Since Paul Wulff took over at Washington State in 2008, the college football world had basically forgotten that the Cougars played any longer.
Well, actually for his first three years Wazzu never managed to win more than two games in a season.
This year, the Cougars have actually been playing much better. The big reason was the experience Wulff has developed at almost every position.
But Saturday night, the Cougars were once again reminded how far they still have to go to be a serious player in the Pac-12.
For a half, it looked like Washington State just might have the juice to slow down Heisman candidate Andrew Luck and potentially spoil Stanford’s season.
The game was 10-7 at half and then the clean-shaven Luck and Stanford poured it one for a huge 44-14 win. Washington State pressured Luck and forced some bad passes, but in the end Luck was simply Luck. Now the golden boy has won 26 games as a starter at Stanford.
Coming into the second half, Washington State had all of the momentum. That’s when Stanford turned it over to Luck and he and the offense responded with a four-play scoring drive that extended the Cardinal lead to 17-7. The drive was capped with a 10-yard score to Levine Toilolo.
Luck finished with some big numbers (23-of-36 for 336 yards and four touchdowns) and likely helped his run to the Heisman Trophy. But credit should also go to Stanford’s offensive line. The big boys took over in the second half and just pushed the Wazzu defenders around.
Luck was also helped by a solid running game that was led by Stepfan Taylor, who did rush for 100 yards and scored once.
On the other sideline, Washington State was hoping the return of quarterback Jeff Tuel would give the team a shot of confidence against the seventh-ranked Cardinal.
Well, Tuel was definitely rusty.
Wazzu’s offense added some garbage yards at the end of the game, but Stanford’s defense has been stifling all season. Do the Cardinal have what it takes, though, to shut down Oregon?
Stanford coach David Shaw doesn’t care right now.
All he is worried about is taking on Washington this week. This is easily Stanford’s toughest opponent this year, and the Cardinal can’t overlook the Huskies.
