw a crowd. It’s Thanksgiving break at WSU. It snowed. The game is on TV, albeit a hard-to-find cable channel. All those excuses may mean a crowd of less than 20,000 today. That would hurt. “Our students have been great for the games we’ve had,” coach Paul Wulff said this week. “We sure could use them. We hope quite a few stick around for this game. We need them. Great fans and the noise they create are generally issues for the opposing team’s offense and, on top of that, motivation for your own team. We need those factors to come into play this game.”

3 Earn a push up front. Utah’s offensive line has jelled as the season has worn on, pushing around opposing defenses to a tune of 194 yards per game in the last three. The Utes’ defensive line has been good all year. The Cougars don’t need to dominate either group, but a draw would be nice. If Connor Halliday, making his first career start at quarterback, can get time, WSU should be able to score. If Utah running back John White finds the going tough, the Cougars should be able to limit the Utes’ opportunities.

4 Stay focused. The crowd might be small. The weather might be cold. The opponent might be hard to handle. Fine. But Washington State needs this game to stay in the running for a bowl, for its confidence going into the Apple Cup and for a lot of reasons. And that’s not been a recipe for success this season. In a couple of recent toss-up, must-win games, the Cougars have played listless, showing a lack of intensity from the opening kickoff. That can’t happen today.