The song remains the same for the Cougar defense

WSU elected to keep things at the status quo this week after the devastating loss to Portland State. The depth chart was released to the media on Monday and there were no changes from first game against the Vikings. Personally, I find this very surprising, considering what Mike Leach did after last year’s Cal game. He fired special teams coach Eric Russell, which put the staff on notice, setting a precedent that  nobody is safe when the team does not perform as expected.

I really thought that there would be some changes in the front seven. The Vikings ran their "Wildcat" offense with seeming impunity in the second half. They really gashed the Cougar defense right up the middle over and over again. Either the front seven was being physically man-handled or there was a lot of blown assignments. After the game the players seemed to put the blame on missed assignments. However come Monday morning everybody still had they’re starting jobs

You can’t let the coaching staff off the hook on this one either. It was disappointing to see the lack of adjustments made by Alex Grinch and the defensive staff. The Portland State offense seemed to very one-dimensional and they didn’t seem to change schemes to focus on stopping the run. I would think the Cougars would have the flexibility the switch into a bigger front if necessary. Maybe the coaches were ramping up against the run, but if so it definitely did not work. Facing a Rutgers team who rushed for 291 yards last week, the defense better figure out a way to stop the running game quickly.

Do you guys think there should have been any changes in the lineup? How did you feel about the game plan the Cougar defense ran in the second half?

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