Cougars scrimmage through the wind and rain

Good morning. Your WSU Cougar football team held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, amid Mom’s Weekend. I don’t know if any students dragged their moms out to watch in the wind and rain, but those who did might have their parental stipends cut off once mom dries out. As could be expected with rough conditions, there were big plays and mistakes on both sides of the ball.

The biggest play came from two guys who have never seen live action on the college level, as Cammon Cooper tossed a shovel pass to Max Borghi, who proceeded to take the ball 51 yards. The quarterbacks combined to throw 64 passes, with Anthony Gordon, Trey Tinsley and Cooper getting the bulk of the throws. The offense scored six touchdowns in all, five through the air (three of which went to Kyle Sweet) and one on the ground. That one rushing touchdown was scored by...Cammon Cooper?

The defense saw its share of impact plays as well, though some of those come with a caveat. Since quarterbacks can’t be hit, simply tapping the passer constitutes a sack. I’ve always wondered why coaches don’t put flags on the players, ala flag football, to make the defenders do something a little more difficult than playing one-hand touch. Anyway, the defense was pretty consistent in its attempts to rush the passer, tallying 10 “sacks.” Dallas Hobbs led the way with two.

When the quarterbacks had sufficient time to throw, the back seven took advantage, intercepting four passes. Connor Neville and Cooper each threw two of those four picks (one Cooper INT bounced off Tay Martin’s chest), with Neville’s coming on just seven attempts. Yikes. In keeping with the Air Raid theme, there weren’t a lot of run plays. Boobie Williams got the most work, carrying the ball five times for 45 yards.

Without seeing the scrimmage, I’d say Sophomore kicker Jack Crane turned in the most impressive performance of the afternoon. Crane tried four field goals in the rainy and gusty conditions, from 34, 44, 44 and 47 yards. He made all four. Hopefully he picks up where Erik Powell left off.

The Cougars will resume spring practice Tuesday afternoon.

Football

Never too early for some good ol’ bowl projections! This would actually be a fun matchup.

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Early picks and guesses for the 2018-2019 College Football Playoff and bowl projections.

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Beer

Best beer I had this week: Saturday was National Beer Day. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a few bottles of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, and tried it for the first time on Friday. It’s as good as the beer nerderati says it is. It’s also extremely boozy, checking in north of 15% ABV.

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Non-Sports

Despite what we often hear, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows up there in the Klondike.

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Our Freedom of Information system is time-consuming and costly. But it’s also critical for holding governments accountable.