Washington State

Wazzu is coming to town this weekend in what is a fairly pivotal game for the Beavers. The Beavs beat the Cougs last season in the midst of their turnaround and march towards a bowl game. This year the "experts" are picking WSU to go to a bowl instead of the Beavs. So how does a 5-6 Cougars team get better and look like a bowl team all of a sudden this season? Not exactly sure, but I'll check out what they looked like coming into this season and see how things have turned out.

I've only seen WSU play once this year. And that was the Idaho game. That game was easily the worst game they have had all season. Both of Alex Brink's interceptions came in that game. And the defense was having a very hard time stopping the Idaho offense at key times (like the end of the game). Since then they rolled Nevada, who was playing their season opener and killed Grambling State. I'm pretty sure they don't play "Big Boy" football. Their non-conference schedule is worse than our non-conference schedules with Dennis!


Offense

Going into this season there were two concerns. First, who is going to start at QB. Second, who will back up Jerome Harrison at running back. Well, they appear to have settled both of those questions in the preseason, er, non-conference games.

Alex Brink is the QB. This surprised many people as he is the underclassman and arguably isn't really a prototypical QB. Most pundits going into the season predicted Josh Swogger would win the job. Heck, even coach Bill Doba said it would be hard to unseat Swogger as the starter. Well, they were wrong. Brink has put up some great numbers early on as he has thrown 9 TDs and only 2 ints. He's completing 63% of his passes and averages about 230 ypg. Solid if not spectacular. I think he lives on guts, moxie, and all that stuff. Kinda like Jonathan Smith perhaps. His arm isn't great and what I've seen he can make mistakes on throws including floating a few. Hopefully he makes a couple mistakes on Saturday and we pick off those mistakes.

The running back situation is not a problem. Harrison is a great back. The Wazzu guys call him "the ghost". Nuff said. The depth behind him isn't super, but there is a freshman who has come on in the last two games: DeMaundray Woolridge. He has had over 100 yards in each of the last two games. The rushing game to this point has been solid.

The recieving core is also quite good. Some think it's as good as a USC or ASU, but I don't know about that. Regardless, Jason Hill and Micheal Bumpus are both good receivers and they scare me with our secondary. Hill can get behind even good corners so our guys better be ready.

Another concern going into the season was their offensive line. They lost two really good tackles last season and gave up like 35 sacks last year. So that can't be good. But they've only given up 2 sacks so far this year and have run the ball very well. So maybe they have actually improved from a season ago. Unfortunately, it's hard to gauge because they haven't really played anyone. I'm hoping they aren't as good as they seem.


Defense

This traditionally is the heart of the great Cougar teams of the last few seasons. However, last year there was a drop off. The concerns this year are in the secondary as they are thin and weren't really all that good last year.

The D-line seems to have improved. Last season the big complaint was that they didn't get enough pressure on the QB. Well, so far they have 16 sacks. What does that mean against their opponents? I don't know. But if they had 2 sacks I think they would be worried. One guy to watch is DE Adam Braidwood who has 3.5 sacks and 5 QB hurries so far.

The linebackers should be solid with Butkus candidate Will Derting anchoring the middle of the field. He leads the team in tackles with 19. With the way they have been stopping the run, I don't think their LBs are a problem.

The secondary is the big question mark. Kind of like us going into the season. They have yet to be really tested. The CBs have no interceptions and no pass breakups this year against weaker competition than they face in practice. So the jury is still out on these guys. I'm hoping we can really expose them on Saturday and finally return the favor to someone.

Overall their defense is doing OK. They only allow 285 total yards per game. And they are really stopping the run. They only allow 2.1 ypc and 74 ypg. However, with 16 sacks that number may be skewed a little. That's a lot of yardage lost that isn't exactly on the running game. The passing game is actually somewhat questionable allowing 211 ypg. That seems a bit high for the opponents they faced. But I guess Idaho and Nevada aren't horrible passing teams. Overall, it's a decent defense. But probably not overpowering. We should be able to move the ball.


Summary

I think it's a game we can win. But it also makes me nervous. We just can't beat ourselves. We can't turn the ball over so darn much for one. Second, we need to find a way to slow somebody down in the passing game. Those quick hitting big pass plays just kill momentum. One thing I don't like to see is that they have a bye week before us. That worries me. But I really don't think this game is about them, it's about us.

Here's what I think our keys to the game are:

* A decent running game for the second week in a row.
* Create turnovers on defense.
* Have a positive turnover ratio.
* Don't allow too many long passes or key 3rd down conversions.

If we do 3 out of four of those things, we will win the game. I'm expecting improvement in these areas. So I think we will win this game 34 - 24.


Washington State 2005 Stats