WSU Football: Cracraft, Mason and Caldwell Must Continue Growth vs Utah

Nov 16, 2013; Tucson, AZ, USA; Washington State Cougars wide receiver River Cracraft (84) scores a touchdown during the third quarter against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. The Cougars beat the Wildcats 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday I named off a bunch of guys that made a healthy contribution to the win at Arizona, but they were only part of the story. These three performances were also worthy of their own mention here, but I think these three may be the catalysts to a win against Utah as well.

River Cracraft has the perfect unique name and all of the natural tools to follow directly in the footsteps of Danny Amendola and Wes Welker, both of whom played for coach Mike Leach at Texas Tech. For Cougar fans looking back on players he may remind us of here, he reminds me of a mixture of Colin Henderson and Michael Bumpus in the slot.

Of course he made three unbelievable balls last Saturday, a diving scoop, a leaping grab on the sidelines to set up the field goal and the touchdown. The TD was incredible because of the readjustment of the route and then after watching the play about 15 times, I still have no idea how he saw the ball as it whizzed by the linebacker’s shoulder. Regardless, it nestled perfectly into River’s arms and he spun into the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown.

Nov 16, 2013; Tucson, AZ, USA; Washington State Cougars running back Marcus Mason (35) runs the ball under pressure from Arizona Wildcats linebacker Derrick Turituri (45) and cornerback Shaquille Richardson (5) during the fourth quarter at Arizona Stadium. The Cougars beat the Wildcats 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The two running backs Marcus Mason and Teondray Caldwell were huge as well, both doing everything without really getting a whole lot of statistical glory.

Mason weaved his way to a 4th down conversion, a touchdown and a couple very nice pickups. Caldwell had a couple plays that almost went to the house, and then he had this:

Simply put, that catch was amazing and at that point we all knew the offense was destined to win the football game on that drive. I mean really, he had to catch it twice and keep his feet down! Have you seen a WSU running back make a better catch… ever?

These three are going to be large in determining the outcome of this Utah game on Saturday. The Cougs are clearly much better when they have contributions from these guys, as they are the three that are least accounted for when drawing up a defensive scheme. Obviously the slots in the Leach offense just cannot be covered if they are good enough and the running backs are the last option for WSU so they are the last concern for the defense.

All growing into their roles in this late season run is an important key for the success of Connor Halliday and the Cougars offense.