APPLE CUP 2011: Keith Price Leads Washington Over WSU, 38-21
by Craig Powers on Nov 26, 2011 8:11 PM PST
in 2011 WSU Football News
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PrintThe Washington Huskies defeated the Washington State Cougars in the 104th Apple Cup Saturday night. Washington quarterback Keith Price completed 21-29 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Price was given time most of the night to find open receivers, and the WSU secondary could do very little to stop him.
The WSU defense looked to key in on stopping Chris Polk, who ran all over them a year ago. It worked early on, but Polk was able to pick up big gains late and finished with 22 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown. Polk also caught a touchdown.
Senior quarterback Marshall Lobbestael played well in his final game. He completed 29 of 42 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns. He did make one critical mistake when the Cougars were down ten points in the fourth quarter and near midfield. A double pass was called, in which Carl Winston took the hand-off and ran to the right before throwing back to Lobbestael. Marquess Wilson was covered down the field, but Lobbestael decided to throw it anyway. The Huskies intercepted the ball and preceded to drive down for the game's final score.
Early in the game, it looked like UW was going to cruise to an easy blowout win. They jumped on the Cougars early with a blocked punt for a touchdown and a Price touchdown to Kasen Williams. WSU was able to bounce back after a Washington missed field goal and score touchdowns on consecutive drives to Jared Karstetter and Wilson.
UW answered back with a touchdown before the end of the half, and never relinquished the lead.
WSU's Wilson wasn't able to get loose for a long pass play on a vertical route, but was able to pick up big gains in the screen game. His second touchdown came on a well-designed screen with good blocking that allowed him to score from 36 yards out. Wilson finished with 7 catches for a 108 yards and two touchdowns. Karstetter finished off his career with one his typical games: catching 9 balls for 81 yards and a score.
Another special teams touchdown and two turnovers in or near Husky territory proved costly in this one. The Cougars found themselves down almost immediately and they could never fully recover to take the lead. Playing from behind for sixty minutes is a tough thing to do.
Now we wait for Bill Moos's coming decision on Paul Wulff. We'll have more on that as the news comes along. It shouldn't be too long. For now, Cougar fans are left to mull over a third straight loss in the Apple Cup after winning four of the previous five.
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I have to leave it to the AD
I can be on board either way. But at the end of the day my gut says this season just wasn’t good enough. We saw growth in Wulff’s tenure, but also consistent excuses when the growth took a step back or wasn’t fast enough.
I wish he had found a way to make it work. And clearly we have made massive strides in the last 2 years, this year I was interested in most of our football games for the first time in his tenure And that sentence is also the reason it is time to be done with Wulff. For the first time since he was hired there were only a few games I wanted to tune out of within the first half. That is not acceptable at a D1 program, BCS program.
MHO
Maybe the hole he walked into was so deep that this has been reasonable and appropriate progress, and he could have WSU back to blue-moon-Rose-Bowl-contention with a few more years on the job. But I think if you have to take an honest guess at his ceiling, you end up thinking he’s a good D-II/D1AA head coach that doesn’t have what it takes to make this a consistently feisty program. I think four years is enough time to decide to cut bait on Wulff’s tenure.
I wish him all the best, in Pullman or elsewhere. I wish it had gone better.
Yeah, that's just it
He and his staff are possibly capable of being good FCS coaches. But the learning curve may have been too steep.
I have heard, here and elsewhere, the fire the coordinators talk throughout the year. Sturdy has proven he knows what he is doing, Ball maybe not. But the bottom line to me is this.
A head coach is like a CEO. If his company performs poorly he is responsible. If that poor performance is because he hired really bad middle managers when he became CEO, that does not mean he is a good CEO that needs better managers. His job was to surround himself with the best managers possible to accommodate his shortcomings from the beginning. Wulff bet the farm on “his guys” from EWU, instead of going outside and finding some older/experienced FBS guys to work as his right hand man as he learned the ropes. Maybe it doesn’t make a difference long term, and maybe if he could do it again he would do it differently.
But at the end of the day we know what we know, and 9-40 is about as bad as a program can be over a 4 year stretch.
by 02Coug on Nov 26, 2011 8:25 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I say one more
At the end of the day my gut says give Wulff another year. He has proved himself to be a good and quality recruiter, the Cougs are a much better team, and most importantly, we are getting better every year. Certainly it is crushing to see us lose, but we are not witnessing the massacres that used to happen. We are an extremely young team that played well this year. I do not know if anyone really expected more than 4 wins this year. We have skill next year, we have continuity next year, we have experience next year.
It is not that we cannot get a quality coach, but who? Wulff is a Coug who is building a program. Next year is when the time is due. Firing him now would be like taking the cake out of the oven too soon: it looks like the right thing to do, until you cut into it. I do not think taking on a new coach with a new system would be advantageous right now.
I am not happy today, but I have seen things this year that make me excited about next.
The only argument I find at all compelling is that it seems like a billion major programs are looking for new head coaches this season.
Hell, three in the Pac-12 even if Wulff stays. It’s going to be a thin pool.
If Wilson isn't 2012 Preseason All-American ...
Marquess Wilson is clearly the most underrated wide receiver in all of college football when he’s not in line for any awards yet his numbers equal that or come very close to the top wide receivers in the nation.
If he’s not Preseason All-American for the 2012 season, then something’s completely wrong with the system, especially knowing there’s going to be a battle at the QB spot with Tuel and Halliday, he’ll continue to have decent if not good or better QB play.
Do you really want him as a preseason AA
That brings more attention and talk of “why stay for 4 years.”
Underrated gives him more of a reason to stay all 4. At least that’s what I keep telling myself so don’t burst my bubble (by saying scouts watch film and not just award shows. I refuse to believe that with MQW).
His 1800+ yards next year are going to destroy your bubble.
by Mark Sandritter on Nov 26, 2011 8:46 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
NANANANANANA
I can’t hear you from my bubble.
And I rec’d your post, so there.
STOP IT!
Before I start dreaming of MQW as a Seahawk and his talents being wasted with T-Jack and Clipboard Charlie as his QB’s. He needs more weight and experience, he needs 4 years and I’m sticking to it.
MQW is the Klay of our football team, GOAT at his position during a somewhat down period. It is brutal to have them both during such dark times for their respective programs.
In year 4 of PW we won 4 games
PW was 9-40 as a coach. If anyone would like to advocate for a contract extension use these stats as your starting point.
by spencer peaty on Nov 26, 2011 8:50 PM PST via mobile reply actions
The only reason is that you are looking to the future (and believe PW has done a good job of building...
…..a competitive team) and not looking in the rear view mirror.
What has happened, has happened. It’s like a sunk cost. You can’t do anything about it.
The only thing that matters is if you think this staff can get us more wins in the coming years…consistently.
by westsidecougar1 on Nov 26, 2011 9:03 PM PST up reply actions
I'm afraid I don't know what point you are trying to get across
by spencer peaty on Nov 26, 2011 9:19 PM PST up reply actions
My point is that if you believe that the program is headed in the right direction...
…and the future does indeed look “bright” as PW states, then the record up to now is not all that relevant.
I don’t know how Moos will see it, but I’m not so sure it’s a slam dunk decision either way…even with the dismal record under Wulff.
by westsidecougar1 on Nov 26, 2011 9:30 PM PST up reply actions
I felt the program was going in the right direction every year
Hell, if the refs get the call right last week and we have a better game today we’re in a bowl game and not having this conversation.
The bottom line is, this has been one of the worst 4 year stretches in pac 12/10 history. Wulff had his chance, and he failed. He cleaned house, recruited, and played some mediocre football. He was not able (and nor do I ever think he will be able) to get over the hump.
by spencer peaty on Nov 26, 2011 9:40 PM PST up reply actions
I understand those who think he should be fired.
I was attempting to explain that rear-view thinking is not the most relevant.
It’s about what you think Wulff can do in the coming years.
I understand he’s done now at WSU. It’s too bad because I think everyone wanted to see him succeed.
I look forward to our new coach…and a unifying one to get us to the next level.
by westsidecougar1 on Nov 26, 2011 9:44 PM PST up reply actions
I think we all thank Wullf for his effort and for putting this program in a better place than it was 4 years ago
But the bottom line is he did in 4 years what most new coaches do in two years.
by spencer peaty on Nov 26, 2011 9:49 PM PST up reply actions
I seriously doubt that last sentence
Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on Nov 27, 2011 6:27 PM PST up reply actions
I think he is trying to say
That 9-40 doesn’t matter that much. 9-40 has happened, and the question now is not whether 9-40 was worth it but instead will next year be a better record with Wulff or with a replacement.
In other words, I might have bought a crappy car four years ago. That car is nearly paid off at this point, so it is a sunk cost. I own it now. Do I gain more by selling low on my lemon and starting with new car payments or hope that the lemon I purchased 4 years ago turns into a value from years 5-10.
9-40
The only way the “sunk cost” arguement works is if Moos has a crystal ball, so he can see what would happen in the future with Wulff at the helm. I’m guessing Moos doesn’t have one, so 9-40 will be a factor in his decision. One way of gauging how he will perform, is how he’s performed to this point.
I don’t see it. You don’t spend $80 mil on a staduim renovation, adding seats at price levels we’ve never seen, with a coach that’s managed to evacuat Martin Stadium during his tenure, to FEMA-esque proportions.
And this talk that he’s done such a great job recruiting. Really? I guess if you mean out-recruiting New Mexico, San Jose State, Sac St.; then yes, he’s been tremendous.
Go Cougs!
True...but remember that there is no "crystal ball" on any coach that comes in...
…to replace Wulff.
I understand we can’t ignore the past, it’s just more important to go with how you think this staff will do in the future.
I hated the punt at the end of the game tonight. Why would Wulff had done that? It makes no sense at all.
by westsidecougar1 on Nov 26, 2011 9:47 PM PST up reply actions
The Sunk Cost argument isn't entirely pointless
For example, going into this year most of the cougar fans would have said Todd Sturdy had no idea what he was doing. At this point, I actually think he has proven himself a capable Pac 12 OC, and am not against him being the OC at WSU.
But that said, the overall record for the whole staff is so bad it is hard to justify keeping them. Especially with the stadium work and the Pac 12 money/opportunity.
It's kind of nice to feel a sense
that this program is moving in a different directions.
by spencer peaty on Nov 26, 2011 9:52 PM PST up reply actions
say what?!
Don’t get me wrong wildflowers is a great guy and appreciate the hard work and foundation he has layer. But when it comes down to it just being a mediocre 4-6 win team year in year out is not good enough. Moos realizes this he wants to be consistent 10 game winners competing for championships. Not Alamo dust bowl participants. I agree that’s what I want to we need the next coach to take us to the promised land! We deserve it!
by Kimball10 on Nov 26, 2011 10:30 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Consistent ten wins is pie in the sky for any program not named Texas, Ohio State or USC.
I want always feisty and often competitive.
College football is changing
10 wins is still a highwater mark, but feisty and competitive is way too low a standard at this point.
First time ever at a Husky-hosted game.
Few thoughts:
1. That “TOUCHDOWN HUSKIES” followed by the siren at the end of pregame warmups was really stupid. I’ll just leave that there. I hope the WR drops the ball at some point just to see how everyone would react.
2. I’m still angry about that punt. A recurring theme that I’ve seen in the Paul Wulff era if playing for respectibility, not playing to win. However slim the chances are that you pull it off, you have to go for it. What’s the worst that could possibly happen? You lose? I look at that punt and see a coaching staff trying to make the final score look as good as they possibly could in order to save their behinds. That doesn’t sit well with me, and from reading around here, not a whole lot of you either.
3. OK so I know this sounds cruel, but honestly what does the school have to lose by making a coaching change? I wanted Paul to succeed; he’s had a rough go of it in life and you could tell that he loved where he was, but the record speaks for itself. He’s just not getting it done. I really feel bad for the guy too. Honestly, what’s the worst that could possibly happen? We have the money now and there’s a huge pool of coaching talent out there looking for work right now.
"Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can!" | Herb Brooks
Keep Paul
He’s a Coug. He’s improved the team each year. He loves WSU. Otherwise, oh boy: Mike Lynch. Dennis Ericson. Win six, move on. That’s (not so) cool. Most of you are young. You don’t know who Warren Powers is. We have a man here who bleeds crimson and gray. We’re lucky to have him. Compare the Cougs to four years ago. Don’t throw this away.
by VeryOldCougFan on Nov 26, 2011 10:08 PM PST reply actions
It's Leach and Erickson
I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Ugh
Stop comparing the Cougs to four years ago
How low are we setting this bar?
i have to say no way to erickson
by Kimball10 on Nov 26, 2011 10:33 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I meant he's a loser.
But my post reads horribly. Too much cheap beer after a terrible year.
by VeryOldCougFan on Nov 27, 2011 12:17 AM PST up reply actions
I've posted this before
It’s been 20+ years since a coach just bailed on us without being provoked (in football). And the last two in any sport (Price and Tony) have not had things work out great for them.
As a fan base, we need to worry less about being jealous girlfriends afraid of getting dumped and start to realize that we have more than just a great personality, we are attractive and gosh darn it people like us.
by 02Coug on Nov 26, 2011 10:39 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Whoever they hire
has the personnel in place to go bowling. I expect it. Good talent returning and experience at crucial skill slots, especially a very tasty 2 deep at QB. The ratios are finally full- 24 seniors/24juniors/52 sophs—
Tough season… so many might have beens.
If you can't Go Cougs... don't go.
by hollyweirdcoug on Nov 26, 2011 10:38 PM PST reply actions
Just got done bowing down to Washington.
Sometimes I act irrationally.
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