Cougs, Cowboys have no use for huddles

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 30, 2008

SPOKANE — There won’t be a lot of standing around when Oklahoma State plays Washington State in the season opener for both football teams today. Each runs a no-huddle offense.

Oklahoma State has been doing it since coach Mike Gundy arrived four years ago. Behind quarterback Zac Robinson, the Cowboys averaged 486 yards and 34 points per game last season.

Washington State’s new head coach, Paul Wulff, instituted the no-huddle after he was hired in December, and his defense is used to it.

“Our defense goes against that in practice,” Wulff said. “It should help us.”

The opener is at Qwest Field in Seattle, where the Cougars play an annual game to connect with their large alumni base in Western Washington. Washington State is 5-1 at Qwest Field.

Wulff was hired out of Eastern Washington University in December to replace Bill Doba, who resigned after last year’s 5-7 record.

Wulff, a star WSU player in the 1980s, is the first graduate to lead the Cougars since Phil Sarboe left after the 1949 season. He admitted he is excited about being back on the Martin Stadium sidelines.

“I woke up this morning and had about a 3-second flash of excitement in my gut,” Wulff said this week. “We are finally here.”

The Cougars feature the Pacific-10’s leading receiver from last season, Brandon Gibson, and also return their top rusher from last year in Dwight Tardy.

But experience could be an issue. They list five freshmen or sophomores as starters on their offensive depth chart, and senior quarterback Gary Rogers, a Kamiak High School grad, will be making the first start of his career, after barely getting on the field his first three seasons.

The offensive line took a hit when fifth-year senior Dan Rowlands, who started all 12 games last season, quit football this week because of chronic shoulder pain. Brian Danaher will make his first collegiate start at right guard.

While today’s game likely will feature plenty of offense, defense is another matter. Both Washington State and Oklahoma State ranked near the bottom of the nation last year in total defense.

“We think our defense is better,” Gundy said. “How much we’ll find out.”

Washington State will count on veteran linebackers Kendrick Dunn, Greg Trent and Cory Evans to slow the Cowboys. But the defensive line suffered this week when senior Andy Roof was kicked out of school for getting in a fight in the spring.

The Cougars will be pressed by Robinson, who threw for 2,824 yards and 23 touchdowns with nine interceptions last year. He completed 60 percent of his passes.

“We are very aware our hands are as full as they can be to handle him and rest of that offense,” Wulff said.

Gundy said his preparations have been unusual because the hiring of Wulff and his new offensive scheme made looking at last year’s films less important. And Rogers has played so little that there isn’t much of a record to study.

“We haven’t done as much prep work on them as we would normally do because of the staff change,” Gundy said.

Gundy made national news last year after a 49-45 win against Texas Tech, when he used his entire postgame news conference to address an Oklahoma City newspaper columnist who was critical of benched quarterback Bobby Reid. The rant, punctuated by an outburst of “Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40,” made a big splash and is popular on YouTube.

Gundy said Tuesday the outburst was old news.

Wulff said he had never watched the full tirade, although he had seen excerpts. He thinks too much attention was paid to it.

“That happens when you’ve got a lot of things going on as a coach,” Wulff said. “Personally I laugh at that kind of stuff.”

The Cougars are 2-0 against Oklahoma State, beating the Cowboys in 1951 and 1952.