I updated AOL with today’s round of injuries, and boy are they beat up. Donnie Turner and Markus Dawes are both doubtful, so that means Brian Williams will probably start with Ryan Kensok as the backup. Can anyone ever remember this many injuries so early in the season, with 11 games yet to be played?? It’s amazingly bad. And NO bye week. What the heck are these guys going to look like after September is over and they will still have half a season to go? Brink also defended himself over Saturday, and even said this was his first really bad game at WSU….I guess he forgot about USC last year….and USC in 2004 if you want to go back that far. Oh well.
Also, Doba said a lot on the radio show last night, but nothing earth-shattering that you can’t already find in print. However there were some items that caught my attention:
1) Did you know that the Cougs traveled 26 kids for the FIRST TIME for that game? That’s almost half their roster on the travel squad that had never even suited up for a road game. That shows you right there that while they have some good “name” upperclassmen, guys who have played alot already, this team is still full of youth. He said that some of them looked in shock when they took the field and all those fans were screaming at them. He also said “the fans kept giving us the #1 sign with their finger, but they were holding up the WRONG finger!” That drew a laugh or two.
2) He said that there were some major breakdowns, particularly in pass protection. The blitzes were coming from every possible direction, and they had trouble adjusting until the 2nd half. Also, on the 2 sacks on the first 3 plays? They were completely mistakes by one particular lineman who actually ran the WRONG way on the pass protection!
3) He said that they had big breakdowns in defending the pass. Two plays mentioned were a deep slant over the middle where Greg Trent was 1-on-1 with their slot WR and was beat by at least 5 steps. That was a mistake by the defensive coaches and they never want to see Trent in that situation again. The other was a sideline fade where the corner bit on the slot running a slant and tried to help, leaving his side of the field WIDE open. Luckily Cox overthrew the WR who still made a fine diving catch, or else that kid would still be running. There was nobody within 20 yards of him. Finally, the worst of all was the failure against screen plays. The first 3 times they ran screens, they were eaten alive, one of which went for a TD. He said they really missed Ahmu of all people against the screen, as he’s a guy who is really good at recognizing the screen and reacting accordingly. They did finally adjust to the screens though, and the last couple they snuffed out pretty well.
4) The fake punt call was fabulous, it was absolutely perfect given the situation. But it wasn’t actually a “call” by Tuberville. Auburn has it in their punt package for every game, and if the defensive alignment is just right, the up-back has the option of calling for the fake. He said Tuberville cringed a bit when he saw it, because he knew they would fake it based on what the Cougs were doing, but he chose to let it happen because it appeared to be wide open. He also said that the one guy who was in position to make that play was literally TACKLED and Doba was upset at no penalty, because he could have stuffed the play (no mention of the player name).
5) Finally, he really likes Auburn, particularly their running game of course, but their defense. He said to a man, both players and coaches were surprised at their defensive team speed. They are the fastest D this group has ever seen, and he even compared their linebacker closing speed to the ’94 WSU Palouse Posse if you can believe it. But he wasn’t so hot on Cox, saying that they are going to need more from him this year, and he missed on some things that he probably won’t miss later this year. They do have a bunch of new WR’s playing meaningful minutes for the first time, and so that’s part of the reason they threw so many screens. But, he also said hey, it’s early. You never get too high or too low after week 1. And you never, ever that good, and you are never, ever THAT BAD either! And you know what? He’s right.
In closing, I was somewhat surprised at Doba’s mood on the show. While he mentioned that Tuesday’s practice wasn’t good, even saying that they would have had trouble beating Pullman high last night, he wasn’t real surprised given they came off a couple of days off, school is in full swing now, they had a tough loss, a lot of kids are beat up, etc. But much like last year, no matter the situation, Doba keeps things light. It does make you feel better about things when you hear him talk about the team, in that you know he cares, but you also know this isn’t life-and-death either. Anyway, It is just a game last I checked! 🙂
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