Don't Mess With Baylor

The WSU Cougars lost to Baylor, Friday night, 45-17.

It was an embarrassment for any Pac-10 team. Short of an opening drive touchdown, sparked by a 50-yard kickoff return, there was nothing about that game which a Cougar fan can feel good about.

Other than that the suffering is over for another week.

With WSU sporting an 0-3 record and Washington cruising into Oklahoma wearing an Oh-fer-two collar it is difficult to come up with a region in the country exceeding our mediocrity. The state has become Oregon in the 1980s in terms of college football prowess. And it doesn’t look to get better any time soon.

Topics: Cougars

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The Definition of Unsportsmanlike Conduct

According to the 2008 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations. Pages 122-124.

Key excerpt after Saturday's 28-27 loss by the Huskies to the BYU Cougars:

2. After a score or any other play, the player in possession immediately must return the ball to an official or leave it near the dead-ball spot. This prohibits... (c) Throwing the ball high into the air.

Section 2. Noncontact Fouls
Unsportsmanlike Acts

ARTICLE 1. There shall be no unsportsmanlike conduct or any act that interferes with orderly game administration on the part of players, substitutes, coaches, authorized attendants or any other persons subject to the rules, before the game, during the game or between periods.

Continue reading "The Definition of Unsportsmanlike Conduct"

Topics: College Football, Cougars, Huskies, and Stupid athlete tricks

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T.J. Tranchell: Doba's Done

Just got a note from our Moscow (ID) bureau chief, T.J. Tranchell, with the subject line: "Doba's done." Doba would be Bill, head coach of the Cougars whose five-year record stands at 30-29, or much, much better than Ty Willingham's 11-24 three-year record — providing further evidence that UW's patience with its rebuilding process has been unusually, uh, admirable.

Topics: Cougars

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Apple Cup Prediction: 10-2 Dawgs

Wazzu grad and Weekly ad rep Kyle Lawrence after last year's Apple Cup.

Pretty random score there with the lone safety prediction, I know. So what do I base m'mathematizing on? A simple head count of how many Weekly employees graduated from UW versus how many graduated from the 'Zu (Onstot: growing up near Pullman and attending SPU does not make you an honorary Cougar). If we were just talking about the writing staff, things would get even more medieval at a 3-0 final tally: Aimee Curl, Aja "My Parents Named Me After a Steely Dan Album" Pecknold, and I all conned our way into undergrad degrees.

I'll leave you with a bit of pre-game insight: The only difference between a Husky and a Cougar is that UW grads are functional alcoholics. Don't believe me? Look no further than tomorrow's tailgate shenanigans for living, puking proof.

Topics: Cougars and Huskies

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And That's Another

Cougar! First! Down!

There were many first downs during Washington State’s 27 - 7 pummeling of UCLA Saturday. The offense was agressive, with some solid tosses by Alex Brink and a new running game with Dwight Tardy and Kevin McCall leading the charge to a season high 274 yard offense. But the real story was the defense.

Until now, the Cougar defense has looked only slightly better than a mediocre high school team. USC ran roughshod over them. At the home games on third down – I was in attendance with my brother Martin, we’re both Pullman born and he’s a WAZZU alum – the crowd is supposed to really heckle the opposition. At first it was pretty lack luster. UCLA marched down the field right after kickoff to put points on the board. Holding the offense hasn’t exactly been the Cougar’s strong suit this year.

But wonder of wonders, WSU stepped up. Drive after drive, they held the Bruins at the line. The first seven points was the last UCLA put on the board.

Even more important than a new lease on life for the team's defense and running game was their performance under pressure. At one point in the second half, they had four shots at the goal line, only to be stopped within five. The field goal was blocked and the guys behind us groaned: “They’re Couging it.”

Couging it, it seems, has been used so commonly this slang term for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory has made it onto Wikipedia. We all sat down, fearful the end was inevitable. But they kept up the pressure. The same fears rose after Brink threw an interception and UCLA seemed to find a little offensive momentum, but once again, the defense stepped up and held the line.

All in all, it was a beautiful day made sweeter by UW’s earlier loss. No longer languishing in last place, when the timer hit zero, Martin and I looked at each other and rushed the field. Go Cougs!

Topics: Cougars

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Cougars Show Aztecs Whose House It Is At Qwest

Six years ago the Washington State Cougars decided to hold one "home" game a year at Qwest Field to satisfy their Seattle transplant alumni. This year’s 45-17 win against the San Diego State Aztecs surely did just that.

The 1^st Quarter was nothing if not engaging: After 3 would-be touchdowns for San Diego were called back, the Aztecs kicked off the scoring with a field goal. WSU responded by scoring the first touchdown of the game – a 6-yard pass caught by Brandon Gibson. San Diego State’s Brandon Bornes's run for a 59-yard touchdown pulled the Aztecs ahead to a 10-7 lead. The Cougars fought back with a 31-yard field goal by Romeen Abdollmohammadi to close the quarter tied at 10-10 and in possession after an interception by Alfonso Jackson.

After Dwight Tardy crossed into the end zone following a block by Jed Collins and Cougar QB (and clear star of the day), 5^{th –}Year Senior Alex Brink, completed a TD pass to Aaron Moore, the score was at 24-10 Cougs. And all this not even six minutes into the second quarter. An interception by SDSU’s Vonnie Holmes revived some of the thrill fans experienced the first quarter but, the Aztecs failing to score, many a reveling Cougar had turned attention to their beer by half time.

Offensively impressive and defensively mediocre, the game, and the WSU lead, ticked onward and upward throughout the second half. By the time the Aztecs made their second touchdown the game was lost and the hoards of mid-twenty something WSU alumni were too busy pretending to be 19 again and celebrating their win to be bothered.

Halfway through the 4^th Quarter I heard the roar of the final touchdown, bringing the score to 45-17 WSU, as I hurried away from the crimson mob determined to see this annual event through to its finish. I left Qwest Field with the mantra of the day, one fans repeatedly slurred through rounds of high-fives all afternoon, still sounding in my ears: “Go Cougs.”

Topics: Cougars

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Four-Baggin' Samantha Micelli

Deadspin has a hilarious little column entitled "Who's the Next MLB Player to Bang Alyssa Milano?" The former Who's the Boss? child star-cum-Skinemax pinup has a major league hard-on for major leaguers, having already bagged Barry Zito, Carl Pavano, and Brad Penny Favorites in the current deadspin field include Johan Santana, Chad Cordero, Bobby Abreu and a trio of young Dodgers.

Two questions: (1) Why the Latino bias? Granted, Pavano and Zito are Italian stallions, but Italy is in Europe. (2) J.J. Putz has to at least be a darkhorse in this field. He's big, charismatic, is a Cy Young contender on a team in the playoff hunt, likes hard rock, lives on the West Coast and wants Will Ferrell to play him should a movie ever be made about his life, at least according to the Safeco Jumbotron (he's also married, but Milano's got the game to charm that ring right off J.J.'s finger). Plus, we heard he's super-tight with Danny Pintuaro. Wife, shmife: Putz is our horse to cross Milano's wire before the rest of this paltry field.

Topics: Cougars

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Owning Up To Getting Owned

As anyone who knows me will attest, I have problems admitting defeat. Lost at darts? We need to play again. Now. Beat me at Mario Kart? It’s time for a rematch. From Intramural softball to being the first person up the stairs, I really, really hate losing.

That’s why last night’s UW-Wazzu game is still bothering me: my team has to admit defeat. 

As Lorenzo Romar said after the game, as reported by the Times’ Bob Condotta, the fact that the better team won last night simply cannot be argued. After three wins by the Cougs, one in Pullman, one in Seattle and one on a neutral court, there is little left to do except to own up and say that the Huskies got owned.

With the pace favoring UW for most of the night, Wazzu even managed to beat the Dawgs at their own game. Most obvious, Kyle Weaver, Derek Low, and Taylor Rochestie were miles ahead of UW’s flaccid foursome of Dentmon, Oliver, Pondexter and Nelson. Even UW’s perceived advantage, the generally reliable Brockman and Hawes were bullied and outplayed by Cowgill, who absolutely worked Hawes defensively, Aron Baynes, the first person all season to push Brockman around (I guess it takes a former rugby player who knows Jujitsu to do it), and Ivory Clark, who plays like a homeless man’s Sean Marion. 

This series has been a tale of two teams. One, a veteran, mistake-free, cohesive unit that converts open shots and plays hard-nosed defense every game, and the other, a young, tentative bunch that doesn’t yet know how, or perhaps even worse, doesn’t have the desire to win.

Unfortunately, unlike darts in my living room, the next rematch in this case won’t be for another year. I hope, for the Huskies’ sake, that this season, including the upcoming pity party that is the NIT, will remain uncomfortably in their minds as a reminder of how much any competitor hates losing.

Topics: Cougars and Huskies

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Beasley Blowout

What to say about the Cougars' 75-47 thrashing of UW Saturday? It was just a total wire-to-wire annihilation that proved, among other things, how valuable Spencer Hawes is to the Huskies' offensive attack. As for the Cougs, point guard Derrick Low is a sight to behold. He looks like Justin "Dodgeball" Long and plays like a poor man's Steve Nash. I'm not convinced he's incapable of finding a home on the end of some NBA team's bench one day, ala Travis Diener.

As for the Dawgs: (1) I'm having trouble figuring out what they like to run on offense, probably because I'm convinced Coach Romar's running a West Coast version of ex-Missouri coach Quin Snyder's vaunted "freelance" offense (a polite way of saying the Dawgs don't run any set plays). (2) John Brockman: nice college player; no chance to play in the pros. Based on hype alone, he should have been able to score at will against the Cougs. But that's why hype is sometimes just hype.  (3) Phil Nelson and Ryan Appleby: nice sharpshooters off the bench; no business starting for a Pac-10 team. Romar is going to have to ride or die with whatever athleticism he can muster in his starting lineup. That means Dentmon and Pondexter must start, even if they're inconsistent.

Topics: Cougars and Huskies

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I Like Things That Are Great

After watching the Cougars come one shot away from beating #1-ranked UCLA while frustrating the holy hell out of the Bruins at Pauley Pavillion last night, I'm convinced that Tony Bennett's skinny no-name squad is the best in the state this year (yes, the fact that they've already toppled Gonzaga factors heavily into that opinion). Like his papa and predecessor Dick did at Wisconsin, Tony Bennett (God, I love that his name is Tony Bennett) has the Cougs playing exactly the sort of ultra-disciplined, clog-the-key, take-the-air-out-of-the-ball scheme that stands to clip the wings off a run and gun conference, team by team. This is the perfect system for Wazzu, which will never be able to recruit players of similar caliber as, well, every other school in the conference — not to mention its E-WA rival, Gonzaga. What the Cougars are doing now is reminiscent of what Gonzaga used to do back when it stocked its roster with one-dimensional Caucasian rejects from Ferris High's bench.

Topics: Cougars

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