News for CougGroup 9/4/2018

Washington State DL Misiona Aiolupotea-Pei could return for San Jose State game

Tue., Sept. 4, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

Spokesman-Review

By Theo Lawson

PULLMAN – Misiona Aiolupotea-Pei’s name was omitted from Washington State’s week-two depth chart, but there’s a chance the junior college defensive lineman could rejoin the Cougars this Saturday for the home opener against San Jose State, coach Mike Leach indicated Tuesday.

Aiolupotea-Pei, a JC transfer from California’s Riverside City College, didn’t travel with the team for last week’s season opener at Wyoming because the NCAA was still processing his paperwork, Leach told Matt Chazanow last Thursday on his weekly coach’s radio show.

The coach didn’t have an update on Aiolupotea-Pei’s status as of Tuesday afternoon when he met with reporters following practice in Pullman.

“No, we’re still waiting to hear,” Leach said. “We should hear anytime, Labor Day obstructed it a little bit.”

If the Cougars hear from the NCAA soon, Leach said there’s still a chance Aiolupotea-Pei could make his college debut at home versus the Spartans.

“Yep,” Leach said, “and should be allowed to, deserves to.”

Aiolupotea-Pei was listed on the week-one depth chart as Taylor Comfort’s primary backup at nose tackle, though he’s demonstrated an ability to play other positions across the defensive line. If Aiolupotea-Pei isn’t eligible to play Saturday, the Cougars will once again turn to Dallas Hobbs and/or Jesus Echevarria to back up Comfort at nose tackle.

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No. 17 Coug Soccer Comes Home to Face Idaho

9/4/2018 | Women's Soccer from WSU Sports Info 

#17 WASHINGTON STATE (4-0-0, 0-0-0 Pac-12)

vs Idaho (2-3-0, 0-0-0 Big Sky) | Thur., Sept. 6 | 7 p.m. PT
Television | WSU Live Stream

> Washington State enters the weekend unbeaten on the year having won four-straight. The longest winning streak to start a season for WSU is 7 done in 2015.
> WSU enters the third week ranked #17 in the coaches poll, its highest ranking since 2015. 
> The Cougars' #12 ranking in SoccerAmerica marks the second-highest ranking for WSU only behind a #11 ranking (twice) last in 2007. 
> WSU is one of 33 teams in DI still unbeaten and untied in 2018.
> After taking two years off, the Cougars and Vandals renew their rivalry. WSU has won 11-straight after losing the very first meeting between the two sides in 1999.
> Six different Cougars have scored the team's eight goals on the year.
> Maddy Haro ranks No. 5 in the nation with a 1.33 assist per game average. She needs two more assists to tie for No. 10 all-time in career assists with 13.
> GK Ella Dederick has 20 career shutouts, one shy of tying Katie Hultin (2002-05) for 2nd all-time in WSU history.
> WSU is 24th in the nation in goals against after relinquishing just two goals in four games.
> Morgan Weaver enters the weekend tied for No. 10 all-time in career goals scored with 17.
> Alysha Overland scored her first goal last week, scoring for the first time since 2016 after missing 2017 due to injury.
SU RANKED NO. 17
Entering the week the Cougars are ranked #17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, the highest ranking since Oct. of 2015 when WSU checked in at #16.
In the two other major polls, the Cougs have turned more heads checking in at #14 in TopDrawerSoccer and #12 in SoccerAmerica. The #12 ranking in SoccerAmerica is the second-highest ranking all-time for the Cougars who were ranked #11 in the same poll in 2007 and in the ISAA poll (the original coaches poll) in 1993.
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WSU Volleyball's Claire Martin Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week 

From WSU Sports Info

SAN FRANCISCO -- Washington State's Claire Martin was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2 as announced by the Pac-12 Conference office Monday. The senior became the first Cougar to earn the award in 2018 and the first to earn the honor since Taylor Mims Nov. 14, 2016. The weekly award was the second career honor for Martin after earning the defensive award as a sophomore September 26, 2016.
Over the weekend, Martin led the Cougars to a pair of 3-1 victories at No. 17 Northern Iowa to improve to 4-0 on the new season. Martin's massive presence at the net shutdown the Panthers throughout the weekend as UNI hit just .198 combined in two matches . Friday night, Martin led a Cougar blocking attack that came up with 17.0 total blocks, the most since posting 19.0 against Arizona State, Nov 11, 2016. Getting in on more than half the blocks herself, Martin finished the opening match of the weekend with 10 blocks as she moved into No. 2 all-time in career block assists with 403. Saturday, Martin was back to her old tricks once again as she came up with four of the Cougars' 10.0 blocks. In addition, Martin got her offense going in the final match of the week as she tallied a season-best 10 kills to finish off the perfect weekend.
In all, Martin averaged 1.75 blocks per set to lead the Cougars' defensive efforts. Offensively, the senior posted 1.62 kills per set (13 total kills) to go along with two digs.


The Cougars play at home for the first time in 2018, Friday, Sept. 7 when they host McNeese State at noon to kick off the Cougar Challenge.

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Leach: Formation idea came from engineer

'Big Gulp Left' named after critical USA Today columnist

By Dale Grummert, Lewiston Trib

Mike Leach says the offbeat, old-school formation he unveiled last week was designed with the help of a Microsoft engineer. But it's apparently named after a critical newspaper columnist.

The Washington State football coach used "Big Gulp Left" twice in succession, for a combined gain of 9 yards, during a pivotal drive in the third quarter of the Cougars' season-opening 41-19 win Saturday at Wyoming.

In his weekly news conference Monday, Leach said the idea for the formation came from a Microsoft engineer of his acquaintance. He declined to identify him until he knows whether he'd welcome the publicity.

"Very brilliant guy," Leach said. "He came up with a bunch of formations and pretty good ideas, and sounded interesting, got me thinking. So basically on the enthusiasm and energy of some of his thoughts and what he saw, we decided we'd mess with it. And it was fun for our players and things."

Leach called the play "Big Gulp Left" in a Twitter post Sunday, evidently referring to his exchange in June with a USA Today writer. Dan Wolken wrote a column criticizing Leach for refusing to apologize for retweeting an edited video clip that misrepresented the opinions of Barack Obama. Leach told the Seattle Times that Wolken would be "selling Big Gulps in a couple years."

Leach didn't name Wolken on Monday but said, "There's this guy, this national guy who thinks he's an expert on everything, which I don't really think he is. But I figured we'd name the deal after him. And this friend of mine I do believe will end up selling Big Gulps at some point."

Washington State (1-0) plays its first home game of the season Saturday (8 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) at Martin Stadium against San Jose State (0-1). The Cougars are favored by 35 1/2 points.

On the two "Big Gulp Left" plays Saturday, slotback Kyle Sweet lined up over the ball, a few feet to the right of the rest of the offense, and snapped it laterally to running back James Williams, who ran for gains of 5 and 4 yards.

Leach likened the play to the "swinging gate" concept that has its roots in the 1930s and was sometimes used on special teams by the Oregon Ducks a few years ago.

He said it wasn't the first time he's taken football advice from a noncoach. When he was offensive-line coach and offensive coordinator at Valdosta State in Georgia during the 1990s, a janitor made insightful observations about his linemen's body language and movements, Leach said.

"There's a point as a coach, and I think every profession is like this, where you get a little locked up in scheme," he said. "Somebody can see something you can't because you sit there and pore over film and you're thinking about drawing little lines and stuff. It's pretty easy to lose track of some things."

Leach lauded his team for overcoming a six-point deficit in the third quarter of the Wyoming game, saying "there wasn't a lot of panic out there."

"The second half I thought we reacted really well," he said. "I thought our defense played extremely well. ... When you consider all the new faces we have on the team, I thought that was impressive."

The Cougars had entered the game with concerns about defensive-line depth, but three young players at those positions drew Leach's praise.

He said defensive tackle Will Rodgers III won a weekly team award for "the guy that does their job better than anybody - kind of the mechanic of the game," and he he also mentioned rush linebackers Dominick Silvels and Willie Taylor III.

Leach was also complimentary of two Wyoming safeties, Marcus Epps and especially Andrew Wingard.

"I mean, both of them, but 28 (Wingard) is one of my favorite players," he said. "I don't know him. I'd like to meet him - I wish I could have caught up with him - but I thought he was outstanding. If you wanted to know where the ball was, just look at where he was going, because that's where it was."

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2 things you need to know if you're going to Cougs-Spartans game

By BRIAN STULTZ Cougfan.com

PULLMAN – Washington State fans traveling Highway 26 for the Washington State-San Jose State game won't have to adjust their route this weekend after all.

The planned six-week bridge repair project in southern Adams County has been pushed back to later this month. But fans will need to use a clear bag of a certain size if they plan on bringing anything into Martin Stadium for the season opener (8 pm, TV: Pac-12 Network).

From an Aug. 30 update on the Washington State Department of Transportation website: "A permit approval delay will postpone the bridge repair project and detour until later in September."

But eventually this season, WSU fans traveling Highway 26 will be impacted.  The bridge repair project, which will require a detour at Othello for east-bound traffic, will add an estimated extra 16 minutes to the drive. The Washington State Department of Transportation says the project, originally planned for 2019 outside of football season, couldn’t wait because technicians believed safety would be compromised if the current structure had to endure another winter.

The DOT update offered no firm dates for either the start or completion of the project other than it will begin sometime in September and end in October.  The Cougar games that could be affected are three: Washington State plays Sept. 15 (EWU) and Sept. 29 (Utah) at home. The Cougars’ October schedule begins at Oregon State and is followed with a bye, with WSU returning home for an Oct. 20 contest in Pullman vs. Oregon -- the lone home game for the Cougs in October.

MEANWHILE, DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE new clear bag policy this season. Fans will want to procure a clear bag if they plan on bringing anything into the stadium.

“The addition of this policy is another effort to enhance the gameday environment and provide the safest experience possible at Martin Stadium. This is in line with best practices throughout the country,” AD Patrick Chun said in a release when the policy was announced. From an earlier story by Coufan.com

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WSU FOOTBALL

WSU’s bizarre trick play was a collaboration between Mike Leach, Microsoft engineer

UPDATED: Mon., Sept. 3, 2018, 11:07 p.m.

Spokesman-Review)

By Theo Lawson

PULLMAN – Washington State coaches have put a lot on Kyle Sweet’s plate throughout his career, so it shouldn’t be a surprise coach Mike Leach entrusted his slot receiver-slash-punt returner-slash-rugby punting specialist to spearhead a sequence of trick plays that had television viewers frantically pressing rewind on their remote controls during the third quarter of Saturday’s opener at Wyoming.

Shortly after crossing midfield with about eight minutes left in the period and WSU trailing 19-13, the Cougars rolled out their variation of the classic “swinging gates” formation. Not once, but twice.

With all 11 offensive players jammed between the left hash mark and left sideline, Sweet, the center, positioned himself over the hash and performed a one-handed snap, diagonally, toward quarterback Gardner Minshew. Running back James Williams cut in front to catch the direct snap, then followed a cluster of blockers for a 5-yard gain. The Cougars executed it again on the next play, netting four more yards.

The concept that produced the 9 most interesting yards of Saturday’s game was not devised during one of Leach’s long strolls to work – often used as brainstorm sessions – or conceived while the coach was scribbling out his thoughts late at night in the Cougar Football Complex.

In fact, it was a collaboration between the offensive-minded WSU coach and someone who has no apparent football background, other than a deep appreciation and enthusiasm for the game.

“I know this engineer from Microsoft and he likes football and says, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about this?’” Leach said. “One of those idea guys. Very brilliant guy. He’s got a lot of ideas. So he came up with a bunch of formations and pretty good ideas and said they’d be interesting. Got me thinking, so basically on the enthusiasm and energy of some of his thoughts, what he saw, we thought we’d mess with it and it was fun for our players and things.”

The play has a name, too: “Big Gulp Left.”

The seventh-year WSU coach described that as a homage to “a friend of mine,” but anyone who followed along with the summer Twitter feud between Leach and Dan Wolken knows it’s a subtle jab at the USA Today column. Wolken was critical of Leach when the coach tweeted out a doctored video of a Barack Obama speech in June.

Perturbed by the column, Leach, in a Q&A with The Seattle Times, said Wolken would “probably be selling Big Gulps here in a couple years.”

The coach reiterated that opinion Monday in his weekly press conference.

“There’s this guy, this national guy that thinks he’s an expert on everything, which I don’t really think he is,” Leach said. “I figured we’d name the deal after him. And that friend of mine I do believe will end up selling Big Gulps at some point.”

Leach, who co-authored the Air Raid offense with Hal Mumme at Iowa Wesleyan, said it wasn’t the first time he’s solicited advice from a non-football mind. When he was an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Valdosta (Georgia) State, Leach said he occasionally received pointers from a building janitor, who made some particularly astute observations about the body language and footwork about Leach’s offensive linemen.

“He would come in and say, ‘I think the linemen they’re having trouble just because it seems like we move our feet, but he used to get deeper when they’d set up,’ ” Leach said. “You’d go back and watch film and you’re looking at it, and all the sudden he’s right.”

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