Pac-10: Another blowout for Washington State

Who’s No. 1 in college football? Trying to figure that out each week, with the game’s goliaths taking turns knocking each other silly and parity creating all sorts of mass confusion and rankings mayhem, is way too much work. Choosing the 119th team, the nation’s most inept, undermanned and unluckiest all rolled into one, requires no argument, no debate at all.

Hands down, it’s Washington State. These Cougars easily could be the worst team in school history, if not in Pac-10 history. Their path to disaster is unrivaled in modern times in this league.

On Saturday afternoon in Corvallis, Ore., they were drubbed 66-13 by Oregon State, serving up 63 or more points for the third time in four conference outings – and they still have five games left to play. They gave up first downs on their first four defensive plays, the first of nine Beavers touchdowns in just two plays. They were outgained 548-145 in total offense yardage. They lost the first-down battle 26-8. They played nearly the entire fourth quarter with a fifth-string quarterback who doesn’t have a scholarship.

Think the stock market is underperforming? The Cougars (1-6, 0-4 Pac-10) can’t stop anybody, let alone run or pass on anyone. Remember, this is the program that brought us quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe, Mark Rypien and Ryan Leaf, all guys who ended up in the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl or as the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick. With 14:13 left to play against the Beavers, Washington State filled that once gilded position with Dan Wagner, a redshirt freshman from Portland who had joined the program as a walk-on player, someone forced to replace another redshirt freshman, Marshall Lobbestael, who suffered a knee injury that could keep him out up to a month.

Lobbestael was starting only because the Cougars lost their top two quarterbacks to spine injuries against another Oregon school, Portland State (a non-FBS team they actually beat last month). Morgan, who fumbled three times, got the relief call because Washington State is doing everything possible to preserve a redshirt season for its fourth-string quarterback, J.T. Levenseller, whose father is a Cougars assistant coach. If that wasn’t bad enough, Morgan was limping noticeably at the end of his stint.

This team lined up against the Beavers without its top two running backs, Dwight Tardy and Chris Ivory, both injured. Starting tight end Devin Frischknecht was carted off the field with an ankle injury against the Beavers. They had to hold a campus tryout last week to find a scout-team quarterback. They might have to hold more of these to fill out the rest of the depleted roster.

Paul Wulff, first-year Washington State coach and former Cougars center for an Aloha Bowl team, no longer wonders what can go wrong. Mishap is at epidemic proportions. His biggest challenge is keeping his players from giving up in the face of this disaster, something he’s seen at times this season.

“That’s part of this program,” he said, referring to a defeatist attitude. “We have to continue to work out of it and clean it up. When you’re down by a lot of points, you just accept that? We’ve done a little bit of that.”

Curiously, some Cougars were greatly offended when Oregon State (3-3, 2-1 Pac-10) pushed across its ninth and final touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, upset that Sean Canfield, a former Beavers starter making his season debut after recovering from shoulder surgery, was allowed to throw the ball into the end zone.

“It really shows Oregon State doesn’t have any class,” Washington State sophomore cornerback Romeo Pellum protested.

These sorry Cougars would be better served stopping a play like that for a change instead of complaining about it.

The 66 points posted by Oregon State were the most it had scored in a Pac-10 game, surpassing its point total in a 55-7 victory over UCLA in 1999.

As for the Cougars quarterback shortage, Wulff expects one of his injured veterans, junior Kevin Lopina, a one-time Kansas State transfer, to return for next week’s game against USC at home. The coach didn’t say how long he could keep Lopina healthy and on the field.

While Washington State leads the league in agony and despair, there is plenty of negative stuff to pass around a seriously snake-bit Pac-10, especially when it comes to marquee players. UCLA’s best offensive threat, junior wide receiver and kick returner Terrence Austin, crumpled to the ground after he took a helmet-to-helmet hit and was taken from Oregon’s Autzen Stadium by ambulance, but his prognosis after several anxious moments was good. The Bruins’ top running back, senior Kahlil Bell, was helped off the field in the second half and didn’t return when he reinjured an ankle. Stanford’s junior quarterback Tavita Pritchard suffered a concussion against Arizona and didn’t play in the second half. Arizona State’s senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter, doubtful all week with an ankle injury, played against USC before limping off the field for good in the third quarter in Los Angeles.

Scoreboard:

Oregon State 66, Washington State 13
Oregon 31, UCLA 24
Stanford 24, Arizona 23
USC 28, Arizona State 0

Team of the Week: Stanford

Following the lead of a third-string quarterback, junior Alex Loukas, the Cardinal (4-3, 3-1 Pac-10) pulled a gritty upset of Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) by pushing across a game-tying touchdown on a one-yard run supplied by tailback Toby Gerhart and the deciding extra-point kick by Aaron Zagory with just 25 seconds remaining. Loukas, third on the depth chart, moved the team 65 yards on the final drive, one that started with 5:42 left to play.

Disappointment of the Week: Arizona State

The Sun Devils have now lost four consecutive games for the first time in five years, and were shut out for the first time in four. Arizona State (2-4, 1-2 Pac-10) had the ball four times in the third quarter, twice taking over on interceptions and couldn’t produce any points, twice having Thomas Weber field goals blocked.

“I don’t know if I’ve been around an offensive performance like that in my career,” Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said. “Give credit to USC. But whenever we get the football like we did in the third quarter, as many times as we did, you’ve got to score points and we didn’t. I wish I knew why.”

Player of the Week: Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon QB

This guy was skirting through big holes and taking on UCLA defenders head on, running like a tailback, not a quarterback. When it was over, the former junior-college transfer had piled up 170 yards rushing on 24 carries, scoring once. Masoli was the first Oregon quarterback to run for 100 or more in a game since Dennis Dixon had 141 in the 2007 opener against Houston. Dixon, coincidentally, was a sideline visitor for this contest, enjoying a break from his new team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“UCLA’s game plan obviously was to have the quarterback carry the ball, and he did a great job of running it,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said of Masoli.

The Ducks (5-2, 3-1 Pac-10) finished with 286 yards rushing, with back-up tailback and fellow junior-college transfer LeGarrette Blount running seven times for 111 yards, 69 coming on a late touchdown run, with Masoli’s success on the ground providing openings.

Freshman of the Week: Chris Harper, Oregon, WR

The true freshman from Wichita, Kan., started the season as an Oregon quarterback, moving as high as back-up, but he switched to wide receiver this past week, hoping to get more involved with the offense. Harper did just that, catching a 24-yard scoring pass against UCLA (2-4, 1-2 Pac-10) from Masoli just seconds before halftime. He finished with two receptions for 25 yards.

Not their best work

They finished four touchdowns ahead of Arizona State, but USC players came away from the game totally dissatisfied with their performance. To hear the Trojans (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10) talk about it, one might have thought they had lost to Oregon State again. Instead, they suffered through a rare off day by junior quarterback Mark Sanchez, who committed four turnovers in four consecutive possessions (three interceptions and a fumble), and were guilty of 10 penalties, countless dropped passes and other untimely flubs, particularly in pass protection.

“We’re satisfied with the win, but we know as a team that we could have played 10 times better, a hundred times better,” said USC senior defensive end Fili Moala.

“We just got sloppy,” Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. “Easily we could have lost on a day like this. “

Who was that guy?

Buried deep on the Oregon State depth chart, former junior-college transfer Damola Adeniji got his chance to show what he could do against Washington State and might have earned some future playing time. He blocked a fourth-quarter punt and recovered it himself in the end zone for a touchdown, and scored midway through the period when he dove and caught a 39-yard scoring pass from Canfield.

Who was that guy, Part II?

Stanford quarterback Alex Loukas, a once highly regarded recruit from Illinois was destined to be a washout, a career back-up, before he took the field in the fourth quarter against Arizona. Cardinal starting quarterback Tavita Prtichard suffered a concussion and couldn’t continue in the second half and Michigan transfer Jason Forcier was ineffective throughout the third quarter, fumbling twice and throwing an interception. Loukas completed the only pass he attempted, but his real value came in his 39 yards rushing on just five carries, with his ability to scramble particularly helpful on the final game-winning drive.

Loukas entered the game having thrown the ball just seven times, completing one for five yards. He was over due to do something productive.

“Alex got in there and called a couple of formations wrong, but he is a gifted athlete and a determined runner,” Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said.

Said Loukas, “I didn’t really think too much, I just reacted.”

Medics go overtime

Play was stopped for nearly 20 minutes in the fourth quarter in Eugene, Ore., when the UCLA-Oregon game dealt with a bizarre series of events. First UCLA’s Terrence Austin was dropped to the ground by a vicious hit from behind by Ducks defensive back T.J. Ward, suffering a neck injury that required his careful deportment from the field and transporting to nearby River Bend Hospital.

Almost simultaneously, a fight broke out in the Autzen Stadium stands, and a man was punched and dropped 10 feet from the stands to the field below, requiring emergency medical personnel to shift their attention to him and next hustle him out of the stadium. The other combatant was taken away in handcuffs.

Austin was released from the hospital and able to accompany his team home to Los Angeles on its charter flight.

Short yardage:

USC’s Moala was responsible for blocking Arizona State’s two third-quarter field-goal attempts, his efforts tying an NCAA record. “We knew they were weak up front and we just took it to our advantage,” he said. … Not that it mattered against Washington State, but Oregon State played without half of its starting secondary, with senior safety Al Afalava (groin) and senior cornerback Brandon Hughes (hamstring) held out of action. The other cornerback, senior Keenan Lewis, sat down in the second half with turf toe. … A rare blissful moment for Washington State came when true freshman linebacker Louis Bland intercepted a Lyle Moevao dump-off pass and returned it 16 yards for a second-quarter touchdown, bringing the Cougars within 21-13 on the scoreboard. … Danny Sullivan had a rough time in relief of Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter, completing just 4 of 17 passes for 28 yards, while throwing a pair of interceptions. … Carpenter completed 11 of 20 passes for 126 yards in his abbreviated stint. … Toby Gerhart turned in his fourth 100-yard rushing game for Stanford, picking up 116 yards on 24 carries against Arizona. … Gerhart’s back-up, Anthony Kimble chipped in 110 yards on 10 carries, breaking a 70-yard run against the Wildcats. … Stanford kept Arizona’s superlative tight end Rob Gronkowski under wraps, limiting him to two catches for 30 yards and no scores. … Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard was having a decent day before suffering his concussion, completing 13 of 17 passes for 113 yards. … USC tailback Joe McKnight rushed for a career-best 143 yards against Arizona State. … Arizona wide receiver Terrell Turner caught 10 passes for 175 yards, while quarterback Willie Tuitama completed 22 of 34 passes for 259 yards. … Arizona defensive back Nate Ness scored on a 75-yard interception return against Stanford. … USC defensive back Kevin Thomas went 46 yards to score on an interception against Arizona State.

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