Well, it was fun for a few weeks, but I think it’s safe to say that we’ve re-entered earth’s atmosphere around Cougar Nation? A tough loss today, a game that looked to be in decent shape up 24-14 in the 3rd quarter. But alas, a MAJOR special teams screw-up completely swung momentum as the Cougs roughed up the punter, and the Aztecs never looked back in the 42-24 loss.
Some good from today?
1) Marquess Wilson is going to play on Sundays. I hope he enjoyed the NFL digs at Qualcomm, because it won’t be the last time he sets foot in a professional stadium. Understatement, I know, but wow, what a gifted athlete. Wilson had 236 yards and 2 TD’s today, and once again showed that home-run ability that every team in the country desires. Size, soft hands, and some really good speed to boot, he’s going to be a force for the rest of his days in Pullman and on to the NFL.
2) For 2.5 quarters, the D hung in there. They held a talented QB with decent weapons to just 14 points a few minutes into the 3rd quarter, but then they fell apart after that roughing the punter penalty gave the Aztecs new life (more on that later).
3) Marshall had the gaudy numbers early, at least. He was able to complete some very good things down the field in the first half, and wasn’t afraid to stand tall in there and deliver the ball.
The best thing we’ve seen so far from Lobbestael is his ability to get that ball down the field, and he generally makes some pretty good decisions. But he obviously tailed off late, especially when they fell behind.
4) Rickey Galvin is really fast. 11 carries for 49 yards, and he showed that big-play lightning quick ability. But he also took some serious shots, and you really wonder how they are going to pace him the rest of the year. Before people complain about his lack of touches, it’s important to remember he is just a redshirt frosh listed at 172 lbs, and he is off a broken wrist from last year. It’s not like he’s a 210-lb power back who likes to take it between the tackles. They have to pick and choose their spots of when to use him, otherwise they risk burning him out before we even get to the meat of the schedule.
5) As a whole, the wideouts look REALLY good. No matter what happens the rest of the season, there is one thing we can hang our hat on – we can move the football!
I know it was fun putting up videogame numbers the first couple of weeks against weak defenses, but today showed that we will see the Coug offense do some good things this year. Isiah Barton and Jared Karstetter are the perfect fit with Marquess Wilson. And Barton especially today looked good, 70 yards and a TD among his 6 catches. And combined, the trio of Wilson/Karstetter/Barton had 17 catches for 346 yards and three scores! Not a bad day at the office from a position of strength.
Now, the bad from today:
1) Have to start with the special teams, and the biggest mistake of the game that was the ultimate momentum-changer. After the Cougs forced a second consecutive 3-and-out from San Diego State to start the third quarter, it was looking good. The Cougs were up 10 and it appeared the D had figured out a few things, that maybe they had a handle on the Aztec offense. But then, it happened – a 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty on WSU on the ensuing punt, and the Aztecs keep possession. THREE PLAYS LATER, SD State is in the endzone and it’s a 3-point game! As Wulff said in the post-game, he thought we had the game under control, but that was without a doubt the turning point. They were saying on the radio broadcast that the whole SD State sideline just came to life after that play, and it was never the same game going forward. Like Wulff mentioned on the radio show earlier in the week, hey, football is an emotional game. Things can change in an instant at moments like that, and it’s hard to argue as the Aztecs outscored WSU 28-0 the rest of the way!
2) Marshall was very hot, then very cold. After a blistering first half in which he threw a couple of TD’s, and then a long bubble screen TD to start the third, it was all good in universe. But then things started to come apart, San Diego State started to get after the passer, and Marshall struggled down the stretch. Sacked five times, a couple of big INT’s late, and it just wasn’t to be. Overall he threw for 368 yards and 3 TD’s, but the 2 INT’s and a completion percentage of just 45% made it tough for the offense.
3) The defense just looked WORN OUT late, and for good reason. The Aztecs would finish with a nice balance of 273 yards passing and 226 yards rushing, but the time of possession just killed the Cougs. And where was the pass rush? Zero sacks and a heck of a lot of time for Ryan Lindley to set up shop, and then there was the spectacular Ronnie Hillman who kept moving the chains.
SD State won the “clock war”, with over 36 minutes to just 23 minutes for WSU’s T.O.P. Part of that was the offense struggling in the second half, but by then it seemed the Aztecs were getting 7 yards a play, every play, and just did what they wanted to close out the game. Not having Brandon Rankin healthy definitely hurt the defensive line, a position that was/still is a huge question mark for the defense. But even if he was healthy, you still have to wonder if he would have made the difference with the way things were going. Hillman is really, really good, and had a game-high 179 very effective rushing yards!
4) Turnovers and penalties late, OUCH. The INT’s were bad, but what was up with the illegal chop blocks!? Two of them that completely changed a couple of drives, and forced a couple of 2nd-and-25’s. That’s just bad, and you combine 70 yards of penalties with four turnovers, you aren’t going to beat a lot of teams out there, let alone a mid-level MWC team on the road.
5) The running game was not-so-great. 5 sacks hurt the rushing totals, of course, and there were some flickers of hope out of Galvin’s 49 yards and Carl Winston’s 4.3 yards per carry average. But on the day they finished with just 61 yards rushing, averaging 2.3 yards per carry on the evening. We saw far too many games of less-than-3-yards-per-carry last year, so let’s hope this isn’t a bad sign of what is to come?
So that’s it. We have an extra week to lick our wounds, as Brandon Rankin and Adam Coerper both had ankle injuries today. And an extra week would be good for Andrew Roxas, as well as some others who are hobbled a bit.
All I can say? Disappointing end to a pretty fun/interesting game for the first 3 or so quarters. But here’s hope this thing gets flushed down the toilet and they focus on what lies ahead, not lament on what’s just happened.
All for now. GO COUGS!
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