Just another game? A bigger opportunity? Cougars sound off on hosting No. 19 Wisconsin

PULLMAN – Somewhere inside the Washington State football locker room, the former home of program staples from Mike Leach to Gardner Minshew to Max Borghi, the Cougars have hung a sign with three words.

Protect The Den.

“And this is what it is. We’re the Coug Den up here, and we’ve gotta protect it,” WSU linebacker Kyle Thornton said. “Can’t let no Badgers come up and try to start some stuff. So that’s what we’re about right now.”

On Saturday, when Washington State hosts No. 19 Wisconsin in a primetime matchup, Thornton will bear some of the biggest responsibility on that front. One of the Cougs’ two starting linebackers, Thornton gets the privilege of stopping Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi, the Badgers’ two running backs who cleared the century mark in rushing yards last week.

Let’s set the game details aside for a moment, though, and zoom out. This game matters for Washington State. It’s the Cougars’ first time hosting a nonconference Power 5 opponent in 25 years. Their conference has collapsed and they remain without a home for next year and beyond. The game is on national TV, in a primetime slot, against a ranked opponent, and if ever there was a chance for WSU to prove it belongs in something resembling a power conference, this is it.

That’s also to make no mention of this important reality: WSU will be honoring former coach Mike Leach during this game. The Cougars will be doing a giveaway of T-shirts that honor Leach, and the logo on those shirts will also be on flags that coaches will fly before the game.

So saying there’s a lot on the line for Washington State this weekend is like saying Babe Ruth was a good baseball player. It’s selling the circumstances short by a country mile. There’s no way to know the next time the Cougars will host another opponent like this – or if they ever will again, period. In large part, that’s why WSU has already sold out tickets to the game.

For his part, Thornton is embracing the situation, open about the fact that this game means something a little more than most nonconference tilts.

“We manage it by talking about it throughout the week,” Thornton said. “It’s not a surprise. We don’t want it to be a surprise on game day. ‘Oh, hey, it’s a sold-out crowd.’ We know going into the game that’s what it’s gonna be. So it doesn’t surprise anyone, so that it’s not as big of an emotional distraction (as much as it is) an emotional motivator.”

In this way, though, Thornton is a bit of an anomaly. Not every player, at Washington State and beyond, feels comfortable acknowledging the circumstances that make some games bigger than others. On the contrary, that’s how these games are won sometimes, by players who minimize the moment and stick to what got them here in the first place.

At least externally, that’s the position WSU edge Ron Stone Jr. and quarterback Cameron Ward took after Tuesday’s practice. It’s the position Cougars coach Jake Dickert took after Monday’s session. Sure, there may be more eyeballs on this game, but why act accordingly?

“I feel like this team couldn’t care less if we were playing in front of 10 million or 10,000, or 10,” Stone said. “Again, it’s what matters to the team, not to what other people, the hype around it. It’s gonna be a sold-out stadium, and that’s exciting, that’s great. But at the end of day, all those things you just said mean nothing if we don’t do what we prepared to do. So I think, really, it’s more about what we do and what we think, let alone what the public thinks.”

“It’s really just another game for everybody in my opinion,” Ward said. “We don’t really tend to get into all that, like RJ said. We know it’s gonna be a rowdy crowd out here Saturday. But you know, we control the things we control. Hopefully the favor will be ours.”

Plus, the Cougs have been someplace close to this. Around this time last year, Washington State traveled to Madison, Wisconsin and sprung an upset on the Badgers, also ranked No. 19 at the time. Dickert, a Wisconsin native, had a ton of friends and family in the stands. Running back Nakia Watson, a Wisconsin transfer, scored both of WSU’s touchdowns in the win.

That amounted to an emotional time for Washington State, and the Cougars acknowledged it. If you let them tell it, round two is less about emotions and more about an opportunity.

“It’s just another game. It’s just another game,” Dickert said with a smile on Monday. “Ready to be 1-0. Just like the players deal with distractions of a home game, coaches do as well. I’ve got a narrow focus on providing what our team needs to win the game.”

Dig a little deeper, though, and you understand how deeply the Cougars value this opportunity. They might say it’s just another game, and when they take the field, it will be. Still, on Tuesday, WSU released a hype video, narrated by Minshew himself. Part of his narration goes like this: “I cannot wait to see what them Cougs do this fall on the Palouse.”

Moments after WSU’s season-opening win over Colorado State last weekend, Dickert began encouraging students and fans to pack the stands on Saturday. “We have an opportunity on a national stage to show who we are,” Dickert said. “With everything that’s been going on, we have an amazing opportunity to show what the Cougs are about.”

Right after he said that, Dickert followed up by returning to the focus of the game, saying the distractions won’t matter when the game kicks off. That’s certainly true – same as it’s true that the Cougars won’t get another opportunity like this in some time. In other words, they’re ready to protect their den.