Washington State running to new heights

This is a most enjoyable scenario for many UW fans, who can finally approach a game against OR with a reasonable expectation of victory. Charles Nelson has caught 24 passes for 240 yards, while Darren Carrington has caught 21 passes for 204 yards and 3 touchdowns for Oregon.

OR sits at 2-3 (0-2 in the Pac-12), after dropping last weekend’s game to Washington State 51-33.

The Cougars rode a six touchdown, 280-yard performance from their three running backs to beat OR 51-33 and notch their first pair of back-to-back wins against the Ducks since the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

After Oregon’s 2006 season ended on a four-game skid, Mike Bellotti brought in Chip Kelly as his new offensive coordinator. By the time the University of OR began forming sports teams for intercollegiate play in the last decade of the 19th century, the term Webfoot had become synonymous with Oregonians.

“It’s a very proud group that’s a little injured right now spiritually, which is a good thing”, Helfrich said. For the first time in the Leach era, Washington State scored more than 50 in back-to-back games. “You don’t build a program like we’ve built and have a couple three-point losses and all of a sudden you change everything”. The Washington defense is giving up 12.8 points per game with 122.2 rushing yards and 177 passing yards per game. Thirty-eight of those second half yards came on the first of his two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, and he punctuated that with a 3-yard score to give the Cougars a commanding 51-26 lead with 2:54 remaining in the game. The Cougars amassed 651 total yards, including 280 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

Oregon’s Dakota Prukop completed 14 of 22 passes for 132 yards.

The Cougars (1-2) are also trying to bounce back from a disappointing start that saw them drop back-to-back games to Eastern Washington and Boise State.

“The key is we don’t lose it as coaches, that we stick together and keep believing”, Neal said. “I do think it’s important that we pay attention to it as coaches and talk about those things, because it can be distracting, there’s no question about it. That’s a really unsafe path to go on”. Washington defeated Stanford 44-6.

I expect Davis Webb and Cal to torch the Oregon State defense and get the win. Jake Browning is completing 70.7% of his passes for 1114 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions for Washington.

Two days after the loss, OR held a players-only meeting after practice. Perhaps not coincidentally, those two performances featured the most rushing yards in the Leach era. “We’re headed in the right direction – offense, defense and special teams all looked great today”.

“Now you can see the shift in momentum and the shift in mindset nearly”. Quarterback Luke Falk passed for 371 yards in WSU’s “Air Raid” offense. A debate over the school’s mascot, according to the website, broke out in the 1920s and after years of back-and-forth, the Webfoot became the official mascot in 1932, which later evolved into a duck.

The Cougars last recorded a safety one decade and one week prior, during a late September game against Stanford in 2006.

“Almost every play they called was a pass and they checked to a run”, Helfrich said.

Another loss would really put the Ducks in a tough spot with No. 10 Washington up next.

To say that Washington State hasn’t started the season the way they had hoped, would be an understatement.