Oct. 06, 2012; Corvallis, OR, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach greets Oregon State Beavers head coach Mike Riley before the game at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-US PRESSWIRE
He’s taken on bears, pirates and Civil War generals, but in his weekly press conference Mike Leach got in the Halloween spirit when he referenced zombies.
Leach wasn’t on a tangent about his Oct. 31 plans, though. The Washington State head coach was taking to task his team’s senior for “zombie-like” play in the Cougars’ 2-4 start. WSU hosts Cal, sporting an identical 2-4 mark, on Saturday in what can be described as a must-win game for both. The Cougars registered just six points in last week’s loss to Oregon State, their second game scoring in single digits this season.
Ironically, WSU failed to reach the 10-point barrier just once last season, before Leach arrived on the Palouse to install his air raid spread. The one opponent that clamped the Cougar offense down to just seven points? The same Cal Golden Bears visiting Martin Stadium. Maybe that’s why Leach has visions of “an empty corpse quality” to the current WSU product.
Coincidentally amid all this talk of death, Leach is sticking with Connor Halliday over the more experienced Jeff Tuel at quarterback; Halliday suffered a potentially life-threatening liver laceration last season. The above-linked Coug Center piece delves further into the Tuel-Halliday controversy.
Leach has his own unique brand of…well, everything. His colloquialisms border on the indiscernible, as analyzed here. But one message he delivered that reads as clear as the skull-and-crossbones on a pirate flag is that his seniors must “get on board or get on.” All Coug’d Up has more.
Is Leach taking the right approach? I wrote earlier of Charlie Weis all but showing the seniors at Kansas the door. Drawing such a clear line in the sand of “their guys” and “my guys” can cause divisiveness in a locker room.