SEATTLE – You paid how much to see the Washington State-Colorado football game Saturday afternoon at Qwest Field?
Whatever it was, you got ripped off.
If you stayed home and watched it on TV, you had the option of turning it off.
Good option.
They should have paid fans to sit through this stinker.
The replay – a 20-12 Colorado victory – is on TV this morning. Skip it. Go lie on a bed of nails. It’ll be less painful.
Oh, the final few seconds were pretty exciting, but aside from that. Pew.
How bad was it?
So bad that starting quarterback Josh Swogger didn’t want to talk about it. He skipped the postgame interview session.
What could the poor kid say? He had an awful day. You want numbers? He completed 6 of 27 passes for 77 yards.
Of course, it didn’t help that five of his first nine passes were dropped – by five different receivers.
“I’ll be the first to say we need to concentrate more,” said wide receiver Marty Martin, who, yes, let some throws get through his hands.
Did the drops hurt Swogger’s confidence? “Yes,” coach Bill Doba replied. “They hurt mine, I know that.”
Unofficially, the Cougs muffed 10 passes. “Way too many,” Doba acknowledged.
He could have said the same thing about missed field goal attempts. Loren Langley was wide on two of four. (Another one was botched when the holder bobbled the snap.)
Geez, can’t anyone at our state’s two Pac-10 schools kick the dang ball decently? The Huskies, you may recall, blew a couple last week against Fresno State.
That wasn’t the end of the Cougars’ kicking woes, though. They also had a punt blocked for a touchdown.
Kicking wasn’t all the Cougs struggled with. For the second week in a row, they couldn’t run the stinking ball.
They had 46 yards rushing against New Mexico last week, then came back with a staggering 15 against Colorado. “We worked like crazy (on the running game) last week,” Doba said. “We just didn’t come off the ball. When we did get push, the backs danced around too much.”
The quarterbacks found the dance floor a bit crowded. Swogger and backup Alex Brink got sacked eight times for minus 35 yards.
Wasn’t there anything to give the Cougar faithful some hope? Well yes, there was.
The defense was superb. Buffalo running back Bobby Purify, who ran for 189 yards against Colorado State last week, was held to 53 by the Cougs. And the Buffs mustered only 125 total net yards.
A kid by the tongue-twisting name of Ropati Pitoitua (Roe-potti Pitoe-two-ah) set the tone for the Cougar defense on Colorado’s first possession. A 6-foot-7, 277-pound pure freshman out of Spanaway, Pitoitua on successive plays sacked Buffalo quarterback Joel Klatt and then knocked down one of his passes.
The Coug defenders were active, looked as though they enjoyed hitting people, and did a solid job of tackling.
Now if they can just get the offense in gear. That may take some time.
The first question the coaching staff must address is: Who’s the starting quarterback?
Off of Saturday’s performance, you might assume Brink would be the guy. The redshirt freshman from Eugene, Ore., hit on 12 of 23 passes for 251 yards and one touchdown.
His day wasn’t all cheers and high-fives, though. He had a pass intercepted for a touchdown that put the Buffalo ahead 17-6 with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter.
Did it affect him? Did he drop his chin and slump his shoulders? You kidding?
Three plays later, Brink – who was seeing his first college action – hooked up with wide receiver Jason Hill on a 60-yard touchdown pass. ” (He was) very composed,” Martin said in describing Brink’s overall demeanor.
Obviously, composure is essential to a good quarterback. And Brink proved against a good defense that he can be effective.
He might not have gotten in had Swogger not played so miserably. But when all the Cougs could get with Swogger at the controls was a second quarter field goal, Doba made the switch with 8:01 left in the half (Swogger would come back in before the break and then Brink would return in the third quarter).
Doba thought Swogger appeared confused. “He threw a couple of balls early when he still had time to throw,” the coach said.
We may never know how badly his confidence was shaken by all the dropped passes. But then, Brink also had some throws that were catchable hit the ground.
How steely is this kid? With the clock under a minute, the Cougs were starting to put together a little drive, had made it to the Colorado 35 when Brink got sacked for a nine-yard loss. Two plays later, he found Hill – who made a spectacular leaping catch, batting the ball into his own hands – for a 40-yard gain to the 4-yard line.
The Cougs were a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from a tie and an overtime.
Kids being kids, though, they sometimes make mistakes. And Brink made one. Trying to run the ball in after his receiver was double-teamed, Brink got hit, fumbled and the Buffs recovered.
“I tried to make a play,” he said. “I didn’t cover the ball well.”
He’ll know better next time.
And there will be a next time.
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