SB Nation - Daniel Blackledge

2011 WSU Football Previews: Wide Receivers, You Gotta Love These Guys

Mark Sandritter — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:23:56 -0000

Whenever I draft a fantasy football team, I always get enamored with wide receivers and take about four too many. If Paul Wulff's recent recruiting is any indication, I think he may do the same thing.

WSU has 11 scholarship wide receivers on the roster, nine of which have been added in the last two recruiting cycles. The group doesn't have a lot of experience, only four have played college football, but the potential is certainly there.

In talking to one Cougar fan, he called the current group of wide receivers, "the best in WSU history." Now, that is just crazy talk, but with Jared Karstetter and Marquess Wilson leading the way, this current group has the potential to be one of the best units in the Pac-12.

2010 Depth Chart

X: Daniel Blackledge (SR), Marquess Wilson (FR)

F: Gino Simone (SO), Isiah Barton (RsJR)

Z: Jared Karstetter (JR), Jeffrey Solomon (RsSR)

2011 Depth Chart

X: Marquess Wilson (SO), Bobby Ratliff (RsFR)

F: Isiah Barton (RsSR), Gino Simone (JR)

Z: Jared Karstetter (SR), Kristoff Williams (RsFR)

As a group, the 2010 wide receivers were generally very effective. They were targeted on 324 out of the 384 attempted passes, catching a solid 60 percent of all targets with an also solid 8.2 yards per target average.

Blacklege and Solomon need to be replaced in 2011. Blacklege had an up and down year, struggling with drops (see: endzone vs Arizona) but ending with a career best game in the Apple Cup. Solomon went down with an injury early in the season, but was clearly the Cougars third best receiver prior.

With their departure, WSU will need to replace 84 targets. Wilson and Karsetter were targeted 95 and 94 times so unless Jeff Tuel throws to Wilson and Karstetter 20+ times a game, some of the slack will have to be absorbed elsewhere.

At times during fall camp last season, some coaches thought Kristoff Williams, not Wilson, was the best freshman wide receiver. Bobby Ratliff was ranked higher than both Williams and Wilson by at least one recruiting service. If either Williams or Ratliff can effectively fill the void, this could be the best wide receiver group since Jason Hill, Brandon Gibson and Michael Bumpus were lining up together.

Poll

How will the 2011 wide receivers compare to the 2010 version?

Major Decline

3 votes

Slight Decline

3 votes

Same

4 votes

Slight Upgrade

168 votes

Major Upgrade

109 votes

287 votes | Poll has closed

End Of NFL Lockout Means Undrafted Free Agent Signings On The Horizon

Jeff Nusser — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:27:24 -0000

With the NFL lockout reportedly coming to an end today, all the business that the NFL conducts over a period of months -- signing draft picks, undrafted free agents and actual free agents -- will be squeezed into about a week. How will this impact former Cougars?

The process for offensive lineman Zack Williams, a sixth round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers, will be straightforward. Although an adjustment to the rookie pay scale is part of the new collective bargaining agreement, that's really only going to affect this first round picks. As in the past, Williams' bonus will be modest, and there will be very little negotiating.

The process for UDFAs -- such as punter Reid Forrest and long snapper Zach Enyeart -- is a little more murky. As undrafted free agents, they are free to sign with whoever wants them, starting at 7 a.m. PDT on Tuesday. While the lockout has been in effect, nobody from the NFL has been allowed to negotiate with any prospective players; however, teams were allowed to communicate with agents and players up until the end of the draft, and at least one agent suggests a number of agreements already likely are in place:

The combine is a convention bringing agents and teams together where much more work is done than just on the draft eligible players. Agents feel out teams for interest and players feel out agents for price ranges. It happens every year.

"I’m also going to tell you there were a lot of undrafted players that were committed during the draft for college free agency," the source said. "You had normal business, you could call agents and talk about college free agents right up until the last player of the draft was selected. I guarantee you there was a lot of negotiating going on with a lot of players during the draft, probably from the fourth round on down."

So, there's a chance both Forrest and Enyeart already more or less know where they're heading. Here's to hoping they are locations that actually are going to give them a legitimate chance to compete for jobs.

The unfortunate thing about this is that the short timeline will likely prevent a lot of guys from ever getting in front of coaches for a look. The training camp rosters will be expanded to 90, which is helpful, but usually by now teams have had a parade of undrafted free agents through their training facilities for mini-camps and tryouts. No such process this year, which means WSU's other graduates, such as Daniel Blackledge -- who might have otherwise at least gotten a shot, however long -- are unlikely to even get a look.

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2011 WSU DEPTH CHART: Marquess Wilson And Jared Karstetter Lead Wide Receivers

Jeff Nusser — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:00:34 -0000

This continues our series of semi-informed WSU football depth chart speculation in which we take a stab at what each position will look like when the Cougars kick off against Idaho State on Sept. 3.

You'll note, at times, that it will look a little different than the post-spring practice depth chart -- we're going to incorporate incoming players and also try to guess what's going to play out in August during training camp. Previous: QBs, DBs, RBs, LBs, DL.

With the exception of quarterback, a familiar refrain has run through each of these depth chart posts: Lots of youth, lots of potential ... and lots of question marks. The term "unknown quantity" describes the vast majority of the roster.

But not the wide receivers. We know exactly what we've got. And what we've got is good.

There are exactly three players on the roster that I'd put up there with any player at his position in the conference. Jeff Tuel is one. Marquess Wilson and Jared Karstetter are the others.

Wilson exploded onto the Pac-10 scene last year as a lithe true freshman, receiving over 100 yards in five of his first eight games. He would end up over 1,000 yards for the season, the first Cougar to do that since Brandon Gibson did it as a junior in 2007. Did I mention he was a true freshman? Playing on an offense that was one of the worst in history the year before he arrived?

Karstetter is perhaps the most underappreciated player in the conference. It seems like just yesterday he was a true freshman like Wilson, hauling in a bomb from Kevin Lopina in the 2008 Apple Cup to set up the game-tying field goal. Now he's a senior and he's developed into one of the most physical possession receivers around. He expertly uses his 6-foot-4, 208-pound body to shield defenders, but like so many other big white pass catchers, he's a lot more athletic than most people realize. He's got a burst off the line, and when Tuel throws it up in the end zone, only one guy is coming down with it.

Of course, it's not just those two -- while Daniel Blackledge and Jeffrey Solomon are gone, redshirt freshmen Kristoff Williams and Bobby Ratliff are ready to step in. Gino Simone could be ready to truly contribute if his health problems are behind him, and Isiah Barton returns for his senior season.

It's been a long time since WSU has had a collection of weapons like this. They might not be the Fab Five yet, but they're as close as we've come since then.

X (Split End)	F (Slot)	Z (Flanker)
Marquess Wilson, So.	Isiah Barton, Sr.	Jared Karstetter, Sr.
Bobby Ratliff, Fr.*	Gino Simone, Jr.	Kristoff Williams, Fr.*
Rahmel Dockery, Fr.	Henry Eaddy, Fr.	Isiah Myers, Fr.

Level of certainty: Medium-high. Wilson and Karstetter are obviously locked in, but there could be some movement in the slot, where it would not be hard to see Simone end up in the starting lineup. However, it's largely semantics when we label receivers as "starters" outside of the top two -- Wilson and Karstetter will have the most snaps of anyone in the unit, but the other four of the top six will probably be close together in terms of field time depending on game plans and personnel packages. Barring injury, the top six listed here should be the top six

Risk of volatility: Medium-Low. Nobody's moving past Wilson and Karstetter. But with the injury problems Williams and Simone had last year and Barton's inconsistency, there's opportunity there for others to force themselves onto the radar. One guy not on the depth chart here is Bennett Bontemps, a sophomore walk-on who made a name for himself last year on special teams, but also showed a little at receiver at the end of the year. He'd be one to keep an eye on.

Biggest question: Can Wilson duplicate his superlative performance? Marquess Wilson was amazing last year. But it shouldn't go unnoticed that he only averaged 52.5 yards per game over the final four contests; beyond that, he started dropping passes he was catching earlier in the year. It all pointed to one fairly obvious conclusion: The true freshman -- 6-foot-3 but just 173 pounds -- was getting worn down as teams paid more and more attention to him. Will he be able to overcome that this year?

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WSU Spring Football Game Considered Rousing Success

Jeff Nusser — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:37:05 -0000

WSU wrapped up spring practices with its Crimson and Gray game on Saturday in Spokane, and by any measure used by the team and/or athletic department, the experience was a successful one.

On the field, the Crimson team -- made up entirely of the No. 1 units and some key backups -- demolished the Gray team, 38-3. Logwone Mitz rushed for 106 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown, while Jeff Tuel completed 12-of-17 passes for 128 yards and a TD, a 29-yarder to Andrei Lintz.

Video highlights:

I won't read too much into that -- Are our No. 1s just that good? Do our backups really suck? WHAT DOES IT MEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAN? -- but I will heartily celebrate the fact that WSU escaped spring drills relatively unscathed in the injury department. Only wide receiver Blair Bomber suffered an injury that will need surgery, and that's huge:

A final spring football Sunday post - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - April 17, 2011
Most players will get a full off-season of work in and almost all should be healthy to go once fall camp starts in early August (and no, I don't know the exact date yet, though I have asked). It's hard to emphasis enough how important this is for WSU's improvement. A full group of players working out over the summer should engender large strength gains up and down the roster. And a fall that at least starts with everyone should help produce competition for positions and be a foundation for progress.

Beyond that, more than 4,000 fans turned out to watch the game. Celebrating that will get you laughed at in certain circles, but it represents substantial progress for WSU, which would would play this game in front of just hundreds in years past.

And it could be building a much-needed bond between Pullman and its larger neighbor to the north:

Blanchette: WSU hopes visit is reciprocated - Spokesman.com - April 16, 2011
But you get the feeling that Moos desires some instant, dramatic gains from the Spokane audience ("I think we can draw 4, 5, maybe 6,000 from here"), possibly because he's seen it before. ... Yet surely he knows that he's fighting a different sort of cultural war here; when Wazzu had its greatest stretch of football success a decade ago, the school didn't capitalize on it and attendance ebbed as soon as the victories did.

I don't know how much all of this stuff helped the program in the last seven days, but I know it certainly didn't hurt. And that's a good thing.

Here's the best of the rest of the coverage from Saturday. Video interviews with Paul Wulff, Jeff Tuel and Jared Karstetter after the jump:

WSU enjoys good crowd for scrimmage - Spokesman.com - April 16, 2011
The starters scored the first five times they had the ball, including a 70-yard run by Logwone Mitz, a 29-yard pass from Jeff Tuel to 6-foot-5, 247-pound tight end Andrei Lintz, who made a diving catch in the end zone, and a 32-yard reverse by Henry Eaddy, who was playing high school football in Florida five months ago.

Cougfan.com: Spring finale: Cougs' speed has Wulff raving
THE CRIMSON SCORED on all five possessions in the first half of the game. The no-huddle, hurry-up offense that Wulff and offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy have often struggled to implement since their arrival in Pullman was purring like never before in any practice or game, Wulff said. "We couldn’t click like that if it was versus air the first two years," Wulff cracked.

WSU ends spring with 38-3 Crimson win in scrimmage - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - April 16, 2011
There was a large group of former Cougar players in attendance, part of AD Bill Moos' push to get them involved in the program. Here's a list put together for me by the sports information department: Hamza Abdullah, Husain Abdullah, Erik Coleman, Marcus Trufant, Ryan Leaf, Matt Kegel, Alex Teems, Jack Thompson, Tony Thompson, Jason Gesser, Bobby Byrd, Kyle Basler, Collin Henderson, Daniel Blackledge, Cole Morgan, Grady Emmerson and Billy Newman.

Spring Game Photo Gallery - Spokesman.com - April 16, 2011

2010 Apple Cup: Daniel Blackledge Steals The Show For WSU

Brian Floyd — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 07:27:51 -0000

We all thought the usual suspects would carry the Cougs in the Apple Cup. You know the players; Jeff Tuel, Marquess Wilson, Jared Karstetter, Daniel Blackledge. Wait, Daniel Blackledge?

The senior went out in style tonight, hauling in seven passes for a career-high 132 yards and a touchdown. In his final game in a Cougar uniform, Blackledge did all he could to will this team to victory. It was a performance that Blackledge deserved.

The senior wide receiver has had an up-and-down career at Washington State. His career production is roughly half of what talented freshman Marquess Wilson put up this year. In fact, that 132 yards nearly doubled his yardage this year and was just 88 yards short of what he put up in the entire 2009 campaign.

I've been the biggest critic of Blackledge at times, often maligning his inconsistent hands. One play, he'll look like a sure-handed slot receiver. On the next, he'll drop a pass in maddening fashion. But here he was in the Apple Cup, stealing the show in a talented receiver corps.

On senior day in Pullman, one player was missing an important part of his family. Blackledge lost his mother to a stroke during his sophomore year. In her place, his brothers met him coming out of the tunnel.

You may have noticed Blackledge pointing to the sky after hauling in a touchdown pass in the third quarter. This game, that touchdown, was for his mother, Cynthia.

"That was to my mother. I definitely dedicate it to her. He said. "I had to give her one. She was out there with me."

Blackledge has been in Pullman for the worst of times and endured them all. From the team's struggles on the field to the passing of his mother, he stuck with the team and the program. And today, even though it came in the last game of his career, he gave us a heck of a performance.

2010 Apple Cup: Washington State Fell, But Went Down Swinging

Brian Floyd — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:20:41 -0000

As time was winding down in the first half, the 2010 Apple Cup was starting to feel like the 2009 Apple Cup. Washington was on the verge of running over WSU and running away with the game. In the blink of an eye, the Cougars picked themselves up and started throwing punches.

It started with a freshman -- as it has many times this season -- when Deone Bucannon intercepted Jake Locker in the end zone. Bucannon was beat, dead to rights. And yet there he was again, flying into the picture to snag Locker's pass.

The Cougars took advantage, with Jeff Tuel running the two-minute drill to perfection, driving 80 yards for the score to close the gap to seven. And yet, there we were again after half, with Jermaine Kearse catching a quick slant and racing 66 yards for the score. The WSU offense again swung back, with Daniel Blackledge finding the end zone later in the quarter.

It was a theme in the Apple Cup. Washington would hit a big play, then Washington State would answer. Polk breaks off a 57-yard touchdown, WSU answers with a drive. Polk races down to the one, where Aire Justin never gave up on the play to make the tackle. WSU turns the Huskies over on fourth down. This isn't the Cougar team of year's past. This is a team that fought, scrapped and never rolled-over.

I'm damn proud of each and every player that took the field today, and all year for that matter. They make mistakes, sure, but they've worked their asses off all year. What we saw today was a team that had the right mentality all game long. Be disappointed the Cougs lost, but don't hang your head. I'm incredibly proud of every single player that laid it on the line for 60 minutes and put on one hell of a show.

Seven Washington State Players On Pac-10 All-Academic First Team

Brian Floyd — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:18:46 -0000

The Pac-10 released its all-academic teams and Washington State cleaned up this morning. Seven -- SEVEN!!! -- Cougs landed on the first team, the most of any team in the conference. Overall, 12 players were named to the first team, second team or as an honorable mention.

Take it away, Vince Grippi.

The Pac-10 released its academic all-conference selections and Washington State had seven first-team members, more than any school. They are: Jared Karstetter, Micah Hannam (for the third time), Chris Prummer (second), Kevin Kooyman (second), Casey Hamlett, Kyle McCartney and Chima Nwachukwu (third). Andrei Lintz was on the second team. Daniel Blackledge, Justin Clayton, Darren Markle and Skylar Stormo were honorable mention.

After a win on Saturday and a Pac-10 Player Of The Week award yesterday, it just keeps getting better for the Cougs. Congratulations to Karstetter, Hammam, Prummer, Kooyman, Hamlett, McCartney, Nwachukwu, Lintz, Blackledge, Clayton, Markle and Stormo for the honors. Not only are the Cougs improving on the field, but they're also continuing to improve in the classroom. So congratulations and thank you to the players and coaches for putting in the work on and off the field.

WSU-OSU RECAP: Taking The Bad With The Good

Brian Floyd — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:46:32 -0000

Yesterday was a great, dominating win for a Washington State team that desperately needed it. The win wasn't perfect, however, and many of the same mistakes we've seen over the course of the season continued to rear their ugly heads against the Beavers. Penalties that killed drives for the offense and a handful of mental mistakes have been a recurring theme this season. It's enough to drive a man insane.

Many of us watched the game waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's not just the mentality of being a Coug, but what we've been conditioned to do watching this team all year. Sequences usually involve a big play, followed by a bigger penalty that knocks the Cougs out of field goal range. Again, it happened a handful of times yesterday.

The penalties started from the get-go. On the first play from scrimmage, WSU stopped Jacquizz Rogers after a one-yard gain. C.J. Mizell decided to ride him a good five steps out of bounds on the play, throwing him to the ground and drawing a personal foul. We can debate the merits of his actions -- and we will later -- but it was a penalty that shouldn't have happened.

WSU dodged a bullet and forced a punt. Within field goal range, Isiah Barton gets caught up in a scrum, shoving an Oregon State player late and getting flagged for a personal foul. Two bone-headed penalties in a few short minutes that could've been prevented.

The third quarter saw the same mistakes continue. From the Oregon State 23, a holding penalty on a Skylar Stormo seal block -- and a blatant one at that -- backed WSU up another 10 yards and out of field goal range. Luckily it was all moot, as Jeff Tuel hit Marquess Wilson for 33 yards and a score on the next play.

Next possession, after a beautiful onside kick, Jared Karstetter gets flagged for moving early on the second play, right after James Montgomery broke off a 24 yard run. Two plays later, again in field goal range, John Fullington gets flagged for illegal hands to the face, backing the Cougs up 15 yards. On the next play, Tuel is sacked and fumbles the ball. Oregon State scores for the first time.

On the last possession of the third quarter, another hold on a Stormo seal block. Again, it was deep in Oregon State territory. Again, Jeff Tuel bailed out the offense, leading to a field goal. And, of course, we can add in the Daniel Blackledge drop that would've immediately sealed the game in the fourth quarter, leading to a few more heart stopping minutes.

In all, WSU was flagged nine times for 99 yards. It's becoming a trend for this team. The timing of the penalties, at the most inopportune moments in games, is as big of an issue as the volume. They're killing sustainable drives.

I point these out not to rain on the parade, but because it's an increasingly frustrating problem. Every time something good happens, it's almost like the team gets excited and just lapses mentally. When it continues to happen, perhaps costing the Cougs the game last week against Cal, it's a problem. They simply have to be better in this area going forward.

Edit: Forgot the moment that frustrated me enough that I had to walk away for a minute. Cougs force a fourth and long in the first half, but run into the punter then fumbled the punt, giving the ball back. There's no reason to get after the punter like that when poised to secure great field position. The fumble was a huge missed opportunity on top of that all. It was one play that was wrong in so many ways.

What To Watch For: Oregon State Edition

Brian Floyd — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:42:58 -0000

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=1b7fa069d4" mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=1b7fa069d4" &gt;WSU-Oregon State Live Chat&lt;/a&gt;

Washington State heads to Corvallis for the last of 11 straight games. If nothing else, at least we get a two week break after today's game.

Jacquizz Rodgers. He runs like he's out of a video game. Expect WSU to get a heavy dose of Quizz all day. With the run defense, or lack thereof, the Cougs possess, it could be a long day.
The WSU offense. Daniel Blackledge is back, Gino Simone is out. James Montgomery is back, but I have no idea how the other guys that were banged up last week are doing. Will WSU continue to spread it out and throw the ball around? Will the Cougs revert to a power game? I don't have a clue.
The WSU front seven against the Oregon State running game. The problems of the front seven have been well documented. Anthony Laurenzi gets the start at defensive tackle again and C.J. Mizell looks like he's got his act together and has turned the corner. We're gonna need him against Quizz and OSU.
Does WSU continue running Jeff Tuel. He won't admit it, but Tuel got knocked around quite a bit last week. With two weeks off after today's game, this feels like a go-for-broke type match-up. Just throw everything at OSU and hope some of it works.

Game is at 1 p.m. on FSN. We'll be back at noon with a live chat. We can talk football or, more likely, basketball.

WSU-ARIZONA RECAP: The Offense

Brian Floyd — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:52:38 -0000

Now that the Pac-12 post and other work are out of the way, let's look back at the Arizona-WSU game. We start with the offense, which had an off and on day against the Wildcats.

The biggest point of contention stemmed from the failed double pass that led to a turnover.

First, look the formation. The Cougars were in 11 personnel, with tight end Skylar Stormo on the right side of the formation. It does two things. Putting all three receivers on one side forces a safety to come over in coverage. Leaving the right side open and putting a tight end over there also baits the playside safety and corner into stopping the run. The setup was fine.

Next, look at the routes the receivers ran. WSU sent three into the pattern, with the inside and outside receivers running short routes in an effort to get the secondary to jump the routes. They first sell the fake by starting slowly like it's a run. It worked. The secondary hesitated and Gino Simone -- the middle receiver -- blew by the defense.

The problem stems from the blocking. At the snap, every lineman engages a defender -- except for the left tackle. Instead of stepping-up on the end, Wade Jacobson's first snap was backwards as it would be for a normal pass play. Instead of selling the run and keeping the end from getting upfield, Jacobson dropped to set a pocket like he normally would. The end gets upfield, steps in front of the throw-back and causes the turnover.

It was a mistake by a guy that was forced to slide outside mid-game after David Gonzales broke his arm. Unfortunately it was a crippling mistake.

Between the wrong blocking assignment, James Montgomery failing to look before he threw and nobody jumping on the ball, the play went all sorts of wrong. I don't have a problem with the call -- an obvious effort to get a quick strike. The issue lies in the execution, which was poor in many ways. If Jacobson sells out on the block, Simone is wide-open and that play likely goes for six. It didn't, so many are left second-guessing.

On to the notes.

Jeff Tuel was 18-32 for 257 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Consider, however, that his two interceptions came off tipped balls. On the first offensive series, Daniel Blackledge had a pass hit him in the hands, deflect upwards and go right into the hands of the defender. On a fade route, Tuel threw the ball a bit inside -- not where you want to throw a fade -- but Marquess Wilson got his hands on it, inadvertently tipping the ball up and into the hands of a defender.
Tuel also showed plenty of pocket poise against the Wildcats. When a lineman regularly in the backfield, Tuel spent most of his day stepping-up in the pocket and making a good throw. His footwork and pocket awareness continue to improve. Tuel also showed the ability to escape and take-off when necessary. While it was nice to see him gain yardage on the ground, the coaches really don't want him running with regularity. We're one big hit away from the Marshall Lobbestael experience.
The Arizona front four is incredibly good. The strength and speed of the defensive linemen allowed the Wildcats to rush four and drop seven regularly against WSU. As a result, the Wildcats spent most of the day bracketing Wilson and Jared Karstetter, effectively taking Karstetter out of the game. They essentially dared the slot receivers -- Blackledge, Gino Simone and Isiah Barton -- to beat them. They couldn't.
When Wilson did get single coverage he took advantage of it. One of the few times the offensive line gave Tuel enough time to go deep, Wilson beat single coverage and made a spectacular grab. Tuel threw the ball a good 60 yards in the air, showing off some nice touch and arm strength on the play.
On the first drive, WSU had fourth and one in Arizona territory. They lined up in 30 personnel, with three running backs around Tuel. Out of 30 -- which was installed before the Oregon game -- WSU has run the ball exclusively. On the fourth down play, Tuel faked the handoff, rolled right and fired to James Montgomery, who had leaked out of the backfield. Brilliant playcall.
The run game was non-existent again. Outside of a nice 19-yard run in the first half, Montgomery carried the ball 12 times for five yards. Yeah...
The case of the drops continued again for the WSU receivers. I had five drops marked and I know there were more than that.
Consider that Blackledge dropped a ball in the endzone, leading to a missed field goal. Reid Forrest dropped a punt-snap, leading to a touchdown. Blackledge tipped a ball, leading to an interception in Arizona territory. Wilson tipped a ball in the endzone, with the Cougars in prime scoring position. The double-pass was open but resulted in a turnover, leading to an Arizona field goal. Without these mistakes, this game likely has a very different outcome.
Zack Williams took a five-yard personal foul (WSU was backed up near the endzone at the time) in the second half. At the time, I thought it was a sign of frustration. After seeing the replay and talking to Jacobson, I realized why he'd taken the flag. An Arizona player grabbed Tuel by the facemask while he was on the ground and tried to rip his head off. Williams stood up for his teammate and was flagged as a result. I have no problem with it at all.
The Cougars got the ball back down 17 with 2:59 to go. The first play was a run, followed by four passes, a Jeff Tuel scramble and another quick pass. They weren't necessarily playing with urgency or running a hurry-up offense. Fans booed as a result. Does it even matter? There's no way they were making up 17 points and Arizona was teeing-off on Tuel all game. So I ask you, if WSU runs a hurry-up, pass-happy offense in the last two minutes and Tuel gets injured, what would the reaction be?
The drive ended after Tuel was sacked -- for about the billionth time -- and WSU handed the ball off for one last play. Tuel had already taken a beating and was visibly limping between snaps during the fourth quarter. I don't care about making things look closer on paper; I care about Tuel making it out alive.

So there you have it. The offense sputtered in the first half -- gaining 56 total yards, one of which came on the ground -- but showed signs of life in the second. Against a stout Arizona defense, the Cougars shot themselves in the foot far too many times. The performance was a step back, but mostly due to the mental mistakes.