Cougs' dreadful season over, hope springs eternal
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Washington State's dreadful football season is over, and now attention turns to the future.
Coach Paul Wulff, who appears likely to return for a third season, continued to reassure fans that better things are coming for a program that has gone 3-22 in his two years.
"There's a lot of potential," he said. "We just need to see how it all unfolds."
Washington State (1-11, 0-9) ended its season with a 30-0 loss to Washington in the annual Apple Cup rivalry game. This was a season in which the Cougars were outscored by an average of 38-12, failed to lead even once in regulation, and were repeatedly blown out. Their sole victory was 30-27 in overtime over SMU, a team that ended up bowl-eligible at 7-5.
The Cougars looked significantly slower and less athletic than most of their opponents, and had so many injuries they were suiting up only 50 players by the final weeks of the season.
They featured a total of 60 starts by freshmen, and 102 starts by players who had never previously played a down at the major college level.
A relatively small class of 14 seniors is graduating. The key losses include quarterback Kevin Lopina, running back Dwight Tardy, center Kenny Alfred, safety Xavier Hicks and linebacker Andy Mattingly.
Among the experienced players who can return on offense are quarterbacks Jeff Tuel and Marshall Lobbestael, running backs Logwone Mitz, Carl Winston and possibly James Montgomery, receivers Jared Karstetter, Gino Simone, Jeffrey Solomon and Daniel Blackledge.
The offensive line also has returning starters in Steven Ayers, Zack Williams, B.J. Guerra and Micah Hannah. But this group allowed WSU quarterbacks to be sacked 53 times and harassed constantly. Lopina, Lobbestael and Tuel were all knocked out of games after big hits, and rarely had time to set up for passes.
The offensive line also couldn't open holes for running backs, with the result that WSU averaged only 2.4 yards per carry (opponents got 5.9 yards per carry) and Tardy led the team in rushing with just 417 yards.
Wulff, a four-year starter at offensive line for WSU, has promised the Cougars will get bigger and stronger, and that will likely be the most important factor in whether they can become competitive.
The inability of the offense to move the ball left the undermanned defense on the field for an average of nearly 34 minutes per game. That gave opponents time to pile up more than 500 yards of offense per game.
Nearly all the defensive starters are back, including Travis Long, Anthony Laurenzi, Myron Beck, Terrance Howard, Chima Nwachukwu, Alex Hoffman-Ellis and Casey Hamlett. They're going to have to do a better job of stopping opponents, especially in the first quarter, when the Cougars were outscored 176-6 this season.
One piece of good news is that punter Reid Forrest, who consistently kept opponents starting deep in their own territory, is back for a senior year.
Many Cougar fans grew disgruntled as the blowout losses piled up, and attendance slumped to an average of 25,000 at Martin Stadium. Only 16,000 fans showed up for the final home game against Oregon State, which was played during the Thanksgiving break.
Coach Paul Wulff, who appears likely to return for a third season, continued to reassure fans that better things are coming for a program that has gone 3-22 in his two years.
"There's a lot of potential," he said. "We just need to see how it all unfolds."
Washington State (1-11, 0-9) ended its season with a 30-0 loss to Washington in the annual Apple Cup rivalry game. This was a season in which the Cougars were outscored by an average of 38-12, failed to lead even once in regulation, and were repeatedly blown out. Their sole victory was 30-27 in overtime over SMU, a team that ended up bowl-eligible at 7-5.
The Cougars looked significantly slower and less athletic than most of their opponents, and had so many injuries they were suiting up only 50 players by the final weeks of the season.
They featured a total of 60 starts by freshmen, and 102 starts by players who had never previously played a down at the major college level.
A relatively small class of 14 seniors is graduating. The key losses include quarterback Kevin Lopina, running back Dwight Tardy, center Kenny Alfred, safety Xavier Hicks and linebacker Andy Mattingly.
Among the experienced players who can return on offense are quarterbacks Jeff Tuel and Marshall Lobbestael, running backs Logwone Mitz, Carl Winston and possibly James Montgomery, receivers Jared Karstetter, Gino Simone, Jeffrey Solomon and Daniel Blackledge.
The offensive line also has returning starters in Steven Ayers, Zack Williams, B.J. Guerra and Micah Hannah. But this group allowed WSU quarterbacks to be sacked 53 times and harassed constantly. Lopina, Lobbestael and Tuel were all knocked out of games after big hits, and rarely had time to set up for passes.
The offensive line also couldn't open holes for running backs, with the result that WSU averaged only 2.4 yards per carry (opponents got 5.9 yards per carry) and Tardy led the team in rushing with just 417 yards.
Wulff, a four-year starter at offensive line for WSU, has promised the Cougars will get bigger and stronger, and that will likely be the most important factor in whether they can become competitive.
The inability of the offense to move the ball left the undermanned defense on the field for an average of nearly 34 minutes per game. That gave opponents time to pile up more than 500 yards of offense per game.
Nearly all the defensive starters are back, including Travis Long, Anthony Laurenzi, Myron Beck, Terrance Howard, Chima Nwachukwu, Alex Hoffman-Ellis and Casey Hamlett. They're going to have to do a better job of stopping opponents, especially in the first quarter, when the Cougars were outscored 176-6 this season.
One piece of good news is that punter Reid Forrest, who consistently kept opponents starting deep in their own territory, is back for a senior year.
Many Cougar fans grew disgruntled as the blowout losses piled up, and attendance slumped to an average of 25,000 at Martin Stadium. Only 16,000 fans showed up for the final home game against Oregon State, which was played during the Thanksgiving break.