Dreamy Return Sparks Cougs

Key play

Let’s not even discuss what Sigmund Freud might have made of one of Jay Dumas’ common dreams.

It’s the one where he’s running free on a field of green, with a pack of athletic men in full, but futile, pursuit.

“I dream about that,” Dumas admitted Saturday afternoon.

Don’t misconstrue the context. The dream is a punt return, and Dumas is taking it back for a touchdown under heavy pressure.

These punt returns are like a game of full-contact hide-and-seek. And somebody yelled ally-ally-in-come-free for the Washington State senior on Saturday.

And his 72-yard TD return in the first period triggered a 24-point, first-half burst for WSU against UCLA.

“That was a big, big play in the game, obviously,” said UCLA coach Terry Donahue, whose Bruins fell 24-15 to the Cougars.

Aside from the dreams, Dumas tries to visualize returning a punt for a score every time he fields one.

It’s a product of a training-camp visit from Johnny Johnson, a former Rams’ defensive back who stressed how important it is to imagine such success before attaining it.

Neither the Cougars nor UCLA, a 5-1/2-point favorite, had done much early in the first period.

And with little more than 3 minutes left in that quarter, UCLA punter Chris Sailer lined up to boot it away to Dumas - who was back at the WSU 25 with visions of glorious returns playing in his head. But Sailer didn’t catch this one flush.

“I was about to wave for a fair catch,” Dumas said. “But I saw that he underkicked his coverage.”

Two factors aided Dumas at this point: 1) because the punt was so short (35 yards), many of the Bruins in coverage were already behind Dumas, and 2) because it was so short, Dumas had to sprint forward to field the punt, meaning he was at almost full speed when he got his hands on it.

Dumas sprinted past UCLA’s Andy Colbert and ran directly at Sailer in the middle of the field.

“When I visualize it, the punter is always the last guy I have to beat,” he said.

As in the dreams, Dumas froze him with a juke and cut past him to the left corner of the end zone, easily out-running UCLA linebacker Abdul McCullough.

“There was a key block,” Cougars coach Mike Price said. “Jason Clayton hit their sprinter, their ‘knife’ guy, and then Jay made some great cuts. It was a middle return, our basic return and they just didn’t cover it very well.”

It was the first return touchdown for Dumas and the longest for a Cougar since Victor Wood returned one for an 82-yard score against Tennessee in 1988.

Dumas’ dramatic effort was rewarded. He got the next play off. Normally, he’s the holder on extra-point attempts.

“But I realized how tired I was - and I had just gotten trampled on by about 20 teammates,” said Dumas, who made way for backup quarterback Ryan Leaf to hold.

“The whole thing was great; the guys blocked it well and it went just like I imagine it.”

, DataTimes