THE BOX
Total
(Pae-10 rankings)
OREGON 1st
6th
Defense
3rd
10th
OREGON 3rd
2nd
Offense
OREGON 3rd
WSU 9th
Passing
Defense
OREGON 1st
00) - ■ 5th
Rushing
Defense
OREGOM 1st
mi 7th
he wins.
Turnover
Ratio
+9
QUOTABLE
"He's a winner. Even when
aren't pretty, he's a
land he finds a way
"They came and smacked us
in the face. It wasn't X's and
Q's; it wasn't M's or S's; it was
standing up, going toe to toe
and kicking your ass."
»WS0 head coach
Mike Price on the OSU defense
Key Player
Maurice Morris
Oregon's tailback hasn't had a
game over 120 yards since
rushing for 152 against
Washington more than a
month ago. Morris had only
91 yards against Arizona
State last week, and only 85
in a nail-biter at USC.
w. c. , , , . . _ Courtesy Washington State Media Services
Washington State s Jason Gesser leads the Pac-10 s second-best passing offense against the Ducks this week. Gesser ranks 23rd in the nation in total offense.
Gesser and Co. do it through the air
■ Washington State’s high-powered aerial attack will meet the
Pac-10’s toughest passing defense in Saturday’s matchup
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Washington State is, basically, a
one-dimensional football team.
This season, the Cougars have
found out that a team needs more
than one dimension to win games
in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Washington State (3-5, 1-4 Pac
10), to give them credit, could have
a better record. They dropped
overtime thrillers to Arizona and
Arizona State on consecutive
weekends before being blown out
by Oregon State 38-9 last Saturday.
Besides putting up a load of
points on the Cougars Saturday,
the Beavers also shut down Wash
ington State’s high-flying offense
for only the second time this sea
CC It was bad football.
The defense hung in there.
The offense was
miserable.
Mike Price
Washington State
head coach jj
son. Discounting that game and
the Cougars’ 24-10 loss to Stanford
to start the season, the men from
Pullman have scored nearly 34
points a game.
The emergence of Washington
State’s offense has come thanks to
Jason Gesser, the Cougars’ sopho
more quarterback, whose statistics
are almost mind-boggling. The sig
nal caller has a 136.9 pass efficien
cy rating, the best in the Pac-10
and 23rd in the country. He throws
for 241.5 yards per game, the best
in the Pac-10. Gesser averages 248
yards per game of total offense,
slightly lower than Joey Harring
ton’s 249.5, but still 21st in the na
tion.
“He does a great job of scram
bling and buying time,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said
about Gesser. “One of the things
that [Washington State coach]
Mike Price talks about is ‘1-800
DIAL-GESSER.’ He’s probably one
of the quickest kids on the field.”
The Washington State offense
has benefited from Gesser’s out
standing play. The Cougars have
the most touchdown passes in the
conference, and their passing of
fense is second in the Pac-10 to Jeff
Krohn and Arizona State.
On the ground, Washington
State has a dual threat behind
Gesser in tailbacks Deon Burnett
and David Minnieh. But the threat
comes only when the passing
game needs a rest, because Burnett
and Minnieh average only 104
yards per game combined.
the other side of one of the Pac
10’s best offenses is the Pac-lO’s
worst defense. The Cougars have
the league's worst rushing defense
(174 yards/game), give up the most
points (31.1 points/game) and
have the league’s worst total de
fense (404.6 yards/game).
Just looking at the Cougars’
scores, it’s easy to see their short
comings. They lost 38-34 to Idaho.
They dropped a game to Arizona
53-47 in triple overtime. Before the
Oregon State game, the Cougars
had played five games that were
decided by less than seven points,
but Washington State scored at
least 20 points in each.
But last Saturday, the Cougars
had a role reversal with Oregon
State.
“It was bad football,” Price told
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “The
defense hung in there. The offense
was miserable.”
The Beavers shut down Gesser,
who went 11 of 29 for 104 yards
and two interceptions. The
Cougars had only 240 total yards
of offense in that game, 184
through the air. Washington State’s
nine points were the least they
have scored all season.
Spirits are low in Pullman as the
prospects of going to a bowl fade
from view. The Cougars need to
win the rest of their games to be
come bowl-eligible, and the road is
tangled with thorns.
Price told the Seattle Times that
his team needs to look forward,
not backward, calling the Cougars’
final games a “three-game season.”
“To heck with the last game,”
Price said. “I’m not even going to
show it [on videotape] to the play
ers.”
After Oregon, which is undefeat
ed in Pac-10 play this season,
Washington State faces Southern
California — the only team below
V
the Cougars in the conference —
and No. 8 Washington in the Ap
ple Cup.
Washington State’s only Pac-10
win came against California two
months ago. Since that game, the
Cougars have beaten Boise State,
and then lost four straight Pac-10
games.
USC is the only other Pac-10
team with three consecutive con
ference losses this season. Wash
ington State also has the second
most losses overall in the confer
ence; only USC, with five losses,
has more.
The Pac-lO’s best team against
the Pac-lO’s worst defense? You do
the math.
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