Cougin’ it Week 3: USC
The USC Trojans came to Pullman in the midst of program-wide turmoil. With less than a week to prepare would they get hammered by the ascending Washington State Cougars?….not exactly.
Well it was fun while it lasted Washington State Cougars fans. After last week’s brief flirtation with competency, most of the Cougars faithful wondered if the victory over Portland State was a harbinger of a good season. We now know the light in the tunnel was a headlight, and the Trojan Train just ran Wazzu over and left them for roadkill. Here are my takeaways from the 41-14 loss.
Takeaway 1 – Slippin away
The Cougars have become experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory under Nick Rolovich. This is the fourth time in eight games they’ve blown a double-digit lead. On two occasions the leads were 38 points. Not super inspiring.
Takeaway 2 – Where’s max?
Either Max Borghi was kidnapped after the first half, or Coach Rolovich forgot he was on the roster. Maybe he couldn’t find his helmet or something. After picking up 52 yards on 7 carries (just under 8 yards a carry) he barely saw the ball again. At Tuesday’s presser perhaps we’ll find out they were trying not to overuse him to keep him fresh for the next game.
Takeaway 3 – Who and why
Rolovich is a HUGE fan of the film Rudy. How else to explain his decision to play walk-on Victor Gabalis over Cammon Cooper after Jayden de Laura’s injury. If Cooper was good enough to start over de Laura to start the season, how did he fall behind Gabalis on the depth chart so quickly? Bonus question, why out de Laura back in the game if he was too injured to continue?
Takeaway 4 – Over his head
Finally, Nick Rolovich is possibly not up this whole Pac-12 head coaching thing. Beyond the lack of adjustments and poor performance, how can you not know your team has been unable to hold leads game after game?
Rolovich’s response when asked about their second-half struggles: “I didn’t know that,” Rolovich said. “I’m not sure how to answer that. We definitely have to pick up our red zone game, our third-down offense. We haven’t been great in backed-up situations. But it’s something we’ll look at and discuss.”
We’ll look at it and discuss? Pretty radical of him, maybe he should give it a few more weeks before addressing the team’s inability to hang onto three and four score leads. With the team’s struggles along with some of the external distractions Rolovich has already found his way onto the hot seat, and my biggest takeaway this week is that the Washington State Cougars have the wrong man leading their program.
What were your takeaways from the game? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.