Cougars will try to beat the heat

PULLMAN – A fair warning if you happen to be eating next to a Washington State football player this week: Don’t hoard the salt.

In preparation for playing in the early September heat of Alabama, the Cougars are taking every single possible precaution to ready their players for what could lie ahead.

That means a gallon of water a day for players – and even a lecture from the training staff encouraging the Cougars to put a little extra salt on their meals during the week.

“I like the plan that we’ve got,” defensive coordinator Robb Akey said. “With our guys, we look at it as the same if we’re going down to play Arizona. For us, it’s the same type of a deal. I don’t think you can have your mind on it.”

Odds are, it won’t be any hotter at Auburn on Saturday night than it has been in Pullman in recent days. But it’s sure to be humid, and that’s something WSU never has to deal with in August, at least not on par with what the South experiences on a routine basis.

Over the summer, WSU players made a habit of doing outdoor conditioning during the hottest parts of the day, with the idea of being as accustomed to the weather as possible. That’s especially important for defensive players, who more typically succumb to fatigue late in games because of the nature of their positions.

“I wanted to stop so bad because it’s hot,” defensive tackle Fevaea’i Ahmu said of a recent practice in the sun. “But I was like, ‘Man, it’s going to be hot in Auburn. C’mon. We’ve got to push through it.’”

There is still an X-factor at work this week, as well.

The Cougars could end up dealing with a Southeastern weather phenomenon far different than the heat. Tropical Storm Ernesto has been threatening the Gulf Coast, and while it appears to be turning away from Alabama and towards South Florida and the Atlantic Ocean, it could still bring wind and rain into the picture.

Barring a significant development from WSU engineering students, however, the Cougars have no way of readying themselves for that possibility. The game plan, thus, is to beat the heat and hope that the fourth quarter isn’t one full of cramping and tired legs.

“If we’re playing this game at Auburn or we play this game in Alaska, right now, what we’ve done over camp is we’ve got the ability to condition,” Akey said. “And we’ve taken advantage of that. We’ve got to be running full speed to the football wherever it is that we play.”