The Wednesday Rewind: Cougin’ it in Pullman – How Washington State blew a 17-point lead against Colorado

Sept. 22, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars mascot Butch and Colorado Buffaloes mascot Chip perform during the second half at Martin Stadium. Colorado won 35-34. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-US PRESSWIRE

“Hey! I found out what ‘Coug it’ means today.”

That was the text message I received from a friend who works for Washington State University shortly after the Cougars lost 35-34 to the Colorado Buffaloes last Saturday. It was only the fourth game of the season, but once again the Cougars found a way to lose in embarrassing fashion … in Pullman … on Homecoming weekend.

Earlier that day, I told one of my coworkers, “Man, today is a day I would not want to be a Cougar fan.” Why, you might ask. Well, it’s simple.

Washington State had started the season with a bad loss to BYU on national TV, then they almost lost to FCS Eastern Washington and woeful UNLV in consecutive weeks. Now, they hosted fellow Pac-12 bottom-feeder Colorado for Homecoming. It was one of those ‘you better not lose’ games and if you don’t know, the Cougars don’t really do well in those games.

Colorado entered the game 0-3 with losses to rival Colorado State, FCS Sacramento State, and then a royal beatdown in Fresno, allowing 69 points to Fresno State. The general consensus was that Colorado was so bad they might not win a game all season. The trip to Pullman could not have come at a better time.

The Buffaloes trailed by 17 points with 8:07 remaining in the fourth quarter when Cougar quarterback Connor Halliday threw his second interception of the game. Down 31-14, Colorado would need a little luck and a lot of good fortune in order to pull out this victory. They would need the Cougars to Coug it.

From UrbanDictionary.com

"Coug itRefers to the Washington State University (Cougars) football team:1. To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory2. To lose when there is no possible way to do so, and to do it in a particularly spectacular mannerIt looked like WSU was going to win the game, but they decided to coug it."

Before we get discuss last Saturday’s episode of Cougin’ it in Pullman, it’s important we look back at the premier of this semi-regular show of embarrassment.

Cougin’ it in Pullman reached its zenith (or nadir if you’re a Cougar fan) during the early 2000’s. These episodes took place smack in the middle of the most successful run in Cougar football history – the Mike Price Era.2000During a four-week stretch, the Cougars managed to lose three games in overtime. It wasn’t that much of a shock, considering they were one of the Pac-10’s worst teams at the time. But if they could have one two of those three games they would’ve been bowl eligible at 6-5.2001In the preseason Pac-10 coaches poll, the Cougars were picked to finish last in the conference. And yet, going into the Apple Cup, they were 9-1 and ranked No. 9. If they can just beat No. 16 Washington they can make it to a BCS Bowl game. Of course they lost 26-14.2002If you didn’t think the 2001 Cougars could ascend as high as No. 9 in the polls, then you certainly didn’t expect the 2002 team to make it up to No. 3 in the AP Poll – almost on the verge of a national championship berth. The only team standing in their way was the damn Huskies. “It’s okay,” Cougar fans thought, “the game is in late November and we have them at home.”

Not sure if I really need to recap with detail, because the formula is generally the same. Cougars have a 20-10 lead with less than four minutes to play. Cougars can’t hold lead and allow Huskies to rally, game goes into overtime and Cougars lose 29-26 in triple-overtime. Oh and on top of all that, quarterback Jason Gesser suffers a high-ankle sprain and back-up Matt Kegel finishes the game.2003This year was especially big for the show because fans got two episodes of Cougin’ it in Pullman during the same successful season. Early in the season, the Cougars were playing Notre Dame in South Bend and lead 19-6 entering the fourth quarter.

By now, you don’t even need to watch the rest of the game to know what happens. Cougs let Notre Dame rally, Cougs are outscored 23-7 after the third quarter, Cougs miss a crucial field goal, Cougs lose 29-26 in overtime.

Not only did the Cougars have another Rose Bowl berth on the line in the Apple Cup, ranked No. 8 and 9-2, but the Huskies needed a victory to try and avoid their first losing season since 1976. Kill two birds with one stone, right? Win the Apple Cup, embarrass the Huskies.

Instead, they decided to ‘Coug It.’ With 1:10 remaining, the Cougars allowed the Huskies to score. On the ensuing possession, trailing 20-19 and needing a field goal to win, Josh Swogger connects with Huskies’ Marquis Cooper for a 38-yard game-winning interception-returned-for-a-touchdown.

The year is 1975. The Cougars have a 27-14 lead over rival Washington in the Apple Cup with possession and three minutes remaining. It is fourth and one at the UW 14-yard line and a 31-yard, chip-shot field goal would almost surely win the game. The 57,000 fans at Husky Stadium are witnessing an upset in-progress. They are about to witness history.

The Cougars bypass the field goal and, by passing, attempt to convert. UW’s Al Burleson picks off the resulting pass and returns it 93 yards for a touchdown. WSU goes three-and-out on its next possession and Husky quarterback Warren Moon connects with Spider Gaines for a game-winning 78-yard touchdown pass.

This, my friends, was the pilot episode of Cougin’ it in Pullman. It went over so well that people couldn’t wait for the next opportunity to witness the Cougars ‘snatch victory from defeat.’

The peak of Cougar football came in the late 1990’s and early-2000’s. The team’s success brought hope that they were capable of competing on the national level, but also despair as the Cougars could never seem to get out of their own way and win the big one.

The program started to crumble after Mike Price left and, eventually, the program reached such a low during the Paul Wullf era that nobody really expected new episodes of Cougin’ it in Pullman anytime soon. In order for the team to “Coug” anything that would imply there was some level of hope from that the team would actually win.

Usher in the Mike Leach era and the hope is that Leach’s high-profile offense can fix the program. However, Cougar fans are conditioned to believe that with any hope comes inevitable despair. The next episode of Cougin’ it in Pullman will surely air soon.

At Texas Tech, Leach built a winning program that culminated in a bowl game each of the 10 years he coached the Red Raiders. As his teams ascended to the top of the national rankings, his “Air Raid” offense became national recognized for its ability to gain yards and score points in bunches.

The only problem, if you are familiar with the game of football, is that incompletions stop the clock. When your quarterback throws 60 passes and 28 of them are incompletions, like Halliday did Saturday, it is hard to run time off the clock while attempting to maintain a lead.

At the 5:27 mark in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Halliday connected with Marquess Wilson for a 49-yard touchdown and a 28-14 lead. Cougar fans could almost feel the letdown coming, like the pressure change before a big Eastern Washington thunderstorm.

The Cougars’ next five drives did very little to chew up the clock or help the fans feel more comfortable about the potential victory.

• Drive 1: Rush for no gain, sack, incompletion, punt – 55 seconds.
• Drive 2: Incompletion, 2-yard completion, end of third quarter, incompletion, Andrew Furney 45-yard field goal – 32 seconds.
• Drive 3: Three-yard rush, 30-yard completion, 7-yard completion, 6-yard rush, 5-yard rush, incompletion, 2-yard rush, interception at Colorado’s 8-yard line – 3 minutes, 35 seconds.
• Drive 4: Rush for no gain, 6-yard completion, 6-yard completion, 9-yard completion, dead ball person foul penalty, incompletion, incompletion, punt – 2 minutes, 8 seconds.
• Drive 5: Rush for 2-yard loss, incompletion, incompletion, Andrew Furney 42-yard field goal – 1 minute, 1 second.

During the final 20 minutes, the Cougars possessed the ball five times, ran 22 plays (not counting punts, field goals or turnovers) and held the ball for 8 minutes and ten seconds. You might think, ‘okay, possessing the ball for 8 of final 20 minutes isn’t too bad.’

But considering the Cougars were holding a lead and trying to withstand a late Colorado rally, it is unforgivable that three of those possessions burned up less than a minute and a half. Running on first, second, and third down and then punting could take up nearly two minutes of game clock. But that would require a committment to actually burn the clock.

It is partially okay to blame the long history of “Cougin’ it” for WSU’s inability to hold off Colorado and win, because most episodes of Cougin’ it in Pullman feature a blown fourth quarter lead and poor clock management.

But, a coach of Leach’s caliber with his winning history should understand how to hold a lead, regardless of what type of offense the team runs. The reason the Cougars lost to Colorado was because Leach refused to budge from his pass-heavy play-calling and actually run out the clock.

The Cougars clearly had the ability to move the ball on the ground because they rushed for 92 yards on 22 carries. Teondray Caldwell, WSU’s leading rusher, averaged 7.2 yards per rush on 10 carries. The problem seemed to be when the Cougars chose to run the ball though.

The play breakdown shows the Cougars ran the ball 14 times on first down, compared to passing 21 times. That leaves only eight rushing attempts to split between all second and third downs – 45 total plays.

On first down, Halliday completed 13 of 21 passes – a 62 percent completion percentage. On second down, Halliday’s percentage dropped to 52 percent (11-for-21) and he was sacked three times. On third down, Halliday was even worse. He completed 8-of-16 passes (50 percent) and threw one of his two interceptions, his other interception coming on fourth down.

With the exception of one 30-yard catch, the Cougars gained only 7.4 yards per completion on second downs and yet faced 2nd-and-7, or longer, on 18 of the 27 second downs. They twice ran on 2nd-and-10 and gained a first down each time. On third downs, the Cougars only ran the ball only on one 3rd-and-13 and a 3rd-and-5, gaining 1 and 3 yards, respectively.

Sept. 22, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Holliday (12) drops back for a pass against the Colorado Buffaloes during the second half at Martin Stadium. Colorado won 35-34. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-US PRESSWIREA gimmick offense, like Leach’s pass-heavy Air Raid, can work and help win games. But just like when any triple-option, run-heavy team faces a big deficit and needs quick scores, a gimmick offense can also hinder the team’s ability to win. Ever seen Navy’s offense try to throw the ball in crunch time? It’s laughable.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, I can’t confidently say Leach will learn from his mistakes and do a better job running out the clock. Remember, it was only two and a half weeks ago that the Cougars barely withstood Eastern Washington’s fourth-quarter rally with three fourth quarter drives that lasted only 2:07, 1:35 and 0:46.

It seems like the closer the Cougars get to the end of the game the less they are able to maintain possession of the ball. When your drives are getting shorter and your lead is dwindling, it doesn’t bode well for your chances to win. I guess the hope is that Leach can at recruit better talent and his quarterbacks complete more than 53 percent of their passes.

It might not matter though, because as history has shown us, so long as there’s hope in the Palouse, there will inevitably be dispair and Cougin’ it in Pullman will continue to air.