WSU offense hits new highs in 52-31 win over Oregon State

Coming off wins over Oregon State and Oregon, 4-2 WSU has big games vs. Arizona and Stanford upcoming. (AP)

You know what the Cougars looked like in the first half of Saturday’s 52-31 win over the Beavers? The Ducks. Not this year’s version of the Ducks, the Ducks we’ve seen for the past 10 years, the ones who can’t be stopped, the ones who have a punter on their roster but we never see him in the games.

In 40-plus years of watching Cougar football, I’ve never seen an offense perform the way Luke Falk and this team did in the first two quarters, building a 45-17 lead.

Falk threw six touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes. I thought he might throw 10 in the game. I told my kids we might score 80 points and they scoffed at that. But I meant it.

Apparently we let down in the second half, having already assured the win against a Beaver team with a new quarterback and new coach. Oregon State will be good again, but not in this transition year, so let’s take that into account.

Then again, oddsmakers thought we’d win by only eight points, and we blew that line and the Beavers out of the water. This is a game we might have lost in the past, coming off a big win at Oregon.

So I don’t care if we had some screw-ups in the second half. We can’t allow touchdowns on kickoff returns, turnovers on on-side kicks and blocked punts in games against better opponents. For a change, those things didn’t matter because we were already ahead by 28 points and never in danger of losing the lead, not with that below-average Beaver offense.

The Cougars are now 4-2 and just two wins away from going to a bowl game. We are also 2-1 in the Pac-12 Conference, which makes me feel like setting the bar higher than the New Mexico Bowls of the world this year. Forget six wins, maybe we can get seven or eight.

And how about the possibility of hosting a truly big game against Stanford on Oct. 31? Perhaps “ESPN’s College Gameday” will finally come to Pullman if we beat Arizona this week.

The game against Stanford would give us a chance to tie for the Pac-12 North Division lead. I’ve seen Stanford, and I know the Cardinal has a better team than Washington State. I have no idea how we’ll stop Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey.

But with the game at Martin Stadium and if the Gameday crew was in town? Flip it around for a second. That Stanford defense is good, but it’s not going to stop the Cougar offense all day long. And the Cougar defense has improved to the point that the Stanford offense isn’t going to be effective all day long either.

I’m getting way ahead of myself, but that’s OK, this is just a rambling post that has no bearing on anything, including outcomes of football games and seasons. The Cougars will first have to win in Tucson, which they’ve done before, two years ago. If you saw Arizona Saturday night in Boulder, you know they’re beatable. Then again, if you saw Washington State against Portland State, you know we are too.

Here’s what we know though – the Cougs have a one-game lead in the race for Rick Neuheisel’s Northwest Championship. In fact, the worst we can do is tie for first. WSU is 2-0, Oregon is 1-1 and Washington and Oregon State are 0-1.

And, hey Husky fans, it’s nice to know that we beat Oregon and you didn’t. Go ahead, tell me the Oregon team you faced was tougher than the one we faced because Vernon Adams played. Fine, I’ll give you that. But you played against the same Oregon defense that we scored 45 points against, and your boys sputtered all night long. Plus you faced the Ducks at home, and we had to play them in Eugene. Put that in your purple pipe and smoke it.

Here’s some more over-reaction from Saturday’s game in Pullman. If a guy throws for more than 900 yards in two weeks, you start to envision him as the next great Cougar QB to play in the NFL someday. And the same goes for Dom Williams, a terrific receiver who we’ll see on Sundays next year. Coach Mike Leach said in his post-game interview that Williams is the most improved player on the team.

Speaking of the Cougar head coach, this might be the third or fourth time I’ve mentioned that I was wrong about him. Over the past 3 ½ years of the Mike Leach Era, there have been more times I’ve wanted him fired than wanted him to stay. Generally speaking, with a 16-27 record, there has been more bad than good, and from afar, I’ve often wondered if his coaching style would work in Pullman.

But with three consecutive games of highly competitive Cougar football that also included a near-win over Cal, I am again admitting that my negative take on Leach must be wrong or could be wrong with a strong lean toward “must” over “could.”

That offense on Saturday looked like his Texas Tech offenses, and the two things that are most encouraging are the appearance of a running game and a defense that makes things happen. The Cougars have play-makers on that side of the ball, a bunch of guys with a lot of vowels in their names, and cool names too – Destiny and Hercules and Shalom Luani – who just might be our version of Kam Chancellor. Luani had two interceptions against the Beavers, including a pick six.

All great stuff with a chance for even better stuff to come in Tucson.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.