Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/11/03

Basler continues to consistently impress

PULLMAN -- Their rushing and passing were spotty at best but the Washington State Cougars did find one effective way to move the ball last week at Notre Dome.

Sophomore punter Kyle Basler delayed the Cougars' fate in diverse ways during their 29-26 overtime loss Saturday.

His seven punts played out as follows:

an initially low kick that gradually rises like a jet over the runway, good for 46 yards.

a high pooch with eyes: It bounces ideally and pins the Irish on the 3-yard line.

a 50-yarder to the 14, with an immediate tackle by gunner Alex Teems.

another sky-high pooch for a near-miss touchback, breaking the plane of the goal line despite comical acrobatics by Teems.

a 36-yarder that ranks as a triumph: Basler had plucked a high snap from the air.

a parlor trick: Teems darts downfield and catches a Basler pooch at the 4.

a 55-yarder to the end zone.

"Kyle Basler had one great ballgame," WSU coach Bill Doba said.

Originally a walk-on from McCleary, Wash. (a few miles east of Aberdeen), Basler landed a scholarship after his first fall camp at WSU and was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention last year. At 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, he combines an ultra-strong leg with an increasingly acute radar for the red zone.

At Elma High, he was a quarterback, tight end and defensive end who moonlighted as an all-state punter. "I had no technique at all," he said. "I didn't really learn, until I got out of high school, how to actually punt the ball. You have to be almost a perfectionist, because there's so much technique. If you don't have technique, you're going to suck."

He seems to have found a sympathetic running mate in Teems, a sophomore who has embraced his role as punt-coverage gunner while waiting his turn at cornerback. "I felt, if I'm not going to be starting, at least I could do something on special teams," he said.

He has learned from Basler how to gauge the likely trajectory of the kick by noting the ball's movement as it leaves the punter's foot -- whether it spirals, rotates or wobbles.

Said Teems, "He's very accurate. I think he's the best punter in all of I-A football."

FATIGUE REVISITED -- According to the Cougars' postgame party line, their defense was left on the field too long, and that's one reason Notre Dame scored 20 points in the fourth quarter.

As Doba later noted, the statistics don't really corroborate that theory: The Cougars' possession time was 30:47, to Notre Dame's 29:13.

Adding to the defenders' fatigue, however, were the timing of WSU's second-half turnovers and the unfamiliarity of the Indiana heat. Doba said WSU players were cramping up "for the first time in a couple of years."

Players are encouraged to drink a gallon of water a day, Doba said, but they may have fallen short of that goal Friday during the trip to South Bend.

Energy levels are an issue again this week, with WSU's second straight taxing road game. They play at 12:30 p.m. PDT Saturday at 17th-ranked Colorado, where the high altitude may or may not be a factor.

ROOKIE CORNER -- WSU freshman cornerback Don Turner must be among the national leaders in interceptions per minute. In his limited backup duty, he has picked off two passes in the Cougars' first two games.

After redshirting in 2002, Turner missed part of spring camp and summer conditioning with a broken arm, but began turning heads in preseason camp. "I'm really pleased with Donny," Doba said. "He's adapted well and is making good reads."

LUNDE TO START -- With sophomore receiver Trandon Harvey sidelined with a high ankle sprain, senior Scott Lunde returns to the starting lineup at slotback. Lunde missed the Cougars' opener against Idaho with a rib injury but came off the bench to make one catch against Notre Dame.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/12/03

Cougars can relate to background of Buffaloes coach

Underdogs everywhere watched in fascination when the Northwestern University football program ended decades of inertia and qualified for the Rose Bowl in 1995. Among the schools that may have drawn inspiration from the Wildcats was Washington State, which two years later made its own waltz to that prestigious bowl, its first in 67 years.

So the Cougars may be facing a spiritual cousin of sorts Saturday when they play at Colorado, which is coached by the architect of that Northwestern revival, Gary Barnett.

Circumstances, of course, have changed drastically.

In taking the Colorado job in 1999, Barnett turned his back on a self-authored fairy tale, at a largely congenial private school, and stepped into the glare of high-pressure football, at a highly public school that had made nine straight bowl appearances through 1996.

All in all, his life is more difficult these days.

"First of all, the media scrutiny is ridiculous here," he said by phone this week from Boulder, Colo. "Secondly, at private schools, everything is close-knit -- academics, athletics -- everything is done with a degree of excellence. There's no red tape. Here in a public school, it just doesn't work that way."

His obstacles were of a different type at Northwestern, the suburban Chicago school whose paltry football history, and perhaps its rich academic reputation, had forced Barnett to build his program almost from scratch.

After the Wildcats went 10-2 in his fourth season, making the school's first bowl appearance since 1949, Barnett wrote a book, "High Hopes: Taking the Purple to Pasadena," in which he chronicled his efforts to overturn the school's time-honored pessimism toward its football program.

The book is now out of print, but it probably struck a chord with certain coaches at all levels. Among Barnett's admirers is Mike Morgan, who led Colfax High to a Washington state 1A championship in 2001, and has intermittently aided the Washington State coaching staff for the past 12 years.

"I've read his book, I've listened to him talk -- I like the way he expresses himself," Morgan said. "I've used a lot of his philosophies in my everyday coaching."

Barnett's Buffaloes bring a 2-0 record into Saturday's nonleague game, and they went 9-5 last year and 10-3 the previous season. But many Colorado fans expect more. They still tend to idealize Bill McCartney, who steered the program into prominence in the 1980s -- with help from Barnett, who assisted him for eight years before heading to Northwestern in 1992.

Bobo Brayton, the successful Washington State baseball coach who retired in 1994, kept a close eye on Colorado football while his grandson, Tyler Brayton, played defensive tackle for the Buffaloes through last season. The elder Brayton gave Barnett mixed reviews.

"I've wondered about some of the things he did, defensively more than anything. ... There were some repetitive mistakes on defense," Brayton said. "He'll put out a good product. He's just not overly popular with everybody there."

A number of parallels can be drawn between Barnett and Mike Price, who led the Cougars to Rose Bowl appearances in 1998 and 2002 before leaving for his own (ill-fated) foray into high-pressure football, at Alabama.

Although they have never worked together, Barnett and Price have developed a friendship in recent years, based partly on a common view of ethical issues in college football. They seemed equally indignant at the recruiting violations attributed to Rick Neuheisel and his staff in 1999, when Neuheisel was making the transition from Colorado to the University of Washington.

That was a rugged time for Barnett. He went 7-5 in his first season at Colorado but slipped to 3-8 in 2000. If he once considered himself, like Price and Neuheisel, a "player's coach," this early period at Colorado challenged that view.

"When I first came here to replace Rick Neuheisel, it was very difficult because Rick was so popular with the players, and had a pretty laissez-faire approach," he said. "I was just the opposite, and so I fought players for two or three years on ruggedness of practices and discipline and those things. Probably that group wouldn't have labeled me a player's coach. Now, five years down the road, all these guys are my guys."

Price's successor at WSU, Bill Doba, doesn't know Barnett well. "I met him once," he said. "He seems like a heckuva nice guy. He did a phenomenal job at Northwestern -- they haven't won since he left."

By contrast, Washington State has developed a rather sporadic momentum from its Rose Bowl breakthrough six years ago. In fact, Barnett said the Cougars' situation has never been comparable to Northwestern's. Maybe he believes any other view would be unpolitic as he heads into a game against the Cougars.

"Washington State has a much greater tradition and records than we ever had at Northwestern," he said. "So I don't see where the two are anywhere close. I don't see any difference between Washington State and anybody else in that Pac-10 right now."

If that's true, Barnett's example may have played a small, indirect role in making it so.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/13/03

Big plays may be just what Cougars need; Buffaloes' offbeat defense could create chance for WSU to return risk factor to its offensive designs

As Washington State heads into its third game of the season, one major question hangs in the air like one of Jason Gesser's downfield heaves last year.

Can the Cougars throw deep, or semi-deep, with any regularity at all? Do they dare?

Given the nature of Colorado's defense, the opportunity may present itself today when the Buffaloes and Cougars clash at Boulder, Colo.

With the departure of Gesser at quarterback and of Mike Price as slightly impetuous play-caller, the Cougars have significantly reduced the range and importance of their throwing game, leaving their run-pass ratio through two contests at 81-62.

As their reasoning goes, they have a strong, turnover-inducing but fairly shallow pack of defenders who can dictate the tone of a game as long as they stay fresh. So it behooves the WSU offense to run often, throw short and sustain drives even if it doesn't score.

That theory netted a shutout against Idaho and almost an upset of Notre Dame. But two Cougar turnovers in the fourth quarter were enough to drain the WSU defense and inspire the Irish to an overtime victory.

"They could have beaten Notre Dame by 38 points," Colorado coach Gary Barnett said of the Cougars.

The WSU defense will walk another fine line against the 17th-ranked Buffaloes, who boast two experienced tailbacks itching to break out. So far, senior Bobby Purify and sophomore Brian Calhoun have been bridled by the Buffs' inexperienced offensive line, and upstaged by quarterback Joel Klatt, who enrolled as a walk-on and seized the starter's job this season. He's completing 65 percent, with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Given all this, maybe the WSU offense needs to increase its range a bit. Next question: Is it capable of that?

Fans are already questioning, however politely, the viability of quarterback Matt Kegel, whose Notre Dame adventure came in his third career start. New coach Bill Doba came to the senior's defense by mentioning the Cougars' loss a year ago in a similar setting, at Ohio State.

"People keep asking me, 'Is he the guy?' and they remember Jason Gesser," Doba said. "If you remember well enough, and nothing against Jason, I love the kid, but last year at Ohio State he didn't set the place on fire either. If you compare the Ohio State game with the Notre Dame game, I think Matt Kegel wins that one."

Kegel's task is harshened by a seeming lack of range in the WSU receiver crew. His apparent 36-yard touchdown throw in the second quarter at Notre Dame whistled cleanly through Devard Darling's open arms.

Colorado (2-0) probably can't match Notre Dame's defensive punch, particularly up front, and particularly after the loss of respected defensive end Marques Harris, who broke a leg against UCLA.

The Buffaloes will likely tempt the Cougars to return to their big-play mentality. They have an aggressive free safety, Medford Moorer, who will pose as a linebacker if the opponent allows it, lining up 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage and making it "almost impossible to run," Doba said. Two other Buff safeties occasionally play ultra-deep, inviting teams to throw underneath.

"We've got to be able to throw the ball vertically," Doba said. "We've got to get it downfield."

NOTES -- This game was originally part of a home-and-home series that included a Colorado visit to Pullman in 2001, canceled by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Buffaloes are slated to play a road game against WSU next season, with the exact location undetermined. ... Colorado punt- and kickoff-returner Jeremy Bloom is believed to be the first football player whose college exploits were preceded by an appearance in the Olympics. He placed ninth in skiing moguls in the 2002 Games at Salt Lake City. With Bloom's track-caliber speed, the Cougars are mulling the idea of kicking away from him.

Cougfan.com - Posted Sep 13, 2003

REDEMPTION IN BOULDER
Cougs click on all cylinders

By the staff of Cougfan.com

MAKE NO MISTAKE, these Washington State Cougars are resilient. Today in Boulder they used an exclamation mark to answer the week's most pressing question: Could they bounce back emotionally from the heartbreak in South Bend?

With a double-digit halftime lead in a hostile stadium for the second straight week, the Cougars did to Colorado what they didn't against Notre Dame --- put a dagger through the heart of an opponent on the proverbial ropes, scoring 24 straight points in the third quarter.

The final: WSU 47, Colorado 26.

Sure, the Cougars' second half intensity was inconsistent, and the fourth quarter downright sloppy. The penalties were again numerous and untimely. And Drew Dunning missed another PAT. But in the end it didn't matter because the Cougars made so many big plays --- on offense, defense and special teams --- that it seemed no amount of help could bail out the No. 16-ranked Buffs.

How good was it for Ol' Wazzu? So good that just minutes after Matt Kegel fired the longest TD pass of his career --- 74 yards to Sammy Moore --- he bested the milestone with a 76-yard scoring aerial to Scott Lunde.

It was so good that just seven days after making every national highlight tape with his acrobatic TD at Notre Dame, Moore assured himself another appearance on SportsCenter by taking the opening kickoff of the second half 99 yards to paydirt. It was the second-longest return in Cougar history.

It was so good that the Cougar defense --- led by Jeremey Williams and his fellow trenchmen --- limited the Buffs to just 3 of 15 third down conversions and 90 net yards rushing.

Indeed, it was so good that Kegel completed passes to eight different receivers en route to his finest day ever in crimson, completing 17 of 33 passes for 304 yards, three TDs and one interception. Meanwhile, the ground attack, led by Jonathan Smith's 73 hashes, piled up 167 total yards

All week long Cougar coaches preached the virtues of "finishing," something that the Cougars hadn't done in either their shutout of Idaho or overtime calamity at Notre Dame.

Saturday in Boulder, with a crowd just shy of 50,000 looking on, the Cougars showed that they took the lessons of the past to heart.

The offense was its old pig play self, taking advantage of man-to-man coverages and controlling the line of scrimmage in the face of what seemed blitz after blitz. None of WSU's scoring efforts took more than seven plays.

On defense, Jason David took a risk on backup Colorado QB Erik Greenberg's first pass of the day and turned it into an unmolested sprint to the house, giving WSU a 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was one of five Bugg turnovers the Cougars forced.

And the special teams, with Moore's kickoff return the cherry on top of the cake, shined with generally solid coverage, two Dunning field goals and Kyle Basler's incredible 53.9-yard average on seven punts.

SUMMARY

First Quarter:

WSU—Moore 74 yard pass from Kegel (Dunning kick)

CU—Klopfenstein 3-yard pass from Klatt (kick blocked)

WSU—Lunde 76 yard pass from Kegel (kick failed)

WSU—David 41 yard interception return (Dunning kick)

Second Quarter:

CU—McCoy 46 yard pass from Greenberg (Crosby kick)

WSU—Dunning 43 yard FG

Third Quarter:

WSU—Moore 99 yard kickoff return (Dunning kick)

WSU—Smith 26 yard run (Dunning kick)

WSU—Darling 11 yard TD pass from Kegel (Dunning kick)

WSU—Dunning 39 yard FG

CU—McCoy 1 yard pass from Greenberg (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter:

CU—Klopfenstein 2 yard pass from Greenberg (Crosby kick)

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/14/03

A Boulder landslide; Spate of big scoring plays propels Cougars to easy road romp over No. 17 Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. -- So much for moving the ball in steady increments.

Re-embracing its big-play tactics in a big way, Washington State scored six touchdowns ranging in length from 12 to 97 yards Saturday while upsetting Colorado with astonishing ease, 47-26.

Sammy Moore helped catalyze the Cougars early in each half, catching a 74-yard touchdown pass from Matt Kegel in the first quarter and later returning the post-halftime kickoff 97 yards for another score.

Kegel passed for 310 yards and three touchdowns, and the Cougars led 47-13 in the third quarter.

Unranked WSU (2-1) recovered sharply from its overtime loss at Notre Dame the previous week, getting a nonconference victory over the nation's 17th-ranked team, which had opened with wins over Colorado State and UCLA.

After stressing ball-control tactics in their first two games, the Cougars this time sought opportunities to restore the deep-passing attack for which they are known.

Kegel made the shift in emphasis pay with a third-and-11 strike to Moore for the 74-yard TD on the Cougars' first series, and he found slotback Scott Lunde on another third-down play for a 76-yard score later in the first quarter.

Cougars head coach Bill Doba said the suggestion to throw deep had come from quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach.

"At Notre Dame, we probably should have thrown the ball deep more -- you know, hindsight is always 20-20," Doba said. "Rosey said, 'Coach, we've got to go vertical,' and Rosey was right."

When Jason David intercepted first-year quarterback Joel Klatt and scampered 41 yards for a touchdown, the Cougars led 20-6 in the first period.

Moore may have delivered the knockout punch with his long kickoff return to start the second half, briefly bobbling the ball near the goal line and then improvising a dash to the left sideline, where he outran coverage and scored untouched. That made it 30-13.

"We were supposed to go up the middle, and I guess the little bobble did throw it off a little bit," the senior said. "The whole halftime, we were saying, 'We can't let up,' because we already experienced what happens when we let up in the second half."

He was alluding to the Notre Dame game, in which the Cougars blew a 19-0 lead.

"At halftime we screamed, 'Finish,' and Sammy Moore made us great coaches," Doba said. "He just took off and ran."

That opened the floodgates. Jonathan Smith broke six tackles on a 26-yard touchdown run, and the Cougar defense then induced two turnovers.

Blitzing linebacker Don Jackson sacked Klatt, forcing a fumble that Will Derting recovered on the 12-yard line to set up a Kegel TD pass to Devard Darling.

The play resulted in a shoulder bruise that leaves Klatt doubtful for the Buffaloes' game at Florida State next Saturday.

Erik Coleman produced the Cougars' other third-quarter turnover, intercepting backup Erik Greenberg to set up a 39-yard field goal by Drew Dunning.

"We just focused on finishing," said Kegel, who completed 17 of 33 passes. "After the feeling we had at Notre Dame of letting it slip away in the third and fourth quarter, this time we wanted to hammer it down and get some points on the board. The defense forced some turnovers, and I can't tell you how much that helps the offense."

Kegel said his 74- and 77-yard TD passes came when Colorado was blitzing, leaving one-on-one coverage on the receivers.

"We felt like we had bigger playmakers than them," Kegel said. "Our guys made great catches and great runs."

Greenberg capped a 73-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Derek McCoy late in the quarter, then added a 2-yard TD pass to Joe Klopfenstein.

"Six minutes of that third quarter was the whole ballgame," Doba said. "Sammy's return gave us a 17-point lead. Then they fumble and we punch one in. It just kind of snowballed on them."

Colorado coach Gary Barnett agreed.

"The kickoff return took the air out of us," he said. "We had about four big mistakes that put us in such a hole, and that team was too good to come back against."

Washington St.        20        3        24        0    --47

Colorado                   6        7          6        7    --26

First Quarter

WSU--Moore 74 pass from Kegel (Dunning kick), 10:11.
Col--Klopfenstein 3 pass from Klatt (kick blocked), 8:50.
WSU--Lunde 77 pass from Kegel (kick failed), 2:09.
WSU--David 41 interception return (Dunning kick), :45.

Second Quarter

Col--McCoy 46 pass from Greenberg (Crosby kick), 13:23.
WSU--FG Dunning 43, 1:37.

Third Quarter

WSU--Moore 97 kickoff return (Dunning kick), 14:45.
WSU--Smith 26 run (Dunning kick), 10:53.
WSU--Darling 12 pass from Kegel (Dunning kick), 10:33.
WSU--FG Dunning 39, 8:21.
Col--McCoy 1 pass from Greenberg (kick failed), 2:40.

Fourth Quarter

Col--Klopfenstein 2 pass from Greenberg (Eberhart kick), 5:56.

A--48,146.

                                WSU            Col

First downs                16                21

Rushes-yards            33-153        34-97

Passing                        310            348

Comp-Att-Int           17-33-1     32-55-2

Return Yards                52                72

Punts-Avg.                7-54                8-38

Fumbles-Lost             3-0                5-3

Penalties-Yards        13-125            7-39

Time of Possession    28:53            31:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Washington St., Smith 11-73, Green 9-41, Bruhn 6-26, Kegel 4-16, Swogger 1-(minus 1), Team 2-(minus 2). Colorado, Purify 17-56, Calhoun 11-36, Griffith 1-6, Greenberg 4-3, Klatt 1-(minus 4).

PASSING--Washington St., Kegel 17-33-1-310. Colorado, Klatt 13-25-0-149, Greenberg 19-30-2-199.

RECEIVING--Washington St., Darling 4-74, Green 3-11, Moore 2-96, Smith 2-25, Bienemann 2-11, Jordan 2-10, Lunde 1-77, Boyd 1-6. Colorado, McCoy 11-131, Hackett 7-63, Donahoe 3-53, Klopfenstein 3-12, Purify 2-20, Vickers 2-12, Monteilh 2-12, Bloom 1-33, Calhoun 1-12.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/15/03

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: DALE GRUMMERT ... Making his foibles part of the act

If Sammy Moore were a pianist, he would display that jazzman's knack for following a disagreeable note with a felicitous, improvised one that somehow enhances the whole passage. If he were an abstract painter, he would blend his errant brushstrokes slyly into the background.

As a football player, he has a way of turning his brief uncertainties, his little bobbles, into sleight-of-hand tricks that perhaps misdirect a defender and redeem a significant play. If this creates a strain of some sort, he conceals it as long as he can.

It happened last year against USC, when the Washington State receiver tapped a takeoff throw into the air, just long enough for his churning legs to catch up, and then seized the ball as his right hamstring just plain seized. He crumpled to the ground, but the 53-yard gain set up a field goal that tied the score with less than two minutes left. The Cougars' overtime victory later put them in the Rose Bowl.

It happened again nine days ago at Notre Dame, when Moore made a twisting, one-handed stab at a Matt Kegel wobbler, then pulled the ball toward him as he tumbled into the end zone. That invoked another overtime, though the Cougars then seized up and lost.

And it happened again Saturday, when Moore bobbled a kickoff at the goal line, inducing Colorado's coverage to overrun the play by a hair, and the little wizard veered outside, away from the original configuration of blockers, and outran 11 Buffaloes to his second long touchdown of the game. That gave WSU a 17-point lead on its way to a 46-27 win, shoving them narrowly into the Top 25.

This time, it was Moore's calves that cramped up as he threaded the sideline. He is a box spring of fast-twitch muscles, ready to expand or recoil at a moment's notice.

When he touches the ball, anything can happen -- anything good, anything bad, and sometimes you can't initially tell the difference. Coaches for both teams hold their breath. Their hearts skip not one beat but two or three, because with Moore the play is never quite over. That kickoff return lasted just shy of forever. It found new life Saturday night when a television network named it one of the top 10 plays in sports that day. The previous Saturday, his acrobatic catch against Notre Dame was declared No. 1.

Moore's other touchdown at Colorado came on a 74-yard catch-and-run that he perhaps thought too smooth and uneventful to be quite valid. As he streamed toward the goal line, therefore, he held the ball out toward the trailing defender, attracting an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty that was assessed on the ensuing kickoff. If this was arrogant, it was the arrogance of a born entertainer, a man who cannot quite stand to be dull. Moore's hero, he says, is Deion Sanders.

More facts: He is half black, half Pima Indian, and as a child in Arizona he lived in hotels with his father, or with relatives, or on an Indian reservation in a ramshackle house with no indoor plumbing. He played two years of junior-college football at Bakersfield, Calif., where he fathered a daughter named Leilah, of whom he speaks with an abstracted wonder. "She's walking, talking," he said recently, "and when I hold her she'll point to the trees and say, 'Bird.' "

He speaks in excited, staccato bursts, almost a stammer, as if negotiating the vestige of a childhood speech impediment, and yet he does this with no apology, no hesitation, no self-consciousness. At times you expect him to say something rash or inflammatory, but he's craftier and more discreet than you think.

After one season as a Cougar backup, featuring a few isolated marvels such as the catch against USC and an 89-yard kickoff return in the Rose Bowl, Moore is now starting at split end as a senior while also returning punts and kickoffs, ranking fifth in the nation in kick returns at the moment.

If there is a strain of prudence on this Washington State team, a belief that the Cougar offense must place a priority on avoiding turnovers and keeping the defense fresh, Moore represents a counter strain, something reckless and buoyant.

It's hardly without precedent in this program. Departed quarterback Jason Gesser exuded a vibe similar to Moore's, stylistically and verbally, and his successor Matt Kegel has a touch of it too. In the next few weeks, the Cougars will decide how much of this juice their conduits will allow.

But even if Moore's personality fails to become the dominant one on this team, the Cougars can still borrow something from it -- namely, this instant on-the-run recovery, this cheery heedless leapfrogging of one's own little foibles.

NOTES -- WSU linebacker Will Derting dislocated a finger but is expected to play Saturday in a home game against New Mexico. Of the players sidelined for the Colorado game, offensive lineman Billy Knotts and probably receiver Trandon Harvey will also miss the New Mexico contest, but backup receiver Jason Hill should be available. Hill's father died last week and the funeral is early this week.

Cougfan.com - Posted Sep 15, 2003

Seen & Heard 9/15
Flags, Lobos, kudos for Kegel, Olerud and more

By PAT MITCHELL
Cougfan.com Associate Editor

WHAT IS IT WITH penalties and pumas? The three most-flagged teams in the nation are all Cougars: Houston, Washington State and Brigham Young. So pronounced have been the miscues at WSU over the last two weeks that despite taking a 10-point lead into intermission this past weekend, the first words out of Bill Doba's mouth before heading into the halftime locker room was exasperation with his team's penchant for penalties.

For the day, the Cougs were whistled 13 times for 125 yards, giving them 35 for 316 yards on the season. That ranks No. 1 nationally in penalty yards and one flag behind Houston for total number of infractions.

The 15-yarder Sammy Moore generated by showboating his way into the end zone on the Cougars' first score of the day at Colorado looked like it could have temporarily cost him his hearing, because Cougar offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller let him know loud and clear afterward that such behavior is not acceptable.

Worse, Moore's penalty was assessed on the ensuing kickoff, so Graham Siderius had to tee the ball up at the 20. The Buffaloes took their subsequently great field position and marched to their first TD.

Penalties are nothing new on the Palouse. Going all the way back to Dennis Erickson's days, the Cougars perennially have been among the leaders in the Pac-10. Last year they had the fourth-most, averaging 10 per game.

HAT'S OFF TO to quarterback Matt Kegel who has been named Pac-10 offensive player of the week for his handywork in the Cougars' rout of Colorado. He completed 17 of 33 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns. Other Cougars nominated for weekly awards were Erik Coleman on defense and punter Kyle Basler on special teams.

In case you missed it, the Cougars are now ranked No. 24 in the coaches poll and No. 25 in the AP rankings.

NEW MEXICO, whom the Cougars battle Saturday in Pullman, is a brand new name on the WSU schedule. But the head coaches are no strangers to each other. This will be the eighth time Doba and New Mexico head coach Rocky Long have been on opposites side of the field. Long was defensive coordinator at Oregon State from 1991-95 and UCLA from 1996-97. WSU's record in those games is 5-2.

Long won't be the only Lobo familiar with Martin Stadium. Their backup QB is junior Tali Ena, the pride of Prosser, who spent two years at WSU before transferring to New Mexico two seasons ago. He's currently listed No. 3 on the depth chart.

The Lobos, one of the favorites for the Mountain West crown this year, are 1-2 this season. They lost 10-7 this past weekend to BYU and 42-28 to Texas Tech the week before. They opened the season with a 72-8 trashing of Texas State. The Lobos were 7-7 in 2002.

History is not on their side against WSU. New Mexico's lifetime record against Pac-10 schools is 24-67-2. All but three of those games have been played against Arizona or Arizona State. The Lobos' last win vs. a Pac-10 team was against Oregon State in 1979, and their last loss was this past December at the hands of UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The injury situation in Albuquerque won't help matters this weekend. Star offensive tackle Jason Lenzmeir is out, having tweaked a knee against BYU, and starting linebacker Fola Fashola is lost for the season after tearing an ACL against Texas Tech. In addition, starting defensive lineman Guillermo Morrison quit the team last week.

TACKLING TRIO: It's shaping up like a three-man race for WSU's 2003 tackling crown. Linebacker Will Derting currently is running No. 1 with 23 total stops, while cornerback Karl Paymah (22) and free safety Erik Coleman (19) are close behind. Coleman was the team leader in 2002.

KUDOS TO BIG JOHN: How cool is John Olerud? So cool that at a recent game he was scanning the stands to decide whom he was going to toss a ball to and his eyes fixed upon the Cougar logo emblazoned on the hat of my son Billy. He threw a perfect strike to Billy, who made an easy catch even though he was wearing brother Bobby's lefty glove.

NOBODY ASKED, BUT I think this is fascinating.Why do golf courses have 18 holes, and not 20, or 10 or an even dozen?
During a discussion among the club's membership board at St. Andrews in 1858, one of the members pointed out that it takes exactly 18 shots to polish off a fifth of Scotch.  By limiting himself to only one shot of Scotch per hole, the Scot figured a round of golf was finished when the Scotch ran out. 

Next up ... New Mexico