WSU Vs. Stanford: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly In Loss to Cardinal

Sep 28, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Stanford Cardinal cornerback Wayne Lyons (2) tackles Washington State Cougars running back Marcus Mason (35) during the 2nd half at CenturyLink Field. Stanford defeated Washington State 55-17. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

The Good

Quarterbacks

The Cougs only scored 17 points, but not because of Connor Halliday or Austin Apodaca. 24-36 for 184 yards and an int for the starter, 15-29 for 138, 2 touchdowns and an int for the backup. Consider this, Cougar receivers dropped at least three “big plays” for Halliday and then at least one more for Apodaca. On Connor’s interception, he was avoiding a sack and just trying to get the ball down the field while being pounded into the turf.

Gabe Marks and River Cracraft

Marks had another good performance Saturday. 6 catches, 75 yards and a touchdown. He was by far the most consistent receiver on the field. Cracraft wasn’t far behind in the consistency aspect, continuing to have an impressive true freshman season while reeling in 4 catches for 54 yards.

Deone Bucannon

Bucannon left his heart on the field. Had a huge interception to even keep the Cougs in the game at the end of the first half and played through the last whistle.

THE BAD

Drops

Bobby Ratliff, Isiah Myers, John Thompson all failed their quarterbacks in crucial 3rd down situations.

THE UGLY

Everything Else

• O-Line play was (as ESPN announcers termed it) “Pitiful”, and even that’s being nice. Their poor quarterbacks paid a pretty price for the effort.
• D-line play was not much better, if at all, as Kevin Hogan’s jersey was cleaner after the game than it was going in.
• The secondary was brilliant, but unfortunately that was only on the first move that they continuously jumped on. The second move made burnt toast out of the same secondary, it’s rare that you’ll see that many wide open receivers behind a defense.
• Even Mike Leach jumped on the ugly bandwagon going for it on 4th down early in the 3rd quarter (when the Cougs were still “in the game” down 17-3) on the Cougs’ own 39. The offense, as it did most of the night, failed to come through.
• The “Seattle Game” crowd. 40,000… Really? The idea is to MAKE money and this was the #5 team in the country coming in against a resurgent 3-1 Cougar team. Forget the rain, the Seattle Game could very well be on it’s way out after that performance by Coug faithful in Seattle.
• Speaking of the crowd, Popcorn Man took the cake as ESPN captured his worst life moment in full HD. One bite, 1/3 of an ultimate bag of popcorn, drenched in full monsoon. It doesn’t get better… er, worse.