Oregon roasted by WSU

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Redshirt junior running back Gerard Wicks runs carrys the ball against Oregon on Saturday.

With a resounding 51-33 win over the Oregon Ducks (2-3) on Saturday night, the Cougars move to (2-2) overall and (1-0) in conference play this season.

That’s impressive considering WSU hasn’t put up 50 points against Oregon since 2003 when the Cougars dominated 55-16.

Almost 33,000 fans packed Martin Stadium just before the sunset painted shades of orange and pink in the sky. Although the weather was rather brisk at the 6:30 p.m. kickoff time, Cougar fans still brought the heat.

From the first drive to the last, fans echoed throughout the stadium, roaring to help the defense break through Oregon’s offensive line. Head Coach Mike Leach and the Cougar players gave the fans something to cheer about as WSU did not trail Oregon at any point in the game.

Frankly, the Ducks are not the same team they were when they played Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game two years ago, but they’re still a test – and the Cougars passed.

In a news conference on Sep. 26, Leach admitted that although WSU got off to a slow start against Eastern Washington and Boise State earlier this season, there has been “a lot of energy in practices” and the team just needs to “transfer it to the game.”

They did just that on Saturday night’s huge win. The team fed off of the atmosphere and completely dismantled the Ducks.

Whether Oregon expected it or not, WSU came out running. Jamal Morrow and James Williams each had 122 and 91 yards rushing respectively. Gerard Wicks carried the ball for 60 yards rushing and even quarterback Luke Falk got in on some of the ground action, helping WSU run all over Oregon with 280 total yards rushing.

Not only did Falk pick up a few rushing yards, he completed 36/48 passing attempts and threw for 371 yards – which is more than what you can hope for from a quarterback. Especially when you dominate your run game.

Yes, the Cougar football team fired on all cylinders. With a reputation for having an air-raid offense, the Cougs proved they can do more than just air it out. Not even a brick wall could get in the way of WSU’s offense Saturday.

“We have plenty of work to do, but I’m proud of our guys,” Leach said in a postgame interview.

Of course, there’s always room to grow, but what we’ve seen in the past few weeks has Cougar fans everywhere feeling optimistic. Leach’s team climbed out of the cellar in the Pac-12 and now finds themselves in second place in the Northern sub-division.

The special teams could be one factor that Leach feels needs work as Charles Nelson from Oregon returned a punt for 58 yards in the first quarter and a 100-yard punt return for a touchdown in the final quarter of the game.

Although the offense punished Oregon in the air and on the ground, the defense needs a little sharpening along with special teams. Two weeks ago we got a glimpse of how reckoning the defense can be when the Cougars played the Idaho Vandals, but the Vandals are not a good football team.

On average, WSU gives up 28 points per game this season, but you cannot take away some of the remarkable plays that the defense made this past weekend. The Cougars had to keep pouring it on as everyone knows the Ducks looked for a chance to get back in the game in the second half. In the first four games, the Cougars scored on average more than 44 points per game.

WSU travels to Stanford University next weekend to take on the Cardinals (3-1) in another conference showdown. While the Cougars have been on the upswing as of late, the Cardinal (ranked 15th in the nation) lost to The University of Washington (ranked 5th) – and it wasn’t even close.

The Huskies (5-0) put up lopsided numbers as they stomped the Cardinals 44-6. Coug fans will soon learn whether UW is really that good or just happened to have a great game.