Oregon brings out Cougs' toughness

EUGENE, Ore. – Critics had been standing in line waiting to take shots at Washington State’s line play before the men in the trenches delivered a much-improved performance on both sides of the ball Saturday at seventh-ranked Oregon.

“Our defensive line did a really nice job of stopping the run up the middle,” outside linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis said after the 43-28 loss.

“I thought they (WSU’s defensive linemen) dominated in the first half,” said Cougars coach Paul Wulff.

Oregon’s fast-paced, no-huddle offense might have taken its toll on the WSU defense in the second half. Former starting defensive tackle Toni Pole, who rotates with Brandon Rankin, sat out with a neck injury.

“That hurt us a little bit,” Rankin said.

Rankin, an All-American junior college defensive end, has struggled at times in two years as a defensive tackle at Washington State. He rated Saturday’s game as his best with WSU, and he said the defensive line played its best game of the season.

WSU’s offensive line also drew praise. Marshall Lobbestael was sacked three times, but he often had plenty of time to pass, and the Cougars ran for 125 yards.

“I thought we ran the ball extremely well,” Lobbestael said. “I thought we pass blocked extremely well.”

Junior running back Carl Winston said the offensive line “played very well.” Winston had career highs of 14 carries and 69 rushing yards, but he was not happy afterwards.

“Too many penalties, too many mistakes,” Winston said. “We’ve got to stay more consistent.”

The Cougars and Ducks were both penalized 10 times, but WSU was flagged for 95 yards compared with 62 for Oregon. Penalties and three failed scoring chances in the red zone in the first half helped prevent the Cougars from securing a huge upset.

“You take away those two (Oregon) special-teams touchdowns and those two interceptions (at Oregon’s 2), you never know what could have happened,” WSU offensive guard B.J. Guerra said. “We could have won by 10.”