Cougs Wake Up In Time Illinois Can’t Capitalize On WSU’s Sloppy Play

The whistle blew, and the 19th-ranked Washington State Cougars opened their eyes just long enough to complete an 80-yard touchdown pass on the game’s first play.

It was 11:35 a.m. local time, but it felt much earlier to the sleepy-eyed Cougars, who proceeded to hit the snooze button repeatedly until finally waking up for good in the fourth quarter - and just in time.

With three fourth-quarter touchdowns, WSU sprinted past winless Illinois for a 35-22 non-conference victory Saturday before a crowd of 47,131 in 79,000-seat Memorial Stadium.

It was a largely forgettable performance for the Cougars, who improved to 3-0 despite 18 penalties, three interceptions and one lost fumble. The punchless Illini (0-3), who are rebuilding under first-year coach Ron Turner, actually led 14-7 early in the second half.

“This loss is extremely frustrating,” Turner said. “They are an excellent football team and I’m not taking anything away from them, but we had some big chances to win this game.”

The Cougars won because running backs Michael Black and DeJuan Gilmore made enough plays to keep the Illini defense honest - allowing quarterback Ryan Leaf time to throw a pair of 30-yard TD passes in a 3-minute span midway through the final period.

“There’s not too many teams that in a place like Illinois, a Big Ten Conference place, that can regroup and focus and come back out and pretty much dominate (late in the game),” said Leaf, who completed 21 of 36 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns.

Leaf’s counterpart, Mark Hoekstra, completed 23 of 46 for 165 yards averaging a paltry 3.6 yards per attempt. As usual, the one-dimensional Illini were led by running back Robert Holcombe, who carried 32 times for 163 yards.

Early on, it looked as if the Cougars might be in for an easy time.

Kevin McKenzie, who turned 22 on Saturday, was presented an 80-yard gift on the game’s first play. Working against an Illinois secondary that was without both starting safeties, McKenzie took Leaf’s pass over the middle and sprinted into the end zone untouched.

“We came out and scored too fast, I think,” safety Ray Jackson said. “It made it seem like the game was just going to be cake.”

There would be no cake, only a boatload of mistakes that left coach Mike Price frosted.

“I’m about ready to strangle their necks, to be honest with you,” Price fumed, citing in particular 10 first-half penalties.

Given time to reflect on his team’s 3-0 start, Price mellowed.

“At halftime, we could have folded our tents,” he said. “That’s happened three times now and we haven’t folded. So we’ve got character. I’m just so (ticked) off about the penalties in that first half. But that’s spilt milk.”

If nothing else, this WSU team is resilient. To survive Saturday’s first half, they had to be.

During a 15-minute span that began with 4:30 left in the first quarter, Leaf completed 2 of 8 passes for minus-9 yards. The final play of that unsightly sequence resulted in Leaf getting drilled by Illinois defensive end Fred Wakefield, who caused Leaf to fumble and also made the recovery.

Illinois couldn’t capitalize, and with less than 2 minutes remaining in the half Leaf quickly completed 4 of 5 passes for 48 yards. Leaf then threw toward Nian Taylor at the goal line, but was intercepted by safety Ivan Benson.

“They were doing some things defensively against us in the line that we didn’t adjust to very well and they got to us,” Price said. “Leaf got hit when he was throwing a couple times and got stripped just perfect for the fumble.”

The Cougars largely solved the Illini defense in the second half by abandoning their standard running game in favor of a two-back set that emphasized sweeps and counters.

Trailing 14-7 after Holcombe’s 47-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, WSU ran seven times in a nine-play drive, ending with Leaf’s 5-yard TD pass to Chris Jackson.

Four minutes later, Gilmore followed right guard Cory Withrow 21 yards to the end zone.

WSU suddenly held a 21-14 lead.

Hoekstra fumbled away the Illini’s next possession. The Cougars took over near midfield and eventually scored on a 30-yard play from Leaf to Taylor.

Game over. Bring on Boise State.

“We underestimated them quite a bit,” Leaf said. “They did a good job up front of getting to me and disrupted me quite a bit. I’m going to watch more film than I probably ever have this week, every night, so the same thing doesn’t happen against Boise.”

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