Washington State Football: 6 takeaways from 41-38 win over Stanford
By Ed Stein
Beating yourself
It’s something that makes every fan and coach pull their hair out, penalties. Washington State had nine calls go against them for 89 yards. Stanford scored 38 total points, 24 points came on drives when the defense committed a penalty. Two players accounted for all of the defensive’s 75 penalty yards.
Cornerback Darrien Molton had two pass interference calls go against him. His opposite corner Marcus Strong had a pair of pass interference pass interference penalties of his own as well as a personal foul. The offense isn’t off the hook on this. In the second quarter, they committed three penalties on one drive. The third of which may have cost them at least a field goal.
No Quit
Sooner or later the Cougars were going to face an evenly matched team in a hostile environment. Saturday WSU went into the locker room trailing 28-17 after a late field goal closed the gap to under two touchdowns. Teams can do one of two things at that point, pack it in or fight back. The Cougs chose the latter.
On the radio broadcast, Jessamyn McIntyre reported Leach told the Cougs at halftime that he wanted to see the team he had on the field at Thursday’s practice. In other words, go out there and do it the way we practiced it during the week. That’s exactly what happened. In his postgame PAC-12 Network interview, Leach said how much better his team executed in the second half.
Minshew also spoke to the PAC-12 network after the game. He said it came down to the Cougars believing they were going to win and that he and his teammates don’t give up on each other.