Don’t count the Cougs out

Washington State’s biggest card going into next week’s game is their defense.

Ranking 10th in the nation in total defense and 13th in scoring defense, the Cougars have been stout all season.

Saturday’s win against Idaho came out big for the WSU defense, ending in the Cougars’ first home shutout in over a decade. The Vandals’ final possession of the game lasted almost eight minutes, but despite having the ball at the two yard line, they were unable to clinch any points against the WSU.

Confidence for the Cougars has strengthened tremendously this season. Head Coach Mike Leach brought a winning mentality when he signed with WSU, and the team’s confidence sky-rocketed after beating the 25th ranked USC earlier this season.

Following the Vandal game, the unique Air Raid offense that Leach brings to the game could prove to be an advantage over Stanford this coming Saturday in Seattle. It is specific to WSU and is designed to be fast-paced.

With an Air Raid offense, comes talented receivers. Gabe Marks, who was a force to be reckoned with in Saturday’s game, highlights the receiving team. Marks scored two touchdowns, with 11 catches and 146 yards, eliciting nominations for Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.

Cougar redshirt junior quarterback Connor Halliday has several layers of inconsistency this season, so it’s hard to predict how he’ll fair against Stanford’s defense. When Halliday’s game is on, his stats are respectable, but if he makes mistakes like throwing interceptions against a high-caliber team like Stanford, this will impact the team’s performance more so than in any game this season.

Acting in WSU’s favor is the fact the team is consistently underestimated. Take the Cougar’s Apple Cup win against University of Washington last season; at half time, UW had a comfortable lead, the stadium was half-empty and the expectation was an unavoidable loss for the Cougars. In the end, WSU came back and took it all.

Utilizing every strength the team has is imperative if the Cougars intend to get a win against Stanford. It’s no secret that the Cardinal has a strong football program, which puts up big numbers in rushing yards as shown in last week’s game against Arizona State.

However, Stanford also shown inconsistency, starting off with a great first half and declining rapidly into the third and fourth quarter. The end of the game showed a chink in the Cardinal armor, but Head Coach David Shaw focused on the final result.

“I could care less about style points. I could care less about what it looks like. We played one great half, a solid third quarter and a bad fourth quarter,” Shaw said in an interview with the media.

WSU’s football program is improving, and their fight against Stanford could turn out to be this team’s defining moment.