Upon Further Review – Video from WSU’s Shocker over the Beavs

Want to relive the end of the suffering?  We’ve got not one, but TWO videos for your viewing pleasure from WSU’s streak-busting victory in Corvallis! 

Why two videos?  WHY NOT!??  Seriously though, we grabbed about 19 minutes worth of highlights and that’s just too much for YouTube to handle.  And of course, we wanted to get as much post-game as we could.  So, we broke it into two parts – part one is 10 minutes, and part two is about 9 minutes long.  Both videos are embedded into the post, so, please, ENJOY after the read more! 

Part one:

Part two:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u4aWUwpPqg&w=425&h=344]

Some quick observations:

1)  Tuel = WOW.  The kid really brought it today, didn’t he?  Not huge numbers in the air, but he was smart and efficient every time he did drop back to pass.  And the read option, fergetaboutit!  He looks like he is flat-out BORN to run that play.  Not that he has blinding speed, ala another #10 playing QB in this state….but Jeff Tuel simply looks not only comfortable doing it, but that he has a special “feel” about it.  For there are a lot of fast cats out there who can run, but can they intelligently run the option?  That’s another story.  Not only did he make the right reads the majority of the time, but it sure set up the TD throw to Marquess Wilson, didn’t it?  And for a guy who was on the same track as Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf throwing the ball at the same age, suddenly I think we might be seeing a transformation of sorts.  If this staff sticks together, we might be looking at a whole new offensive system going forward.  It was, quite simply, THAT good today.  Good enough to seriously consider a scheme change or two along the way, at least as long as Jeff Tuel is your quarterback!  Great job by the coaches for sticking with it, and coming up with an excellent plan to utilitze your strengths on offense.  That’s all we can ask for, right??!?   

2)  The running game, as a whole, was unbelievable.  They haven’t run the ball even close to the success that they had today over the course of the season.  221 yards rushing, when you’ve been averaging 76??  It wasn’t just Tuel breaking away on scrambles either, it was some very good five-and-six yard type gains by Mitz and Montgomery, as well as Chantz Staden late in the game.  What was great was that a lot of that success was on first down, and you had reasonable second-and-third down situations.  In weeks past, we’d just seen too much 3rd-and-9, 3rd-and-10 type situations, but today was a different story. 

3)  The defense brought it.  From the front four getting constant pressure on Ryan Katz, to plugging some holes and holding the dynamic, Barry-Sanders-ish Quizz Rodgers to under 100 yards, they flat-out worked their butts off!  It all starts up front, as we know from watching the Cougs during the best of times, and the success just trickles down to the rest.  You could see the signs were there last week vs. Cal, holding the Bears to 20 points and not getting totally flattened by their running game.  They looked fast, they looked physical, they flew around the ball and you saw a lot of white shirts at the end of every tackle.  Congrats D, that was hands down the best game you have played this year, and probably the best since the ’08 Apple Cup!

4)  Talk about emotional, did you SEE Coach Wulff lose his mind on the non-PI call?? 

That was a poor call, but that was some major frustration there boiling over.  Not because it wasn’t a good call, but because Wulff KNEW they had an incredible chance to win today.  He didn’t want to see any poor officiating take away that opportunity, so when the ref blew it – and he did, if you watch the replay – Wulff went ballistic. 

Finally, I am sure some of you didn’t hear it yourselves, but on the post-game radio broadcast, coach Ball broke down in tears, his voice cracking repeatedly with emotion.  He talked of how important it was for them, for the players, to see that it CAN be done.  That all this hard work and the price they are paying every single day, that it does eventually pay off!  And you even heard old Bob Robertson’s voice crack with emotion after their discussion with coach Ball.  It was a great moment, and I’m glad I heard it. 

As far as what this kind of win does for the future of Coach Wulff and the program as a whole, well, who knows.  One would think that it certainly helps his chances, of course.  But until there is a statement of some kind, we’ll just have to wait and see what Bill Moos and the rest of the administration has to say after the season.  But whatever happens, there is finally, finally, FINALLY tangible evidence that goes beyond words of encouragement or improvement behind closed doors!  We finally got to see it on Saturday.  And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and of course….GO COUGS!