Cougar Offense steps up in second spring scrimmage

Good morning. Under another blanket of gray clouds, the Cougar football team held its penultimate scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, and while the offense didn’t do so well near the end, the defense spent much of the day on its heels. New defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys summed up his unit’s effort thusly, to the Spokesman Review:

“I thought we finished pretty good,” defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said. “The problem is, the way we started, we would’ve been down 35-0. And so you’ve got to be ready to go and I’ve got to do a little bit better job at the beginning as a whole.”

A quick look at the stats would seem to justify Claeys’ sentiment. The quintet of WSU quarterbacks completed 45 passes on 71 attempts. Four of those QBs (Connor Neville excepted) threw nine touchdowns. Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon led the way, tossing three scores apiece. Tinsley and Gordon appear to be distancing themselves (my perception only) from the other three, but as we all know, it’s still April.

Three of those nine touchdowns went to Tay Martin, who made the most of his five receptions. Spring star Easop Winston snagged two of the other scores, though in the defense’s defense (that sounds weird) one of the TDs went right through linebacker Mark Meynisse’s hands, deflecting to Winston in the end zone. It was that kind of a day.

The defensive line stepped up the pressure down the stretch, though, as the offensive line had a difficult time keeping Nick Begg out of the backfield. Begg collected four “touch” sacks, leading the way for the defense. The Cougs also intercepted two passes. As you’ll see, both were the result of a couple ghastly passes by John Bledsoe and Connor Neville.

Once again, kicker Jack Crane took multiple field goal attempts. Once again, he nailed all of them. Crane went 3-3 in all, making one kick from 39 yards and two from 42. The Cougars have two practices remaining until they hold their annual spring game in Spokane. Start time at Joe Albi is scheduled for 1 p.m. Currently, the forecast calls for a high of 55 degrees with 15 mph winds and a slight chance of rain. Just don’t rain. Please don’t rain.

Football

Washington State pays for sporadic performance on both sides during second spring scrimmage | The Spokesman-Review
The defense held firmly on the final series; the offense did not. Cooper’s unit was held out of the end zone and Begg kept the pressure on, scoring three “sacks” before Leach finally signaled the scrimmage’s end.

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