For a while it looked as if history would repeat itself for coach Mike Price and his Washington State football team. The Cougars were 6-and-oh at midseason and ranked 13th in the nation when they proceeded to lose three of their next four games. It was 1988 revisited.
That was the year the Cougars, led by Price, their new coach, won six of their first seven games, only to finish the season with four straight losses. Ever since then, Price's job security had been questioned by fans and media, and 3-8 and 4-7 records the next two seasons didn't help matters any.Then came the 1992 season and the Cougars were folding again after teasing their fans with another fast start. They lost to USC, Oregon and Stanford, but hold that pink slip. In the final regular-season game of the year, with a bowl game riding on the outcome, the Cougars defeated national powerhouse/instate rival Washington to land a Copper Bowl berth.
Thus, Washington State, 8-3, will meet Utah, 6-5, Tuesday night in Tucson in what will be only the fifth bowl appearance ever for the Cougars. Now there is talk in Pullman of rewarding Price with a contract extension.
"This is a special bunch of kids," says Price. "They're real team-oriented. They care about each other. It helped us through some tough times. Some teams are close, and some aren't."
WSU, which ranked 21st in the final regular-season poll, will be a favorite in the Dec. 29 Copper Bowl. The Cougars gained national attention with their strong start.
They opened the season with an unimpressive win over Montana and then edged Arizona and Fresno State on the road by a total of five points. After beating two soft opponents, Temple and Oregon State, they beat UCLA at home when the Bruins' lineup was riddled with injuries. The Cougars' slide began with a road loss to USC and a home loss to Oregon. They managed to beat Arizona State by two points, but a week later they were ripped by Stanford 40-3. Then came the season finale: a surprising 42-23 win over Washington, which clinched a bowl berth and a third-place finish in the Pac-10.
Here is a brief scouting report of the Cougars:
OFFENSE
According to some experts, the best quarterback in the country is not Gino Torretta, Marvin Graves, Charlie Ward or any of the other guys who played for glamor teams; It is junior Drew Bledsoe. At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, he has tremendous size, plus strength to match. He can throw the ball 80 yards in the air. He can throw passes with defenders hanging on him.
Mel Kiper, the NFL draft guru, believes Bledsoe will be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft if he decides to bypass his senior season. Bledsoe says he will consider turning pro after the Copper Bowl.
"I'm almost positive he'll turn pro," says Steve Bergum, who covers WSU for The Spokesman-Review. "I'd be shocked if he weren't the No. 1 pick in the draft. No one has even hinted he'd be lower than third."
Still, Bledsoe, the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, was streaky this season. He ranked only 39th nationally in pass efficiency and ninth in total offense, but then again he did play in a league that fielded a half-dozen of the best defenses in the country. Bledsoe, following in the footsteps of other famed WSU quarterbacks (Timm Rosenbach, Mark Rypien, Jack Thompson), competed 55 percent of his passes, for 2,717 yards, 18 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Bledsoe is protected by a line that averages 280 pounds per man, and he throws to a talent group of receivers. Five receivers caught 30 or more passes, led by C.J. Davis, with 55 catches and 890 yards.
The biggest surprise this season was the development of Shaumbe Wright-Fair, a 6-foot, 219-pound running back who rushed for 1,257 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry in a single-back set. He led the Pac-10 in rushing.
"They run the same offense as Wyoming," says Utah defensive coordinator Fred Whittingham. "They use three or four wide receivers and sometimes zero backs, and spread it out. They're like Wyoming, except they've got the best quarterback in the country."
With Wright-Fair's running and Bledsoe's passing, the Cougars led the Pac-10 in total offense and scoring, averaging 406 yards and 28 points per game.
But, as Bledsoe says, "We didn't have to put up a bunch of points to win."
DEFENSE
That's because the Cougars' defense, which starts just two seniors, might be the strength of the team. "Our defense is vastly improved," says Price. "We recruited to that real hard. We recruited speed. We're not a big, strong team. We're a fast team. We make plays. We get sacks and interceptions. We recruit defensive backs and make them linebackers. We recruit linebackers and make them defensive backs. It's the future in college ball. Speed kills."
"They have adequate size, but the thing that's striking is their speed," says Utah offensive coordinator Rick Rasnick. "It will be the best we've faced all year, including Nebraska."
Linebacker Anthony McClanahan, the 6-2, 220-pound son of former Minnesota Vikings running back Brent, rates as one of the country's top linebackers. He collected 128 tackles, including 92 solo and 10 for loss. Linebacker Ron Childs, a 200-pound converted fullback, had 95 tackles, nine for loss. All four secondary players (all sophomores) earned All-Pac 10 honorable mention.
Blessed with speed, the Cougars don't give up the big play. They allowed just five runs longer than 30 yards and only 12 pass completions longer than 30 yards. They ranked 19th nationally in total defense and 22nd in rushing defense.
"Washington set the example in this league," says Bergum. "Put your athletes on defense. If you played one-platoon football, and had the defenses play the offense, the defenses would win."