TV Take: Running back Nakia Watson made an immediate impact for Washington State’s offense in rout of Stanford

The throngs who entered Stanford Stadium to watch their Cardinal host Washington State on Saturday sat stunned. All 514 of them. Or so.

The near-empty facility was silenced by the Cougars scoring six first-half touchdowns en route to an overpowering 52-14 victory.

Thankfully, neither Roxy Bernstein nor Michael Bumpus, the former WSU receiver, were silent often on the Pac-12 Networks broadcast.

What they saw

• How much did Washington State miss senior running back Nakia Watson, out for the past two games?

First drive, a 65-yard run. First play of second drive, an 8-yard run. First-half total, 158 yards on 13 carries, including a 41-yard touchdown run with 59 seconds before halftime.

Watson, who was injured in the USC game and hadn’t played since, all WSU losses, was so effective, he allowed the Cougars to stay ahead of the chains and play with tempo, something Bumpus felt was key to their success.

But he and Bernstein agreed that it all began, in this one at least, with Watson.

“You think they missed him?” Bernstein asked after Watson’s late first-half touchdown run. The veteran play-by-play man then mentioned the Cougars had scored 41 points in their past three games and 42 in less than a half.

The praise began early, when Bumpus noted Watson’s health could “give this offense a boost.” It did.

“He looks healthy to me,” Bumpus said after a 14-yard Watson first-half run.

“He looks pretty good to me,” Bernstein responded.

As did the Cougars’ offense.

“Without question,” Bernstein said of the Cougars, “this is the best their offense has looked all season.”

The statistics would back that up, at least in conference competition.

Besides Watson’s career-best 166 yards on 16 carries, Cameron Ward completed 16 of 32 passes for 176 yards while rushing for 36.

Ward was helped, as was Watson, by better play from the offensive line. The seven players who carried the ball combined for 306 yards rushing, part of 514 yards of total offense.

But Ward was hurt by at least five drops, two of which seemed destined to double Ward’s total of two touchdown passes.

The Cougars overall were also helped by four turnovers by Stanford (3-6 overall, 1-6 in Pac-12 play), leading to 21 WSU points.

• Bernstein is about the best the Pac-12 Networks have on play-by-play. And there is one trait he displays that helps set him apart. He actually seems to care what his analyst thinks. And he is willing to elicit an opinion with a question.

Oftentimes, play-by-play folks will state an opinion and then throw it to the analyst for confirmation. It puts a partner in a tough spot if the thoughts are different.

Bernstein often just asks.

What we saw

• Not sure we’ve ever seen a drive like the one the Cougars (5-4, 2-4) had to open the game.

No, we’re not referring to Watson’s 65-yard run. We’ve seen long runs before.

Nor are we referring to the play before that, in which two Stanford Cardinal players, safety Patrick Fields and linebacker Ricky Miezan, collided and were injured.

It is that second one, combined with two other plays. Right after the first injuries, Levani Damuni, the other linebacker, went down. That was followed by the other safety, Kendall Williamson, limping off a play before Leyton Smithson’s 3-yard scoring run. None returned.

Four starters, the Cardinal players first, second, third and fifth in tackles, all hurt on the opening drive.

That’s not your usual bad luck. That’s albatross bad.

Another weird part of the injuries is the broadcast stayed at the stadium instead of going to commercial. In fact, in a first quarter with four touchdowns and the injuries, there were only two commercial breaks.

• We were lucky enough to cover Bumpus when he was playing for the Cougars. And we can attest he was a good interview, though becoming someone who talks for a living is always tough to predict.

No matter how good a job he does, however, it has to be tough to call a game in which your school competes. We made a decision before the game to focus on whether he showed a bias.

As far as we could tell, he didn’t. Though he may have seemed pro-Stanford at some points.

That’s a joke, which is exactly what Bernstein did with Bumpus when Lincoln Victor dropped a first-quarter pass.

“We’re not used to seeing a No. 5 for Washington State drop a pass,” Bernstein said, alluding to the number Bumpus wore in Pullman.