Game Day - Washington State

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WSUs new talenthopes to makea dierence I 2

MONTANA STATE AT WASHINGTO N STATE, MARTIN STADIUM 5 P.M.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 11

AT WASHINGTON ST.GAME

DAY

FULL PAPER

INSIDE

INSIDE

ON THE ROAD

ozeman facesGlacier team that

knocked oCMR

last week PAGE B1

COUGS OR CATS?The Chronicles Will

olden handicaps

todays matchup I 6

9 YEARS AFTER Columnist talksto Bobcats about

9/11 experiences 2

Game in Pullma pivotal o

By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

Jason McEndoo is goingweekend and Mike Kramerteam is coming to him.

Both are well-documenttug at the heartstrings.

And both know there isthat could develop if the wState scroll across the botthannels tonight before thengton State.

Its little brother vs. big bne of six Division I colleg

that ran without a point spn the sports betting websi

which claims to offer overng options everyday.

Maybe its because the tywho would scan that manybetter than to wager on this

Since Montana State, anformer Division I-AA proglike it, started sporting theball Championship Subdivi

oniker in the 2006 seasontheyve won 21 games agaithe Football Bowl Subdivisiformerly Division I-A.

MSU has one of those vitories. It came in 2006 agai

olorado, a program thatwill join Washington State ithe Pac-10 Conference nexyear.

That Colorado team,which was coming off a 7-season, arguably had more

romise than this seasonsashington State team,

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ALL B

ABOVE PHOTO/WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

IGHT PHOTO/CHRONICLE STAFF

WSU coach Paul Wulff, above, looksfor just his fourth win with the

Cougars while Rob Ash has experience in defeating an FBS team.


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By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

Before the final gun soundsin Pullman, Wash., today, asmany as 40 first-year playerscould graze the turf at MartinStadium.

The majority of them are ex-pected to be Washington StateCougars.

Of the 60 WSU participantsin a 65-17 loss at OklahomaState last week, 24 were play-ing in their first college game.Montana State had 18 of suchplayers take part in its 59-10win over Fort Lewis last week.

And leading up to todaysgame between the two teams,third-year Cougar head coachPaul Wulff spent a good dealof time explaining how twoof those players are now lostfor the season due to injuries one of them, running backRickey Galvin, after just fourcollege carries and two morewho might be out as well.

(Those guys) would prob-

ably be playing at this point,Wulff said. Were going to waitand see. Hopefully they canrecover from this sooner thanlater and well just kind of gofrom there.

Its all part of the process oftrying to build a winner in thePac-10 Conference. For Wulffand his coaching staff, whichhad only one losing season atEastern Washington in the BigSky Conference after takingover the program in 2000,its been a painstakingly slowprocess.

After inheriting a 5-7 team

in 2008, Wulff and WSU havegone 3-22 since.The national spotlight may

have shined brightest on theCougars in 2008, when theyheld an open tryout on campusto find a backup quarterback.

The toughest local burden tobear might have been the 30-0loss to Washington last season,which helped WSUs most bitterrival step out of the cellar of thePac-10 and left the Cougars in it.

But amidst it all, there arestill several signs of promise.

Thats what recruiting coordina-

tor Rich Rasmussen, who cameover with Wulff from EasternWashington, believes.

Weve started to recruit alittle bit more nationally, Ras-mussen said. We havent beenafraid to recruit some kids outof Texas or Florida or Hawaii.And we think were attracting abetter type of athlete.

For one, guys like JaredKarstetter, one of Wulffsoriginal recruits, havent quiton the program. The junior isa native of Spokane, an hourup the road, and said he wouldlike nothing more than to help

Washington State return toprominence.Thats kind of what were

all trying to do right now, saidthe junior wide receiver, an all-conference selection a seasonago. Were trying to do it forall the Cougs not just in easternWashington but throughout theentire state.

And in Karstetters positiongroup, WSU is starting to seeprogress. One of those first-yearplayers is Marquess Wilson,who nabbed four passes for 108

yards and a score in his first

career game against OklahomaState last week.

That young wide receiver isa great player, Montana Statehead coach Rob Ash said. Hesa guy were definitely going tokeep our eyes on

A look around the WSU ros-ter will produce more of whatWSU believes to be fabulousfreshmen. The group includes12 that were ranked among thetop 100 at their position accord-ing to Rivals.com.

Aside from Galvin, who wasrated the No. 18 running backin the nation, Darren Markle

(center) and Nolan Washington(corner) have emerged as start-ers this season.

Washington is far from thelone Cougar freshman contrib-uting in the secondary. WSUhas four more freshmen whowere top 100 recruits at theirpositions coming out of highschool.

Ash said the speed of theplayers at those skill positions isnoticeable.

I dont think theres anyquestion theyve improved in

that category, Ash said. And

speed is still the name of thegame.

Washington State will likelycome at Montana State in wavestoday. Senior defensive tackleDan Ogden said that has beenthe most difficult aspect tohandle when playing the fourFootball Bowl Subdivision pro-grams the Bobcats have facedduring his tenure.

Ash agreed.Depth is important, Ash

said. Those 22 (extra) scholar-ships make a difference.

And Mike Kramer gave theidea a final stamp. The former

MSU head coach and currentWSU football operations assis-tant said that while the Cougarsare blundering by Pac-10 stan-dards, they may still have moretalent on their kickoff teamthan the Bobcats will on eitheroffense or defense.

In other words, there isa reason why WSU is 41-2all-time against the Big SkyConference.

Will Holden can be reachedat [email protected] 582-2690.

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SIDELINE

BRIEFINGRecords

Montana State 1-0,

Washington State 0-1

Series8th meeting, WSU leads 7-0

eather forecastPartly cloudy, high 65

rowdMore than 30,000 expected

TVFox Sports NW, (Bresnan

Ch. 22; DirecTV Ch. 688; Dish

Network Ch. 447)

RadioKXLB-FM (100.7), Jeff Lasky,

Dan Davies, Tyler Wiltgen

oaches

SchedulesWashington State

17 @ Okla. State 65

9/11 Montana St. 5 p.m.

9/18 @ SMU 1:30 p.m.

9/25 USC 1 p.m.

10/2 @ UCLA 1:30 p.m.

10/9 Oregon TBA

10/16 Arizona TBA

10/23 @ Stanford 1 p.m.

10/30 @ Arizona St. 1 p.m.

11/6 Cal 1 p.m.11/13 @ Oregon St. TBA

12/4 Washington TBA

Montana State59 Fort Lewis 10

Today @ Wash. St. 5 p.m.

9/18 Drake 1:05 p.m.

9/25 E. Wash. 1:05 p.m.

10/2 @ Sac. St. 2:05 p.m.

10/9 Portland St. 1:35 p.m.

10/16 @ N. Arizona 4:05 p.m.

10/23 N. Colo. 1:05 p.m.

10/30 @ Idaho St. 1:35 p.m.

11/6 Weber St. 12:05 p.m.

11/20 @ Montana 12:05 p.m.

Players to watchWASHINGTON STATE:WR

Marquess Wilson. The freshman

had receptions of 46 and 48

yards last week.

MONTANA STATE: WR EverettGilbert was quiet against Fort

Lewis. Can he break out?

Injury reportMONTANA STATE

OUT: DE Brad Smith(shoulder), OL Conrad Burbank.

QUESTIONABLE: DB JamesAndrew (shoulder).

ASHINGTON STATE

OUT: TEAaron Dunn (wrist),DT Jordan Puu Robinson (knee),S LeAndre Daniels (neck), RB

Rickey Galvin (arm), FB Jared

Byers (knee).

ROB

ASH

MSU, 4th year

30th year overall

1-14 at MSU

197-113-5 overall

PAUL

WULFFWSU, 3rd year

11th year overall

3-23 at WSU

56-63 overall

WSUs new talent a lot to handle?

TIM

DUMAS

ChronicleSports Editor

All ages still processing Sept. 11No brain-racking needed. You know exactly

what you were doing and where you were whennews of what? A plane was f lown into the WorldTrade Center? Huh?!

For those who were adults on Sept. 11, 2001,little work was done that Tuesday. The TV was onnon-stop, radio stations stopped playing music andfamilies attempted to contact each other. Even if itwas just to say hello.

As a sports writer in Bennington, Vt., I recallgoing to work at 2 in the afternoon and leaving at5 six hours earlier than usual.

I did write a column that day, but it had nothingto do with sports, which ceased to exist for the restof the week.

Montana State head football coach Rob Ash wasDes Moines, Iowa, preparing his Drake Universityteam for a trip to Charlotte, N.C., to play Davidsonwhen life and al l air travel ground to a halt.

We got nothing done the whole day, Ash saidTuesday. Ill never forget it was such a shockwhen the towers collapsed. It was like the worldsworst reality show.

For current Montana State players, most ofwhom had yet to reach middle school, the conceptof terrorism was tough to grasp. Yet they recall theevents as if they happened yesterday not nineyears ago.

COURTESY OF WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

WSU quarterback Jeff Tuel is just a sophomore, but will have several freshmen in the huddle.

Bobcats not the only

team with abundanceof fabulous freshmen

MoreDUMAS I5


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#81 // tight end

Kyle Begger

2010 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Nick WolcottNick WolcottNick Wolcott

Photo Nick Wolcott


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BIG SKY CONFERENCE

BIG SKY CONFERENCEStandings

Team Conf. AllMSU 0-0 1-0Montana 0-0 1-0

NAU 0-0 1-0

UNC 0-0 1-0

Idaho St. 0-0 1-0

PSU 0-0 0-1

Sac. St. 0-0 0-1

EWU 0-0 0-1

Weber 0-0 0-1

Todays GamesMSU at Wash. St., 5 p.m.N. Colo. at Weber, 6 p.m.

Idaho St. at Utah St., 6 p.m.

Mont. at Cal Poly, 7 p.m.

PSU at UC Davis, 7 p.m.

W. Ore. at Sac., 7 p.m.

NAU at Ariz. St., 8 p.m.

C. Wash. at E. Wash., 7 p.m.

SATURDAY NIGHT

LIGHTS: Montana Statesgame at Washington State,which begins at 5 p.m. MST,is the earliest on the BigSky docket today. All othergames begin at 6 p.m. orlater.

DJ VU FOR JONES: In2009, Taiwan Jones took hisfirst play from scrimmage80 yards for a touchdown ona run. In 2010, Jones firsttouch on a play from scrim-mage resulted an 82-yardtouchdown catch.

Jones, the electrifying run-

ning back, amassed a career-high 322 all-purpose yardsin Eastern Washingtons49-24 loss at Nevada, the18th-most all-purpose yardsamassed by a Big Sky playerin the conferences history.

Jones carried the ball 12times for 145 yards, includ-ing a 74-yard nonscoringrun. He had two catches for92 yards and returned fourkicks for 85 yards.

Thats an average of 17.9yards every time he touchedthe ball.

Jones, whose previous ca-

reer high in all-purpose yardswas 279, has seven plays ofat least 71 yards in his careerand 12 of at least 50.

BEATING UP THERMAC: The Big Sky pickedup four of its five winsduring the first week overopponents from the DivisionII Rocky Mountain AthleticConference.

The Big Sky won thosegames by a combined score233-12.

Northern Colorado earnedits first shutout since the

2002 season with a 54-0 winover Adams State. MontanaState rolled up 30 first downsin a 59-10 win over FortLewis.

Northern Arizona openedon Thursday with a 48-0 vic-tory over Western New Mex-ico. Robin Pflugrad earned a73-2 win over Western Statein his Montana coachingdebut. The 73 points werethe most scored by a BigSky teams since Weber Statescored 73 against PortlandState in 2007, a memorable73-68 victory.

Montanas last 70-pointgame occurred in a 73-23win over Idaho State in 1999.The Big Skys other win overthe weekend came over Mon-tana Western, a 32-3 win byIdaho State.

Weber, UNC play conference openerBy Chronicle Staff

Weber State will host the University of

Northern Colorado to open the Big SkyConference season at 6 p.m. Saturday inOgden, Utah.

The game will be broadcast on Altitude.Weber State quarterback Cameron Hig-

gins needs four passing yards to reach 10,000for his career and 266 to move into 10th onthe Big Skys all-time passing list.

The last time the teams played in Ogden,Higgins completed 27 of 37 passes for 413yards and two touchdown. But he lost threefumbles and threw an interception to keepthe Bears alive in an eventual 17-10 Webervictory.

Last year, in Greeley, Colo., it was truefreshman Bo Bolen who stole the show. Withstarter Trevyn Smith out due to a suspen-sion, Bolen ran for 207 yards and had 295all-purpose yards in a 28-20 victory.

Higgins did throw for 292 yards and threetouchdowns as head coach Ron McBrideimproved to 4-0 against UNC.

The Wildcats (0-1) fell to Boston Collegelast week. Higgins threw for 234 yards.

Northern Colorado defeated Division IIAdams State 54-0 behind 154 rushing yardsand three touchdowns from Andre Har-

ris. UNC sophomore Jace Davis caught twotouchdown passes and finished with 148receiving yards.

The 54 points scored by Northern Colo-rado were the most by the school since join-ing Division I.

MONTANA AT CAL POLY, 7 P.M.This lopsided series will become a confer-ence game someday; Cal Poly on Tuesdaywas added to the Big Sky for football onlyalong with UC Davis.

Montana has won 13 of the 14 meetingsand has never lost to the Mustangs duringthe regular season. Cal Polys only win overthe Grizzlies was in the first round of theplayoffs in 2005.

UM is 4-0 in San Luis Obispo, including a30-28 win to open the 2008 season. The Grizdefeated CP last season in Missoula, 35-23.

Robin Pflugrad won his f irst game as UMshead coach last week, defeating Div. II West-ern State 73-2.

Cal Polys coach, Tim Walsh, once

coached at Portland State in the Big Sky andis in his 20th season as a head coach.Cal Poly is 1-0 after defeating Humboldt,

also from Div. II, 23-17 last week.The Grizzlies are ranked No. 1 in the na-

tion by The Sports Network and have won18 consecutive regular-season games.

Montana set a Big Sky Conference recordand tied an NCAA record with four inter-ception returns for touchdowns in last weekswin.

COURTESY OF WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY

Weber State quarterback Cameron Higgins isclosing in on 10,000 career passing yards.

NO T E S

Freshman running back Codyirk was about to get on the

school bus in Frenchtown; se-nior Dan Ogden was in a socialstudies class in Kalispell; andfreshman quarterback Denarius

cGhee was in class as a sixth-grader in Texas.

McGhees father, MichaelGause, was far from home,however. Gause routinely drovea truck in several parts of thecountry in those days, some-times with a young Denarius byhis side during summers. But on9/11, Gause was driving solo in New York City of all places.

When the whole thing hap-pened, I was pretty worried,cGhee said. I think of that

moment in the classroom witheveryone pretty much panickingabout the situation.

It wasnt until later in theafternoon that McGhee learnedthat his father was unharmed.

He was on a bridge when ithappened; it was pretty rough,McGhee said. I was just happythat he wasnt in the area when ithappened. Im sure he heard it.

Ogden remembers being inclass with a Mr. Martin wheneverything stopped. We just satthere in silence.

In a social studies class,you hear about all these wars,Ogden continued. And thenyou hear of a terrorist attack.Thats one act of violence ratherthan a string of battles. Thecasualties of this one act of vio-lence were ridiculous.

In Bozeman that day, theBobcats were readying to playOregon State, but every gamethat weekend no matter thesport was cancelled. Footballgames are nearly impossible

to schedule, and MSU was inthe same boat as the rest of thecountrys teams: scrambling to

find a replacement game.Everybody had a hole (to

fill), said MSU associate athleticdirector Dan Davies, who is incharge of scheduling. Peoplewere mixing and matching.

Davies says he even spoketo Alabama about setting up agame, but was able to schedulea rare Thursday night gameat Washington State MSUsopponent today in Octoberof 2001. (The Bobcats lost toWSU 53-28 just five days afterdefeating Sacramento State onhomecoming.).

The Cats still have never

played Oregon State.As tragic as 9/11 was, Kirk,the MSU running back, saidsomething Tuesday that jostledmy brain.

He spoke of a positive aspect

that came out of the horrific day.I remember the American

flags that were seemingly every-

where; I remember hearing fromfriends some in tears thatI hadnt spoken to in years; Iremember how people went outof their way to be nice to eachother.

And I remember the firstFriday night high school foot-ball game I covered after theattacks. It was in Hoosick Falls,N.Y., an upstate town just overthe border from Bennington.Players and fans lit candlesduring a moment of silence aslife began to resemble a hint ofnormalcy.

I dont recall any part of the

game, but afterward, when Iclosed in on our downtown Ben-nington office, car horns wereblaring as if a late-night paradehad broken out. People werein the street at 10 p.m. and the

noise was deafening.Before sitting down to my

computer, I parked the car and

hustled down to Main Streetwith camera in tow. I snappeddozens of photos in an effort tocapture the scene, including onethat included a woman holdinga sign made out of what lookedlike a wrinkled flap from a card-board box. Something was writ-ten in black magic marker thatI couldnt make out until afterdownloading the photos: Honkfor the USA is all it said.

The traffic more than obliged.Without Kirks comment, I

may have forgotten the wholescene.

You think about how tragic

that day was, he said, but itwas also a very patriotic day; itbrought our country together.

Tim Dumas can be reached [email protected] and582-2651.

Dumas/from 2

Were trying to elevate ourteams performance, so whowere playing is irrelevant, saidWSU head coach Paul Wulff,who is 3-22 since taking overthe program in 2008. Thanksto Edson R. Weeks, who went0-2 in his brief one-year tenurewith the Cougars back in 1893,Wulff s winning percentage isgraciously the second-lowest inschool history.

While he hasnt gotten themon the same page on the field,Wulff at least has his playerssinging the same tune off it.

Its a real big game for us justbecause its the next game on theschedule, WSU wide receiverJared Karstetter said.

But the Bobcats think theyknow a little better.

Wazzu is pretty down,ontana State senior defensive

tackle Dan Ogden said. If theylose to us, theyre kind of goingto be the fools of (FBS) collegefootball. Theyre going to comewith their best and were goingto give them a fight.

Fellow senior Mike Person,who called himself a snot-nosed freshman on the teamthat toppled the Buffs, said a winover the Cougs would be a greatway to cap his career.

Hopefully Ill be a coachsomeday and I can say I knowwhat it takes to win these biggames because we beat Colo-rado when I was a freshmanand ... we beat Washington Statewhen I was a senior, he said.

While it wasnt a win thathas made his 30-year career,

SU head coach Rob Ash saidhis Drake Bulldogs 23-22 winover South Florida of the FBSin 1997 did wonders for his oldprogram.

We had a fabulous finishscoring on fourth down and

winning the game, Ash said. Iwill never forget that game orthe expressions on the faces ofour players. It was a huge, hugemoment.

McEndoo, Montana Statesoffensive line coach, called thisweekends contest a lose-loseproposition for WashingtonState, his alma mater.

If you blow an FCS team outof the water, the boosters say,Well, you should have killedthem. Theyre an FCS team,McEndoo said. If you barelywin, then you barely beat an FCS

team. If you lose, they say thething the guy two rows behindour bench at Colorado said,What just happened?

McEndoo might be the most

in-tune and honest member ofthe Cougar family this weekwhen talking about what thisgame could mean for both par-ties involved.

After all, not only is he a cur-rent Bobcat, he was a candidatefor WSUs opening at offensiveline coach a year ago.

Some speculated that McEn-doo, a member of Washington

States 1998 Rose Bowl team andthe subject of a compelling nar-rative on hope this week writtenby former teammate Ryan Leaffor CougFan.com, turned down

a position because of the insta-bility of the program.

McEndoo denied those ru-mors, saying he was interestedin the job but that things didntprogress. But he also said hewas considering the fact that if

the program continued to lose,that potential to return to his oldhome could have been short-lived.

Making a decision about ajob doesnt just involve me, itinvolves my wife and my fourkids, McEndoo said. I hadto make the best decision allthe way around and the bestdecision was to stay at MontanaState.

Kramer, who led the Bobcatsto that victory over Colorado inhis last year with the team, didnthave the luxury of such perspec-tive. Out of college football since

MSU fired him as head coach in2007, he accepted a position asfootball operations assistant withWSU this season.

Aside from giving him a wayback into college football thathe has desperately seeking, itwill give him probably the mostunique perspective on this gameof anybody in the stadium.

Im able to see how a Divi-sion I opponent prepares for anFCS opponent and I know howan FCS opponent prepares fora Division I opponent, Kramersaid. One side wants to surviveand one side wants to win. There

are some pretty complex inter-weavings at work here.

Will Holden can be reached [email protected] and582-2690.

CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

Montana State offensive line coach Jason McEndoo returns to his almamater today when the Bobcats play at Martin Stadium in Pullman.

Bets/from 1 Making a decisionabout a job doesnt

just involve me. I hadto make the best

decision all the way

around.

Jason McEndoo


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Montana StateOffenseLEFT TACKLE

72 Mike Person 6-5/295 Sr

70 Killian Fitzpatrick 6-8/270 Fr

LEFT GUARD

57 Casey Dennehy 6-1/270 So

71 Jesse Hoffmann 6-4/286 Sr

CENTER

61 Alex Terrien 6-4/285 Jr

56 Shaun Sampson 6-0/249 So

RIGHT GUARD

62 Ben Tauanuu 6-4/317 So

71 Jesse Hoffmann 6-4/286 Sr

RIGHT TACKLE

50 Leo Davis 6-4/271 Jr

75 Andrew Verlanic 6-4/276 So

QUARTERBACK

9 Denarius McGhee 6-0/197 Fr

12 Cody Kempt 6-2/211 Sr

RUNNING BACK

25 Cody Kirk 5-10/206 Fr

20 C.J. Palmer 6-0/210 Jr

W RECEIVER

14 Everett Gilbert 5-9/180 So

6 Gianni Carter 6-1/197 Fr

X RECEIVER

86 Tanner Bleskin 6-3/210 Fr

1 Elvis Akpla 6-1/187 Jr

Z RECEIVER

82 Julius Lloyd 6-0/184 Sr

10 Kruiz Siewing 5-11/182 So

TIGHT END

81 Kyle Begger 6-2/245 Jr

88 Shane Robison 6-5/250 Jr

KICKER

15 Jason Cunningham 6-1/162 Jr

DefenseBANDIT

48 Dustin OConnell 6-2/245 Sr

34 Preston Gale 6-2/239 Fr

TACKLE

90 Dan Ogden 6-0/270 Sr

96 Zach Minter 6-2/277 So

NOSE TACKLE

45 Jason DAlba 6-2/280 Sr

98 Christian Kelii 6-0/282 So

END

49 Caleb Schreibeis 6-3/245 So

11 John Laidet 6-5/250 Jr

SAM LINEBACKER

44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 Fr

9 Roger Trammell 6-1/230 Jr

MIKE LINEBACKER

42 Clay Bignell 6-2/236 Jr

44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 FrWILL LINEBACKER

23 Jody Owens 6-1/214 So

59 Tanner Ripley 6-1/214 Sr

BOUNDARY CORNER

26 Arnold Briggs 5-10/185 Sr

8 Zach Coleman 5-10/175 So

FREE SAFETY

22 Michael Rider 5-11/196 Sr

5 Joel Fuller 6-0/200 So

ROVER

7 Jordan Craney 6-1/205 Sr

31 Stephen Bethley 5-11/220 Fr

FIELD CORNER

13 Darius Jones 5-10/167 So

6 Heath Howard 5-10/179 So

PUNTER

18 Rory Perez 6-2/180 Fr

Washington St.Defense

END

89 Travis Long 6-4/258 So

59 Sekope Kaufusi 6-3/233 Fr

TACKLE

5 Brandon Rankin 6-5/281 Jr

61 Anthony Laurenzi 6-3/278 So

TACKLE

95 Bernard Wolfgramm 6-3/285 Sr

97 Justin Clayton 6-3/272 Fr

END

93 Kevin Kooyman 6-6/262 Sr

96 Casey Hamlett 6-3/250 Sr

SAM LINEBACKER

13 Myron Beck 6-0/209 Sr

26 Arthur Burns 5-11/206 Fr

MIKE LINEBACKER

44 Mike Ledgerwood 6-1/231 Jr

35 Hallston Higgins 5-11/210 Sr

WILL LINEBACKER

17 Alex Hoffman-Ellis 6-1/241 Jr

54 Darren Markle 6-1/224 Fr

CORNERBACK

29 Nolan Washington 5-11/180 Fr

6 Damante Horton 5-10/160 Fr

STRONG SAFETY

21 Chima Nwachukwu 5-11/200 JRr

10 Deone Bucannon 6-1/186 Fr

FREE SAFETY

33 Tyree Toomer 5-11/194 So

47 Casey Locker 5-11/186 Fr

CORNERBACK

24 Daniel Simmons 5-10/187 So

4 Anthony Carpenter 6-0/190 Fr

PUNTER

8 Reid Forrest 6-1/181 Sr

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

79 David Gonzales 6-6/275 Jr

74 Alex Reitnouer 6-5/270 So

LEFT GUARD

55 Wade Jacobson 6-6/304 Jr73 Andrew Roxas 6-2/303 Jr

CENTER

54 Zack Williams 6-4/298 Sr

57 Chris Prummer 6-2/263 Sr

RIGHT GUARD

72 B.J. Guerra 6-3/315 Jr

60 Elliott Bosch 6-4/258 Fr

RIGHT TACKLE

76 Micah Hannam 6-4/283 Sr

77 John Fullington 6-5/268 Fr

QUARTERBACK

10 Jeff Tuel 6-3/214 So

9 Marshall Lobbestael 6-3/210 Jr

RUNNING BACK

21 James Montgomery 5-10/200 Sr

22 Chantz Staden 5-10/205 Sr

TIGHT END

40 Skylar Stormo 6-5/250 So

87 Andrei Lintz 6-5/247 So

X RECEIVER

2 Daniel Blackledge 6-0/181 Sr

86 Marquess Wilson 6-3/173 Fr

FLANKER

1 Gino Simone 5-11/187 So

81 Isiah Barton 6-1/190 Jr

Z RECEIVER

84 Jared Karstetter 6-4/208 Jr

12 Jeffrey Solomon 6-0/200 Sr

KICKER

18 Nico Grasu 6-1/235 Sr

THE EDGEMSWS

Passing: If Denarius McGhee getsrolling, dont expect him to be takenout for a second straight week. And ifMSUs passing attack is humming like itwas last week against Fort Lewis, dontexpect MSU and offensive coordinatorBrian Wright to dial it back. Last weekwas a chance to evaluate the runninggame. This week is a chance to go for broke andtry and win a big football game.

Can McGhee do that? Its yet to be proven.But if you believe him, it wouldnt matter if hewas playing in the Roman Coliseum in front of50,000 bloodthirsty heathens or in the backyardfor his parents; hes going to treat the gamethe same way. Its time to nd out if all thattalk is true. Washington States defensive lineis banged up and they didnt get a great pushlast week, but theyre still a Pac-10 line playingagainst an MSU line thats missing ConradBurbank, so McGhee is going to have defendersin his face. And Washington States secondaryis one of the better in the Pac-10, period, soMcGhee could get picked. How he responds willbe key.

One player to keep an eye on will be ElvisAkpla. He has the speed to contend with an FBSsecondary. And considering WSU did a nice jobof controlling Oklahoma States wide receiverscreens a big part of Everett Gilberts game Akpla could become even more important.

Rushing: This is a key to the game.If the Bobcats cant run the football, theCougars will sit back and dare MSU tobeat their secondary through the air.Thats a match-up MSU likely wont win.And considering the fact that WSU hasproven it defends the screen well, thatsanother short-gain segment of MSUs

offense that might get taken away.Therefore, the Bobcats are going to have to

run the ball and run it well. And even though MSUdidnt bowl over Fort Lewis like it would have likedon the ground, there is reason to believe thatthis team can have success in this area againstWSU. For while this Pac-10 club will certainly bemore polished against the run than Division IIFort Lewis, they looked sloppy last week in a 65-17 loss to Oklahoma State. Sure OSUs KendallHunter is an outstanding back who made plays,but the Cougars line got beaten up and theirlinebackers struggled with gap assignments andtackling. Youll have difculty defending the run nomatter who youre playing with those problems.

Just as the Bobcats have said they are leeryof the depth on a Pac-10 team, they have to makethe Cougars leery about their depth at runningback because MSU doesnt have an individualback that has proven he can make plays yet. Itsa tall task, and dont be certain MSU stable ofbacks are up for it yet.

Edge: Washington State

WHEN MONTANA STATE HAS THE BALL

EDGE

Passing: Similar to running theball for MSU, passing will be a key forWashington State. Having started thegame against Oklahoma State so poorlyrunning the ball with fumbles andinjuries piling up and considering theyhave a stable of young receivers to test,expect the Cougars to go to the air early

and often. WSU also has a talented,mobile quarterback in sophomore Jeff Tuel,who is in need of repetitions. Tuel started vegames a season ago before suffering a kneeinjury that ended his year. He had some biggames including going 28-of-42 for 354yards and two touchdowns last year againstCalifornia but has yet to play a team from alower division. He could blow up today.

The key for MSU will be getting pressure onTuel. Its something the Bobcats have failedto do in blowout losses to Michigan State andKansas State the past two years but did inwhat became a close 35-23 loss to Minne-sota. If the Bobcats can get Tuel on the run,it will be big for their secondary because whileWSUs young receivers are talented, they arestill young. And one of the toughest things foryoung receivers is developing a rapport withtheir quarterback to know when he is in troubleand when they need to break off their routes.

The Bobcats have some veterans along thedefensive line who can cause some problemsfor a younger WSU offensive line. MSU alsohas veterans in the secondary that may be

able to hang tougher against WSUsyoung receivers than some recognize.But both units of the MSU defensive

will need to step up if the Bobcats are go-ing to have a chance at slowing the WSUoffense.

Rushing: Who will be running the ballfor Washington State today? Its a valid

question, considering none of the Cou-gars backs really produced against OklahomaState and their most promising back, RickeyGalvin, is out for the season. And consider-ing WSU will also be without the guy that wassupposed to help clear holes for those backs,fullback Jared Myers, it may be even tougherfor the Cougars to run the ball.

Expect James Montgomery, a Cal transferwho sat out much of last year with compart-ment syndrome, to get the majority of the car-ries. Highly-touted as a prep star, Montgomeryhas yet to nd his stride at the college level.And running behind a young, banged up Wash-ington State line today will not help.

There is also the fact that MSU returnsone of the best rushing defenses in the FCS,and its only getting healthier with John Laidetbeing worked back into the mix more. Thekey will be MSUs linebackers. If Clay Bignellis healthier and Aleksei Grosulak and RogerTrammell continue their solid play from lastweek, MSU can give the Cougars problems onthe ground.

Edge: Even

WHEN WASHINGTON STATE HAS THE BALL

23

OVERALL Make no mistake, MSU can win this game. But by thesame token, its going to take a better game than somepeople think for MSU to walk into Pullman and steal a win.McGhee will have to play better than most freshmen FCSquarterbacks will ever be asked to play this year, MSUsrunning game has to be much better and its defensewill have to be more than just be sound they have togo out and make plays. And for a team that has plentyof youngsters in tow, thats quite a bit to ask. This one

could go down to the wire, but playing at home in a veryimportant game, Washington State should take it.

WSU has plenty of motivation to winthis game. And after getting spanked bythe Cowboys last week, that re will onlybe fueled. But the Bobcats are plentyred up as well with a new, uptempo offense

getting people out of their seats. The keyin this game will be who gets out early. Asseveral Washington State players said, theirteam is not currently responding well todecits or adversity.

If the Bobcats can grab an early lead,they could very well steal a lot ofmomentum in a stadium that might say,Here we go again.If Washington State jumps out early,

the crowd will be into it and a young Bobcatteam might have difculty responding. If itsclose going into the fourth quarter, this couldbe a very exciting game.

Edge: Even

INTANGIBLES

28Analysis by WILL C. HOLDEN of the Chronicle

Kicking & punting: Specialteams was a boom-or-bust area forWashington State against OklahomaState. One big boom was providedoff the foot of kicker Nico Grasu, who

hit a 56-yarder. Reid Forrest was anall-conference punter last year for WSUwho can boom the ball, too. But MSUhas a couple of ringers of their own inJason Cunningham and Rory Perez. It may beinteresting to see if one duo can outshine theother.

Returns & coverage: Now comes the bustfor the Cougars. Last week, they had a rough-

ing-the-kicker penalty and allowed ablocked punt, two things that led totouchdowns for the Cowboys. The onearea where WSU did have success

was covering punts, nailing returners for

a loss on three different occasions. Butif MSU can fair catch the ball like theydid last week, that shouldnt be much ofa problem. When it comes to the rest of

the Bobcats special teams, dont be sur-prised if they go after a punt or turn to sometrickery like they did against two years agoMinnesota.

Edge: Even

SPECIAL TEAMS

EDGE

EDGE

EDGE

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Game Day - Washington State