Cougs Focus Turns to Beavs

As much as the disappointment is still in the air in Pullman over Saturday's chance to make a national impact, the Cougs now focus on the Beavers of Oregon State. And, surprisingly, the Beavs might be the PERFECT team for WSU to play this week. For a variety of reasons, but here's just a few:

1) WSU's theme since spring ball last year has been FINISH. As many can recall the disastrous 2005 season, the Cougs blew games in every way imaginable, but the disturbing trend began last year with the nightmare loss in Corvallis. The Cougs had a 30-16 halftime lead, but ultimately melted down in the 2nd half, turning the ball over 5 times on the way to a 44-33 loss. It was their first loss of 2005, exposed some huge flaws in the defense, and they lost two of their best players in that game in Jason Hill and Will Derting! Many argue it was a game they never recovered from and destroyed the confidence they gained by getting off to a 3-0 start.

2) Matt Moore (pictured) continues to struggle, and there are already some QB controversy rumblings with some buzz for talented backup Sean Canfield, the big redshirt frosh QB with all the tools to be a real player and is the QB of the future. While Moore's INT's are down this year, with just 2 after throwing 19 in the 2005 season, the offense has sputtered against BCS competition. They did blow out Eastern WA and Idaho with Moore leading the way, but against their two other opponents this year, Boise State and Cal, the results have been very poor. They were embarrassed 42-14 at Boise State, and 41-13 at home last week vs. Cal where they were down 31-3 at the half. It's very clear they miss Mike Hass from last year's team, who had an amazing 90 catches for 1500+ yards and led the NCAA in yards per game.

3) The Beaver defense has some serious soft spots. Truth be told, these guys aren't exactly Auburn or USC! The stats don't appear that bad at first glance, until you look at a per-game basis and see how there are some disturbing trends. If you look at the 2 BCS opponents the Beavs have faced this year, you start to see the full deal. Boise State's Ian Johnson, not exactly a household name at running back, ran for an amazing 240 yards on just 22 carries with 5 TD's! And sophomore QB Nate Longshore of Cal walked into Corvallis last week and went 22-for-31 with 341 yards and 4 TD's in a game the Beavs were never really in from the opening kickoff. So, in two games against some decent competition, they've failed to stop the run AND failed to stop the pass.