WSU Football | Coach Paul Wulff Looks Ahead to Notre Dame

Before heading out to Rogers Field for practice Tuesday afternoon, Washington State Cougar football Coach Paul Wulff paused to talk to media about the game with Notre Dame coming up this Saturday in San Antonio at the Alamodome.

Topics covered during coach Wulff's press conference ranged from the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame to another player lost for the season.

Let me take you through just a few highlights of what Coach Wulff had to say.

No question that the game with Notre Dame is the biggest non-conference opponent WSU has faced in recent years in both talent and tradition. Coach Charlie Weiss has the Irish playing good football this season. The team is presently ranked No. 23 in the BCS standings with a 5-2 record.

One of the topics fielded by both coach Wulff and Bill Stevens, WSU sports information director, was the site of the game. It's expected to be a sellout of about 65,000 seats. Notre Dame was allocated 25,000 tickets and those are gone. Washington State has only a few tickets left from their 4,000 allotment. Though San Antonio is theoretically a neutral site for the two teams, expect the stands to be dominated by Notre Dame fans.

When discussing Notre Dame, coach Wulff did so with the respect the Irish have earned coming into the nationally televised contest Saturday on NBC beginning at 4:30 p.m. PDT.

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“They just have a knack of being in every ball game. They win the close ones. They find a way to do that. Three years ago they were struggling and they were very young and played a lot of young players. Obviously some of those guys have grown up and allowed them to be a competitive team right now.” - WSU Coach Paul Wulff

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You can't talk about Notre Dame this season without discussing their outstanding quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

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“Jimmy Clausen  is a really good player. He’s good because he has experience. It’s his third year of playing. He’s got a great arm. He’s more comfortable in their offense, and obviously with more maturity. He’s got a special player to go to in Golden Tate to go to. Maybe one of the best receivers in the country. Enough run game to keep you off balance.” - Coach Wulff

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The offense for Notre Dame is firing on all cylinders through their first seven games. The team ranks 15th in the NCAA averaging more than 438 yards a game against some of the best defensive teams in the nation. Clausen is the No. 2 quarterback in the NCAA in terms of efficiency. One of the reasons he's having such a good year is his talented teammate at wide receiver, Golden Tate, who is averaging 121 yards in receptions a game. He ranks No. 4 in the NCAA.

Defense for the Fighting Irish is a different story. Giving up more than 409 yards a game they clearly are winning games by outscoring their opponents and have struggled stopping anyone's offense.

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“They are a little younger on defense, in particular at the beginning of the year. They’ve become a little bit older by playing. They’re a zone pressure team. They do a lot of movement in their defensive line. They’re always moving or twisting or bringing some type of zone pressure. They really keep you on your toes.” - Coach Wulff

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When a reporter asked Coach Wulff, "What would it mean for your team if you came down (to San Antonio) and really played well?" Wulff was humored by the tone of the question and chuckled.

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“We’re coming down to win. I really believe a lot of our players are set in their mind to do that. It’ll mean a lot. That we keep growing in development and improvement. We’ve got five ball games (left) and dang it, we want to compete in every one of these games until we’re in a position to win. “ - Coach Wulff

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This will be a very different week of preparation for Washington State. Finally there will be enough players to compete for position playing time rather than being put on the field because of a teammate going down to injury. The most competitive area appears to be one that has been a problem unit for the Cougs, the offensive line. Two of the guards slated to be starters coming out of fall camp were finally able to line up on either side of center Kenny Alfred in the Cal game.

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“B.J. (Guerra) didn’t start the game but he came in on the second series. He and Zack (Williams ) played the whole game. They’re not full strength. There’s no reason those two guys shouldn’t take a big step in their performance the second game back. It helps us a lot. We’re physical. We can match up with defensive tackles now and create a pocket for our quarterback to step up into. The other two key elements we’ve got to get back are Tyson Pencer and Steven Ayers, two guys that can play tackle. We’re going to give Steven Ayers a chance to play some right tackle this week as well as left. He and Micah Hannam are going to have to battle it out at right tackle. We need Tyson and Alex Reitnouer to keep growing at left tackle.” - Coach Wulff

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A second moment of levity came when it was suggested to Coach Wulff the Irish are giving up a lot of passing yardage on defense which should play into the strength of Washington State.

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“I’d like to think that our strength is throwing the ball, but we just had one game that went well.” - Coach Wulff

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As for the running game, there is a trio of backs who will carry the load, but one player looks to become a cut about the others.

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“Carl Winston is coming on. When those young guys keep taking reps they just seem to keep getting better every week. He showed flashes again this past game. He took a big step on how physical he ran and how quickly he hit the hole on a couple of those runs. He’s probably right there. Logwone Mitz has shown some flashes in running the ball. I think Dwight (Tardy) is in the mix but these other guys are starting to do a things a little bit better on a consistent basis right now.” - Coach Wulff

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Take a look at the depth chart going into this week of practice and you'll see that the Cougs are getting some players back.

The most significant change on the depth chart going into this game is one that will impact the Cougs for the balance of their schedule.

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“(Louis Bland) is going to have a scope to do a little exploratory on the knee. They’ve got a pretty idea of what’s going on with it on the inside. There’s some cartilage issues and the continued PCL problem that he’s had since the spring. It just looks at this point that there’s a high, high probability that the season is over for him. He’s probably been our best football player top to bottom on defense in the last year and a half.” - Coach Wulff

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The loss of Bland is a tough one because of the passion he brings to the team. That will open up competition for the starting spot as the MIKE linebacker on the WSU defense.

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“Alex (Hoffman-Ellis) and (Mike) Ledgerwood are going to compete in practice to see who will start next Saturday.” - Coach Wulff

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Competition for playing time is yet another component that will continue the growth of this young Washington State football team.

If you'd like to watch the highlights of Coach Wulff's press conference this afternoon, just click HERE .

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