Good morning Coug Nation. Hope this hump-day finds you well. A good radio show from Coach Wulff, with special guest star Jim Sterk who happened by to talk Phase III at the end of the show. We’ll stick to the top ten things to take from the show. Let’s get to it.
1) Right away, Bud asked coach Wulff about going on the road this week. Wulff felt that it was a good time to do it, and it should be a valuable learning experience for all his young players. Wulff said that coming off the SMU game, they had a really great practice today and people are positive that it is moving in the right direction. Wulff said the SMU game gave them some “validation that all the hard work is paying off” and that sort of thing. He said “it wasn’t pretty early, but we hung in there and found a way to win.” The defense “did some really big things, the special teams were pretty good, and the offense got it done in crunch time.” Of course, he also added that “we aren’t where we need to be on offense or defense”, but it was great to find a way to pull out a ballgame and get a win.” On looking at USC right now, Wulff said they are still in the mode of “worrying about us” and “we need to continue to make strides” this week. But he also believes that “we can play better than we did on Saturday, the whole team believes that right now.”
2) Now to the bad bad news today, which involves James Montgomery. Obviously if you are reading this you probably already know the gruesome details, but, James Montgomery is out for the year for sure, and maybe longer than that. The injury happened during the game on Saturday, to his calf (not the same leg where he was fighting off a knee injury). But it didn’t seem major at the time, just some soreness. He was at the hospital at 10 PM Saturday to have his knee looked at, the one that was troubling him. And then his calf started to bother him more and more, so much so that later that night he started experiencing some tingling to go with the pain. He finally want to the ER Sunday at 4 AM, and a couple of hours later, they were in surgery. It was just that fast. There was pressure building in his calf, and there was nowhere for the blood to go, so, according to Wulff, “the pressure just kept building. In some instances with this kind of injury, people have had their leg amputated before, so the doctors think they caught it early enough.” Now the really bad news – when they did the emergency surgery, they had to remove some muscle tissue in his calf. Per Wulff, “right now he’s out for the season obviously, and we don’t know about the future. This is a big question mark for the rest of his career. Right now the focus is on getting him to walk normal first, then go from there.” You could really hear the heaviness in Wulff’s voice, but this is a tough loss for the team. Wulff said “James is a great representative of our school, and we will miss him. We hope he has a great return to football next year, but right now, who knows.”
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3) Changing subjects quickly to the good news, the announcement of Phase III today. Wulff said that it’s his belief that “today’s announcement changes the landscape at WSU. Not just for recruits and what it will mean, but for everyone else. The new phase will bring a different dimension for the student athletes, and we will all benefit from the new facilities.” Wulff also talked of when the big Bohler Gym and weight room renovations happened around 1998, and suddenly WSU could compete with other BCS schools in that regard. Wulff believes those new facilities back then helped bring in some very good recruiting classes, and given the success from 2001-2003 when those ’98 recruits were upperclassmen well, hard to argue against that!
Wulff said that “Phase III will help us upgrade our football team”, not just the facility itself. You could tell he really, truly believes that Phase III is going to be a game-changer, and sure could help his sales pitch to families up and down the west coast.
4) A caller asked about starters on special teams, and is it really worth it? After all, Andy Mattingly’s primary injury that occurred this year happened on a kickoff vs. Hawaii. Wulff plainly said “there just isn’t enough depth right now” and “we still need to build up our depth” before starters don’t have to be on special teams. BUT, and this was interesting, he said that having some starters on special teams isn’t uncommon, and in fact, everyone is doing it to an extent. USC, for example, on their punt team right now, they have three starting linebackers plus their starting tight end on punt team. Wulff said that “we will always probably have a couple of starters on special teams” in the future, but as they build up their depth, you will see fewer and fewer starters on special teams (I know in a previous show, Wulff mentioned this before, and that it’s tempting to play your starters in every possible way, but you really risk burn-out and add to their workload if you do that).
5) Wulff was asked about the UW-USC game, and Wulff immediately said “I’m not surprised by that at all.” He said USC played at a very high level of emotion at Ohio State, and it was evident from the game film they have watched of that game and then the UW game that there was definitely a drop-off emotionally. Plus you factor in a new QB on the road, Taylor Mays out with the injury, 0-fer-10 on third downs, three red-zone turnovers, etc, it just all added up. But he also said UW played hard and with emotion and intensity, and that was a big factor. But the biggest reason? The QB play. He said UW was the one with the fourth-year junior in Jake Locker, and it was USC who had the rookie QB, and it showed in who made the plays and who didn’t. But the bottom line is that Wulff believes “it all went right for UW” as it often has to go in upsets like that.
6) Bud asked about the dynamics of a night game in LA. Wulff said they will “have a lot of time to fill on Saturday” and that “they don’t want the kids laying around watching TV all day”. And they get down there rather early on Friday, too, and they will practice when they get there. They will let the players be with their families Friday night, but then cut that off. They are working on doing something as a team on Saturday to help pass the time, and aside from some regular meetings, they will try and do something non-football related, like watch a movie together or something. But maybe some “team-building type activities” during the day. I guess as a fan you never think about that, other than “oh, yeah, the game isn’t on until 7:15” or whatever. These guys have to try and get through the day, THEN go play an intense game!
7) Wulff was asked about USC’s strong running defense, and if they plan on going to the air more now that the running backs are thin and the o-line is banged up? Wulff said no, and was clear that “we’ve GOT to run the football” and even with the challenges of the injuries, now including Dwight Tardy and his banged-up ankle, we have to “find a way to do it”. They may have to be “creative” in order to do that, but they can’t be the team that throws it 60-70 times in a game and hope to be successful. That’s just not who they are. Wulff said looking back to SMU, they were surprised Marshall threw the ball 52 times, but that because of how they were behind for most of the game, they really had no choice (sounds like a familiar theme for most of the season doesn’t it?).
Bud asked about the game film from SMU, and if he saw what made things click so well in the two-minute offense before the half and then at the end of regulation? Wulff said that Marshall actually played pretty well, even though some of the numbers won’t back that up. There “were times that there was lots of pressure, and he had to hurry his throws, but there were other times where he did a great job, only to have the pass dropped by the receiver.” Wulff said these kinds of things held us back, and that Marshall “didn’t get enough help from his teammates that he needed”. But overall, Wulff was pleased with the passing game, saying “we made some plays in the passing game that we haven’t made all year”, and they see things are getting better. Wulff believes that as the protections up front get better, and the wide receivers get more comfortable catching the ball in game situations, we will see better drives and of course, better results from the offense!
A caller in that same point of reference brought up the “hotness” of the wildcat offense in the NFL right now, and would WSU ever try something like that? Wulff mentioned that they have in fact thought of it, but they don’t believe they could do it right now. It is something they will explore in the future. Wulff brought up Jeffrey Solomon as “a talented kid who can run and also has a really good arm” (remember the throw vs. Stanford in the opener on the WR reverse pass?). But that right now, they “don’t have the horses in the stable” to do something like the wildcat.
8) Bud asked about the big road game atmosphere, and Wulff said playing the Coliseum is certainly a different experience. Wulff also talked about playing some big ones in his playing days, at Michigan and at Tennessee. Wulff told a funny story where at Michigan, it was a pretty close game, and the WSU offense was moving the ball with the one-back offense, something Michigan hadn’t seen before. Wulff said Bo Schembechler was yelling during the whole game “THEY ARE HOLDING EVERY PLAY!” to which Wulff kept yelling back at him “WE ARE NOT HOLDING!”
9) A caller asked about SMU and their completion percentage, and how they allowed so many completions? Wulff said that when you face a defense like that, you can’t be in press man-to-man coverage all game. It’s just too much, and ultimately you will give up the bigger plays. But in their mind, it’s better to play some zone, and “see if the other team can be both accurate and patient in their short throws. Allow them to complete some 3-or-4 yard gains, but then rally to the ball, make the tackle and make them earn it.” While they did give up some big plays to SMU on some of their TD’s through the air, the approach really did work well in the second half, when they gave up the three points. And of course, the interceptions came a lot of times when they were in zone.
10) Finally, the QB question of the day, and when or if we will see Jeff Tuel. Wulff said right now, “we have nine games left. The plan is still to play him, IF it’s right. We want to play him, and once he does get in and play, he will play a lot from that point foward.” But, he said, “if things go well with Marshall, where he’s playing really well, and suddenly we’re left with four or five games left in the year? Then we’ll look at the situation and maybe we’ll decide to not play him this year after all.” I guess that isn’t exactly what the pro-Tuel crowd wants to hear right now, but while they want to play him, well, they don’t sound like they exactly want to force the issue either. If the timing is right, they won’t hesitate to get him in there. But it has to be right.
To wrap it up, Jim Sterk talked for the last 10 minutes about Phase III. Pretty much a rehash of what’s already been said, but Sterk did elaborate on why the timing right now is so perfect for this. Such as the construction costs are down due to the economy, there are a lot of firms out there looking for projects in 2010, therefore the bidding process will hopefully come out on their side, and then there is the “Build America Bonds” initiative for 2010. Basically it allows you to buy down the rate of a construction bond in 2010, so that will help with the payback. But it is only in 2010, as the federal aid will be over after next year. So they are really pushing to get construction started in April of 2010, which would put them in line to open up Phase III in 2011. Overall, Sterk estimates that getting this going in 2010 could save between $7 and $8 million in costs, and that’s why it’s so important to the project to ACT NOW! Go to martinstadium.org for more.
So there you go, another radio show in the books. Some sadness to it with James Montgomery out for quite a while, but also some good feelings in regards to the SMU win, the upcoming opportunity vs. SC and of course, Phase III.
All for now. Enjoy your day, and GO COUGS!
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