WSU Football: Monday Morning Quarterbacking the Cougs

With more than a day to mull over Washington State losing their Homecoming game to Arizona State, there must be a enough ideas flying around to fill a three-ring binder with schemes dreamed up to turn things around for the Cougs.

A quick review of my notes and suggestions revealed the level of brilliance jotted down on paper is easily called into question. None of my genius translated into a plan of action after a review of the player roster. Until Coach Paul Wulff has a stable of horses healthy enough to ride, the going will be tough for Cougar football.

Saturday’s game against the Sun Devils was an exceptionally frustrating loss in light of the outstanding effort and results of inspired defensive play by the Washington State.

It’s a team game. You win as a team, and lose as a team.

One of the leaders for WSU on defense is senior Andy Mattingly, who contributed six tackles, and logged an interception on Saturday. Mattingly was interviewed after the game by Bud Nameck of the Cougar Radio Network, responding to questions as only a team player would.

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“We were just executing on those certain plays. Doing what the coaches told us to do and getting where we’re supposed to be. We knew they’d throw us a couple of balls and they did. But we didn’t do it every play. We weren’t making plays as much as we should have been. We let them score too many points. The game could have been a lot closer if we would have executed on more plays than we did.”

“When the offense is struggling, we have to pick it up because there’s time when we’re struggling and they’ve got to get us going. We know they’re real banged up right now. We’ve just got to try more to score on ‘D’ and try to keep that offense up,” said WSU senior linebacker, Andy Mattingly.

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Until Coach Wulff can get some players back to bolster the offensive line, not even David Copperfield lining up in the Cougar backfield could make an opponent’s pass rush disappear.

Nameck spoke with the lone starting lineman who has played every down on offense this season, junior Micah Hannam. He addressed the challenge created by so many OL players going down with injuries.

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“…there’s a chemistry with guys, especially when you play positions next to each other. When a guy comes in, you have to learn how he plays, how he blocks and how he does things. It’s a slight adjustment. When you have guys coming in every other week it gets a little difficult and it gets a little frustrating," said WSU junior lineman Micah Hannam.

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Frustration.

There’s plenty of that emotion hanging over Cougar Nation these days.

Former WSU Coach Jim Walden who does the color commentary for the Cougar Radio Network had some sage thoughts to share after the game,

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"You can win. You can lose. And you can have good days and bad days, but you should never not play hard. I think this team is starting to remind me of the kind of players we had back in the early 2000's. Teams that played hard. A lot of that is centered around older guys that understand how to play hard."

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Walden pointed out that ASU has the No. 1 defense in the Pac-10 without a bunch of players who will make All-Pac 10, and maybe just one or two who might go on to play in the NFL. The Sun Devils have experienced players who are well coached and go hard on every down.

Having an extra week to retool and recover from injuries is the best "idea" out there to continue moving Cougar football forward. Coach Wulff expects to get some players back by next Sunday when preparing the team for their next conference game against a Cal Bear team that has been staggered on the playing field recently.

There's still a lot of Cougar football to be played this season.

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Homecoming Game Awards

Following each WSU football game, Joe Nickell, Assistant Director, WSU Athletic Communications, passes out awards recognizing Cougar players making significant contributions on the field of play. Here's Joe's picks for the Arizona State game:

The Cougar Lunch Pail

Offensively, I'm going with The Bomb...Jeff Tuel to Johnny Forzani, the longest play from scrimmage in the history of Cougar Football. The 99-yard play will be in the books forever...

The Cougar Hard Hat

Louis Bland, who got the start at middle linebacker with Alex Hoffman-Ellis out, was all over the field. He tied for the team lead with eight tackles, intercepted a pass and sacked the opposing quarterback.

The Crimson Boot

Reid Forrest would tell you he is not pleased with his performance. He punted nine times for an average of 41.1 per attempt—well off where he wants to be. But he brought back memories of last year's Apple Cup with his fake punt, extending a drive with his legs.

Originally published in Lew Wright's column on Examiner.com