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Stanford Cardinal vs Washington State Cougars Football Recap

Stanford 38, Washington State 28

Don’t be fooled by the final score – this wasn’t as close a game as the numbers might indicate. Then again, don’t be fooled by the fact that Stanford did win by more than 10 points from an essential standpoint: The Washington State Cougars are slowly but surely climbing back to respectability.

It’s not news when Stanford beats Washington State. It’s not a headline-generating development when a team ranked in the top 15 moves to 6-1 on the season by beating an opponent that’s now 1-7, and hasn’t won a single conference game since November of 2008. Indeed, the real story to come from this contest at Stanford Stadium is that Washington State really is getting better.

The program that Mike Price turned into a two-time Pac-10 champion over the past 15 years, and which Bill Doba guided to a win over Texas in the 2003 Holiday Bowl, has fallen to the very bottom of major college football in recent years, a development the sport’s community is quite aware of. A lot of internet chatter – humorous yet imbued with an underlying tone combining shock and disgust – has playfully suggested that Wazzu should move to the Western Athletic Conference, given that league’s downscaling process and its search for new members after the (eventual) departures of Nevada and Fresno State to the Mountain West. Washington State’s football program has been likened to something worthy of the FCS or a low-rent conference like the Sun Belt. Continued membership in the Pac-10 hasn’t been questioned by the sport’s power brokers, but it’s an idea that’s certainly been raised by a lot of fans and commentators since the “Summer of Realignment” began. Coach Paul Wulff was viewed to be on the hot seat before this season started, although industry insiders felt that Washington State couldn’t yet afford the buyout on Wulff’s contract. One thing was clear as 2010 dawned: Wulff needed to make improvements with his club.

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After this game against Stanford, it’s clear that Wazzu is continuing to develop some of the backbone (not to mention players) that was missing in 2008 and 2009.

Washington State made UCLA genuinely sweat at the beginning of October. Then the Cougars forced Oregon to play well into the fourth quarter before the Ducks. On Oct. 16, Wazzu stayed within shouting distance of Arizona for much of the evening, and now, the Cougars have once again shown that while they’re still decidedly inferior to most of the Pac-10’s teams, they don’t get run off the field or laughed out of town the way they used to be. This WSU crew stands in the ring and absorbs punches, but it keeps fighting until the final bell.

Maybe you could say that Stanford treated this game as a scrimmage, but the Cardinal were coming off a bye week, so there was no reason for coach Jim Harbaugh to treat this game as something to be finished with minimal fuss. Stanford – after a shaky 37-35 win over USC on Oct. 9 – had every incentive to play this game full throttle. Washington State couldn’t match up with Stanford over four quarters, but what’s worth noting is that with three minutes left in the third quarter, the mammoth blowout a lot of people were expecting never materialized. Stanford totaled only 24 points in the first 42 minutes of play before finally scoring its first second-half touchdown with 2:56 left in the third period. The Cardinal wore down Wazzu more than anything else, exploiting the Cougars’ front line for 249 rushing yards, 142 of them coming from running back Stepfan Taylor, who accounted for 51 yards on a single Stanford scoring march in the second quarter. Stanford wore down WSU as opposed to outclassing the Cougs with otherworldly play. When WSU develops more depth and heft in the trenches, the gap between these two schools will close.

It’s not a new day at Washington State, but it is a slightly brighter one. Last year, Stanford would have won by 50 and embarrassed Paul Wulff’s lineup. This year, the Cardinal built a 24-point lead but watched the Cougs score two touchdowns in the final four minutes to make things respectable. That doesn’t have any bearing on the outcome of this game or its decisiveness, but it does show that whatever Wulff is selling, his players are buying.

That’s how a program gets turned around. That’s why Wazzu is the bigger story after a Saturday of football in the Bay Area.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer