Washington State Cougars

Desert sandstorm

Posted on 08 November 2009 by Dale Grummert

TUCSON, Ariz. — There was a moment when the Cougars seemingly reached a new level of despair — trailing by 31 points in the second quarter while trainers attended cautiously to the knee of a fallen Jeff Tuel.

The quarterback’s injury, it turned out, was minor. But Washington State’s overall problems are anything but.

Two more safeties sustained injuries, one with another leg fracture, and the Cougars again got overwhelmed in the first quarter Saturday in a 48-7 Pac-10 loss to No. 21 Arizona.

The Wildcats (6-2, 4-1) returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and led 31-0 after 17 minutes while exploiting an advantage in both size and speed. The Cougars (1-8, 0-6) absorbed their sixth straight loss, all but one of them by at least three touchdowns.

“You look out there, and there’s a big difference between our guys … our size on average, and everyone else we face,” WSU coach Paul Wulff said. “Particularly today it was very evident.”

Tuel, the Cougars’ true freshman QB, never returned after dislocating a kneecap while being sacked by Xavier Kelley in the second quarter. He is questionable for the Cougars’ home game Saturday against UCLA.

Backup safety Kyle McCartney became the third WSU defensive back to suffer a leg fracture this season, and new starting safety Jay Matthews went down with a shoulder injury. The Cougars also continued to flounder at left offensive tackle, where Tyson Pencer sustained another ankle sprain.

The Cougars, who have been outscored 145-3 in the first quarter this year, put themselves into an immediate hole when Travis Cobb returned the opening kickoff 95 yards.

“We didn’t squeeze well enough on the backside, and we didn’t get off our blocks,” Wulff said.

The Wildcats’ domination extended to every phase. They produced touchdowns on their first three possessions and outgained the Cougars 471-195 in offense and 246-58 in returns. They rolled up 27 first downs, to eight for WSU, and they neither punted nor committed a turnover. Twice in the second half, they turned the ball over on downs in Cougar territory.

Jared Karstetter provided one of the few Cougar highlights, making a one-handed circus catch of a bomb by Marshall Lobbestael for a 64-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was the third time this season the sophomore receiver has tipped the ball to himself against tight coverages on takeoff routes.

Some of the Cougars’ best moments immediately turned sour. Reid Forrest belted a 61-yard punt in the third quarter, but his coverage couldn’t keep pace and William Wright uncorked an 86-yard return for a TD.

Nick Foles completed 12 of 19 passes for 136 yards for Arizona, hitting Terrell Turner for 28 yards to make it 14-0 barely three minutes into the game. The Wildcats also rushed for 294 yards, including 91 by backup QB Matt Scott and 84 by reserve tailback Nick Booth. The Cats were missing their top two tailbacks to injuries.

Dwight Tardy rushed for 44 yards for WSU, and Lobbestael passed 7-for-11 for 103 yards.

The Cougs were sacked five times, including twice in the first half by Ricky Elmore and once by Brooks Reed, who stripped the ball from Tuel for a turnover that set up a Booth TD to make it 31-0.

Arizona, the only Pac-10 team without a Rose Bowl appearance, moved within a half-game of first-place Oregon, which lost to Stanford on Saturday. The Wildcats still must play Oregon, USC and California.

“Our players definitely know what is at stake right now,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said, “but we can’t get too far ahead. Right now we need to focus on next week’s game, and then it will all fall into place.”