Grambling is no match for Cougars

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, September 17, 2005

SEATTLE – Talk about grim omens. On his first play from scrimmage, Washington State University quarterback Alex Brink dropped back to pass. Then, unbothered by anyone, he inexplicably fumbled the ball.

A Grambling State player fell on the freebie at the WSU 18-yard line, giving the visiting Tigers a terrific opportunity for some early momentum in Saturday’s game at Qwest Field.

Alas, that was pretty much the high-water mark for Grambling State, which brought a whole lot of tradition and a heck of a halftime show to Seattle, but not a great deal of football prowess, at least compared to the host Cougars.

With Brink shrugging off his early miscue, Washington State scored touchdowns on three of its next four possessions for a 21-0 lead in the early moments of the second quarter. The Cougars seemed to let up somewhat before halftime, but got untracked again in the second half and rolled to a 48-7 victory before an appreciative crowd of 51,486, almost all of them clad in crimson.

The victory gives Washington State a 3-0 record heading into its Pacific-10 Conference opener at Oregon State on Oct. 1. Granted, none of those wins was against a powerhouse – earlier, the Cougars beat Idaho and Nevada – ”but we’re still where we wanted to be,” said Brink, who completed 19 of 29 passing attempts for 262 yards and three touchdowns.

”We’re 3-0 going into the Pac-10 (schedule), and however we got here, we’re here. That’s really all that matters,” he said.

Along with Brink, there were plenty of offensive heroes for the Cougars. Wide receiver Jason Hill was almost unstoppable in the Grambling State secondary, snagging 10 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Two running backs topped 100 yards in rushing, with Jerome Harrison netting 113 and three touchdowns, and DeMaundray Woolridge totaling 105.

Collectively, though, the WSU defense stole the show, particularly the fellows up front. The Cougars gave up 208 yards to Grambling State, but just 11 yards on the ground in 37 attempts. And those 11 yards came with just over one minute to play in the game on a carry by Grambling State’s Shearwin Jessie. To that moment, the Cougars had a chance to hold the visitors to negative rushing yards.

WSU coach Bill Doba was pleased with the outcome, but said he had some pointed words for his players at halftime.

”I’m happy with the win, obviously, but I thought we became a little bit lethargic, especially in the second quarter,” he said. ”I thought we lost our focus, so at halftime we talked to our kids and said, ‘You either get better or you get worse, but you don’t stay the same.’

”In the third quarter we rallied back, we put up a couple of scores (to break the game open), and then it was a great opportunity to play a lot of young kids again.”

Though Grambling State has a proud heritage, established by legendary coach Eddie Robinson – 408 career victories in 57 seasons – the current squad was simply no match for the Cougars. An NCAA Division 1-AA member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Grambling State will go on to face foes like Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Concordia College while WSU is making its way through a rigorous Pac-10 schedule.

”That’s not a Pac-10 team,” Doba said matter-of-factly. ”I’m not putting them down at all. They’ve got some good athletes, but we were better than they were, I thought.”

Grambling State, which had trouble getting out of its own end of the field for much of the game, finally put together a scoring drive late in the third quarter. The touchdown came on fourth-and-goal from the 11-yard line, with quarterback Bruce Eugene tossing a pass to Henry Tolbert in the back right of the end zone. Off-balance, Tolbert tipped the ball as he fell, then caught the carom while dropping onto his back.

”You hate to give up points,” said WSU defensive coordinator Robb Akey, ”but that was a hell of a catch that kid made.”

”We had an opportunity to come in here and play an outstanding football team,” said second-year Grambling State coach Melvin Spears. ”I told (the players) all along that against a team like Washington State we can’t make a lot of mistakes. But certainly the one thing my team did was play hard. They fought hard for the whole 60 minutes and I am real happy about that.”

Ahead for the Cougars is a bye week, followed by the team’s Pac-10 opener at Oregon State on Oct. 1.

”We’ll let our kids focus on academics for three days,” Doba said. ”We’ll get some good work on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then we’ll prepare for Oregon State.”

From here, Akey added, ”it all starts brand new.”