Washington State Cougars 1-2 Overall (0-1 Conference)

This Week’s Score: Washington State 30 – Southern Methodist 27 (OT)

Next Week’s Opponent: @USC

Sure the Huskies will get most of the attention in the Evergreen State, but how ‘bout them Cougars?! I will admit that I basically wrote WSU off after what I saw in the first two games of the season (mostly the Hawaii game), and I expected a comfortable SMU victory on Saturday. For about three quarters it looked like I would be right, as the Mustangs were up 24-7 and cruising to an easy victory in Pullman.

But then the Wazzu defense decided to take control of the game.

I cannot say enough about the resiliency of the Cougs D, which picked off four Bo Levi Mitchell passes and returned two of them for game-changing touchdowns (Hoffman-Ellis’s INT TD made it 24-13 late in the 3rd Qtr, and Beck’s INT TD made it 27-20 in the 4th).

SMU put up 504 yards on offense compared to only 276 from WSU, yet somehow Paul Wulff’s team came through. QB Marshall Lobbestael didn’t exactly light the world on fire with his performance (24-52 239 yards 2 TDs, 2 INTs), but he showed tremendous leadership and poise while directing Wazzu on an 80-yard scoring drive to tie the game in the final minute of the 4th quarter. WR Jared Karstetter has really stepped up as the number one target (caught game-tying TD in final minute), which is huge considering the recent retirement of Jeshua Anderson.

Pessimists will suggest that there are still way too many inconsistencies on both sides of the ball for this to be a competitive team every week. But college football is a funny game, and sometimes a comeback performance like Saturday’s can spark a program. Unfortunately for Washington State, an angry USC team is awaiting their arrival in Los Angeles this week so the momentum may not carry over from the SMU game.

The Pac-10 (and Notre Dame) will not make it easy for WSU to claim another victory, but none of that diminishes the comeback against the Mustangs. Even if Nico Grasu’s game winning kick in O.T. turns out to be the crowning achievement for the 2009 Cougars, it was a special moment for a program that needed one.

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