Same old west side story

The Washington State Cougars suffered a crushing defeat after surrendering a late lead to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

For the third time in Head Coach Mike Leach’s tenure, the Cougars open the season with a loss. As many expected, the game was full of explosive offensive plays while exploiting the flaws of each defense.

After surrendering a lead late in the fourth quarter, the Cougars had one last opportunity to summon a game-winning scoring drive. However, they were unable to do so. Cougar redshirt senior quarterback Connor Halliday said in an interview on KXLY the team has to be able to score in those situations.

“Legacies are built when it’s come time, we have the ball with two minutes left, you gotta go down there and score,” Halliday said. “I mean there’s no other option and I just don’t think everyone had that full belief that we were going to go do that and you know that’s frustrating as the offensive leader, you know I gotta get that fixed.”

Leach said in an interview on KXLY the team has to change their mentality.

“We have to move forward from this mentality that going out and playing is good enough, that going out there and being close is good enough,” Leach said. “You know, we have to have that mentality that we’re going to create a legacy around here.”

He said the coaches are responsible for changing that mentality and that expecting to just compete won’t cut it.

Cougar senior wide receiver Vince Mayle reiterated on KXLY that the mentality needs to change.

“Believing I will win, knowing I will win and having the determination to win,” Mayle said. “Once we get that we’ll be all great, get everybody on the same page.”

Halliday and the Cougar offense had an opportunity to put together a game winning drive, but were unsuccessful. Their day concluded on a fourth-and-13 pass to sophomore receiver River Cracraft that was broken up by Rutger’s defense.

Halliday led the way for the Cougars. Halliday started off shakily throwing an interception on his first drive of the game. However, Halliday settled in and found a groove for the rest of the game, finishing with an impressive 532 yards and throwing five touchdowns to just one interception. Halliday also completed 40 of his 56 passes.

Mayle led the Cougar receivers with 12 catches, one touchdown and 124 yards.

James and the Rutgers’ offensive line dominated the Cougars’ front seven exploding for several big plays. James finished with 173 yards and three touchdowns on 29 attempts.

Rutgers senior quarterback Gary Nova threw for 281 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while completing 16 of 27 passes.

The Cougars will look to quickly rebound and regain focus for the matchup next Friday against the Nevada Wolf Pack.

Update: The Daily Evergreen has updated the story to reflect the origin of the quotes from Mike Leach, Connor Halliday, and Vince Mayle.