Washington State Vs Eastern Washington: Post-Game Thoughts
By Mark Allen
Sept. 8, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars wide receiver Marquess Wilson (86) makes a catch in front of Eastern Washington Eagles linebacker Cody McCarthy (47) during the first half at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-US PRESSWIRE
This was a good test for WSU, we got to see some very good things and some bad as well. Lots of Cougar fans believe we’re awful and just not a good football team. That’s not true, everybody is making it like we’re bad. We finally are able to force pressure, our offense is starting to get going, and the bad part is our Secondary is well bad. But we still have a solid team and we can still go bowling. Tuel did get banged up on Saturday but He should be good to go. Washington State released a depth chart not too long ago and he’s still the starter. Here’s the link and Andrei Lintz is no longer the starter at the H spot, Brett Bartolone is.
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sportslink/2012/sep/10/wsu-week-3-depth-chart-released/
Positive’s :
Jeff Tuel looked better than he did vs BYU.
Running game was established.
We’re able to get to the QB.
Linebackers stepped up.
Darryl Monroe and Cyrus Coen showed some very good things.
Isiah Myers and Gabe Marks also did nice things as well.
Leon Brooks showed that he’s got very good speed and I wouldn’t be surprised if he returned it for a TD this season.
Negative’s:
We’re only averaging 6 yards a pass. If we’re going to excel in this offense, that can’t happen anymore. We’ll need to be around 8.5-9.5 or higher.
Secondary is bad, still showing they can’t shut guys down. ( Credit to Nolan Washington, the play where he apparently “bumped
” Brandon Kaufman out of bounds allowing him to come back in an catch the ball was a bad call. He did nothing wrong at all. Kaufman was the one that went out on his own. You can see it here in this GIF thanks to Cougcenter.)
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1348461/illegal-touch-heh-heh.gif
Offensive line is still struggling.
They looked alright Vs BYU but Saturday was bad.
Coach Leach made it clear that it’s not going to continue in the post conference. He said “That’ll be addressed tomorrow and it’ll be an experience they won’t forget. They’ll be talking about it when they’re my age.””
Something had to be done because Starting OL Jake Rodgers tweeted this last night:”Extra workout with coach loco.. literally the worst thing I’ve ever done”
The 2nd tweet: “Seriously though, the immense amount of balls that sucked can not even be fathomed by you mere mortals”
And the last one: “yeah let’s just say the point was made and its urgency to be fixed has been greatly stressed….and it will be fixed”
Overall I’d give the team grade a B- for this game, Offense is starting to get on track but they need to be consistent. Scoring 24 points in the first half was great but 0 in the second, unacceptable.
That’s all for now, But we’ll be able to see a nice easy win this Friday on ESPN vs. UNLV. The offense should definitely be rolling vs. them.