Last ‘Battle for the Palouse’ — at least for near future

Published 12:25 am Saturday, September 15, 2007

PULLMAN — Washington State quarterback Alex Brink doesn’t think his team will have any trouble getting up for their home opener on Saturday against Idaho.

There are still plenty of people around the football program who remember the Vandals’ consecutive victories in 1999 and 2000, Brink said.

“Those are still pretty fresh in people’s minds who were around at the time,” Brink said. “This is a dangerous game for us.”

Washington State (1-1) is coming off a big win over San Diego State. Idaho (1-1) beat Cal Poly last week.

The Cougars, of the Pacific-10, are 69-17-3, including six wins in a row against their neighbors just across the border. Washington State has won 22 of the last 24 meetings.

The Cougars have won their last nine games against schools that were members of the Western Athletic Conference at the time of the meeting.

This will be the 90th edition of the Battle of the Palouse, but no future games are scheduled as both teams wanted to take a break and play other opponents.

Washington State coach Bill Doba and Idaho football coach Robb Akey have been friends and colleagues for a long time. They insist that friendship is not the reason they are suspending the series for a time, even though the schools are just eight miles apart.

Akey said the first challenge for him will be when he walks out of the tunnel at Martin Stadium, where he spent the previous eight seasons helping to coach the Cougars, the last four as Doba’s defensive coordinator.

“I can’t hang a left out of the tunnel like I used to,” Akey got. “I’ve got to go the other way.”

For his part, Doba joked that he’ll finally get a chance to see some of the acrobatic leaps and other antics the excitable Akey is famous for on the sidelines during games. In the past, he missed most of those because his eyes were on the field, Doba said.

“I’ll be able to watch him jump a lot better than I could before,” Doba said, although he recalled Akey knocking his glasses off twice during jumps.

When the departure of Dennis Erickson from Idaho gave Akey the chance for his first head coaching gig, the first person he turned to for advice was Doba. Last April, on the first anniversary of the death of Doba’s wife, Judy, it was Akey who went over to his mentor’s house for a visit.

“That’s the sort of thing that’s priceless,” Doba said this week.

Akey was hired at WSU by former coach Mike Price, and retained and promoted when Doba took over in 2003.

Brink had a monster game last week, completing a school-record 38 passes for 469 yards and five touchdowns in the Cougars’ 45-17 rout of San Diego State. Michael Bumpus had 10 receptions, while sophomore Dwight Tardy rushed for 99 yards on 16 carries.

Brink noted that Idaho’s strength is its defense, which managed to slow down even top-ranked Southern Cal in the season opener.

“They showed against USC that they are a good football team,” he said.

Doba said the Cougars are clicking on offense but he is not happy with the defense, where he doubles as the linebacker coach and defensive coordinator.

“We’ve got to stay in our lanes better,” he said. “Our linebackers have got to fill a little quicker.”

Doba noted he better appreciates the work Akey did with the WSU defense now that he is gone.

“I’m working a lot harder,” Doba said.

The Vandals enter Saturday’s contest coming off a 20-13 victory over Cal Poly.

“I thought we improved in our performance,” Akey said, compared to the 38-10 loss to Southern Cal.