Guest Columnist Tony Duarte from CougZone.com has written in to give us the Cougar perspective on their upcoming matchup with the Buffaloes. Go easy on him, as he is just a guest.
In all his years as a college head coach, Washington State University head coach Bill Doba had to endure his toughest loss last week when his Cougars fell in overtime at South Bend to the mystique of Notre Dame. Okay, it was his first loss as a head coach – but isn’t that what they always say – your first loss is your worst loss? Well, if they don’t, they should.
The Cougars come into Boulder smarting after a tough loss to the Fighting Irish and the major question mark coming into this game will be – how do they respond to such a heart-breaking loss on national television in a game they dominated for the majority of the time? If ever there was a strategy for when to inject some pastry into the schedule – this would be the blueprint weekend. Instead, the Cougars are staring in the face of a 1-2 start with back-to-back road games against difficult opponents.
The positives after the Notre Dame game seem to reproduce like rabbits – or prairie dogs, to give it that appropriate Boulder spin – and slightly outnumber the negatives. Not counting the friendly environment of Seattle’s Seahawks Stadium or the “neutral” environment of the Rose Bowl, the Cougars have now played in large venues at Ohio State and Notre Dame in consecutive years and are unlikely to be cowed by potential crowd hostility/noise in Boulder. What may be a more formidable enemy after such an energy-exhausting game in South Bend is Boulder’s elevation.
The 2003 Cougars discovered more of who they were and what they were about against Notre Dame than they did in the opener against Idaho and what they are about mostly – is defense. WSU’s defense went five quarters into the 2003 season before allowing a score against them and then went seven quarters before allowing their first touchdown. Thanks largely to the Cougar defense – and special teams – WSU planted Notre Dame in a 16-point first half hole – the largest deficit the Fighting Irish faced in South Bend in 23 years.
Defensive coordinator Robb Akey took advantage of the inexperienced Notre Dame offensive line by constant blitzing which helped the Cougars record 6.5 sacks and nine tackles-for-loss against the Irish. The Cougars also forced five fumbles [recovering three - although senior defensive lineman D.D. Acholonu was tantalizingly close to a fourth in the fourth quarter - which may have put the game in the win column for the Cougars] and one interception. The underrated [at least according to national media - Cougar fans and well-wishers know who he is] linebacker sophomore Will Derting was the leading tackler and generally all over the field making crunching tackles and forcing the Carlyle Holiday fumble that WSU defensive lineman senior Ike Brown returned for a touchdown against Notre Dame.
Offensively, the Cougars will be led by quarterback senior Matt Kegel – the cousin of Ryan Leaf, who was the quarterback the last time WSU was in Boulder in 1996. Kegel has been mostly unspectacular so far in 2003 – throwing for 382 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in two games – but he has been, with a few exceptions, mostly mistake-free. The new Bill Doba-coached Cougars rely a little more on the ground game than they have in the past and toward that end, the Buffs should see plenty of senior Jonathan Smith and senior Jermaine Green – and possibly Chris Bruhn. Kegel’s main receiver targets are junior Devard Darling and senior Sammy Moore but offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller has begun to institute more passing to the tight end with the emergence of redshirt freshman Cody Boyd and the established presence of sophomore Troy Bienemann.
The special teams unit has run hot and cold this year. Kickoff coverage has been average – at best. Neither placekicker being currently utilized – senior Drew Dunning nor redshirt sophomore Graham Siderius – has been proven to consistently kick it in the end zone. Although that may change with the high altitude of Boulder, WSU’s present strategy has been to squib kick on kickoffs. Punting has been a boon and Buffalo fans should expect to see a show being put on by sophomore Kyle Basler – who started out slow against Idaho but boomed the majority of his kicks against Notre Dame – including uncorking a 55-yarder. Field goals have suddenly become adventuresome for the Cougars since they lost backup quarterback redshirt sophomore Chris Hurd for the season with a knee injury – Hurd was the primary holder for Dunning this year and with a new holder, many of Dunning’s kicks have not been pretty or successful. The 6-8 Boyd, who intends to play hoop this year for the Cougars – has been used on special teams as a designated field goal blocker.
When the ball leaves the tee on Saturday, the Buffaloes should expect to see a tough defensive battle for much of the game with turnovers or special teams play becoming deciding factors. If the Cougars are not able to recover mentally or physically from last week’s game against Notre Dame, mental mistakes in the second half – the bane of WSU in their game against the Fighting Irish – could enter the fray and make things ugly with penalties [14 against Notre Dame - with some crucial late game personal fouls]. If they can recover and Matt Kegel can be slightly more on target with his throws or the defense can play four full quarters of the same high-caliber play they displayed in the first three quarters in South Bend, the Cougars can regain the small amount of confidence lost somewhere in a leprechaun’s hat in South Bend.
Tony Duarte is editorial director of CougZone.com [www.washingtonstate.rivals.com] and is not ashamed to admit that he has been seen in public wearing a beanie propeller hat.

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