WSU Cougars Try to Notch First Win After Tough Week
By Ben Renner
It has not been easy being a WSU Cougars football fan this week following another loss to a beatable opponent and various players getting into legal trouble. Let’s hope a win at Martin Stadium puts them on target once again.
The WSU Cougars have been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons. Following their loss to Boise State over the weekend, head coach Mike Leach called his players out for having the toughness of a JV softball team. Then more headlines came in. The Pullman Police Department announced that they are recommending a second-degree assault charge for Cougars’ safety Shalom Luani after his role in a brawl outside a local Domino’s on Monday.
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The next day, linebacker Logan Tago was arrested for second-degree robbery and assault and could be kicked off the team by Leach, who reportedly met with WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos to discuss recent legal issues with the team. And today, defensive tackle Robert Barber was expelled from Washington State for his role in a fight at an off-campus party. Admittedly, being a Seattle native and a proud graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, I haven’t spent that much time in Pullman, but there has got to be better things to do in a college town than fight and rob people, right?
Tomorrow, at least, the WSU Cougars have a chance to right the ship against the lowly Idaho Vandals, who were blown out by number-eight-ranked Washington last week. The Cougars, as we all know well, came into the season with high hopes after finishing 9-4 last year. They figured to challenge the other Pac-12 North powers for a shot at the title. Despite their stumbles in their first two weeks, against Eastern Washington at home and Boise State on the road, they still have a chance to do damage to their rivals in the division.
But is has to start tomorrow at home against Paul Petrino and the Vandals. The WSU Cougars don’t only have to win, they have to blow out an inferior squad, if for no other reason than to prove that they are truly superior to any team right now. With all the off-the-field distractions and two flat performances in the first two weeks, they need to win this one by at least four scores to regain that swagger heading into Pac-12 play.
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My prediction: the WSU Cougars get back on track with a win 52-20. Their defense still has issues, but Leach has a way of firing his players up after tough losses, as he has had to do with the Cougs on multiple occasions. I think they wake up and smell that home cooking at Martin Stadium.