Even though the bowl-eligible script has been written – the Huskies are in, the Cougars are out – Apple Cup fans should have much to intrigue them Saturday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.
One of the great football minds in America will be patrolling the sidelines.
His name is Paul Sarkisian, also known as Steve Wulff. As the head coach of the University of Washington State Huskougs, he relishes the conveniences of a major metropolitan market while appreciating the down-home charm of a small college town.
Paul Sarkisian is a talented man, because he represents the best and brightest of two of them: Steve Sarkisian and Paul Wulff. If their styles were combined into an ideal prototype, we’d be talking about a coach worthy of a statue at The Gorge.
Take Wulff. He’s a salt-of-the-earth educator who inherited a Washington State roster littered with troublemakers and overhauled it with athletes who regard classwork as seriously as their training regimen in the weight room. Between Sundays and Fridays, Wulff is a pillar of self-confidence.
And on Saturdays? Saturdays sometimes find Wulff more motivated by a fear of defeat than a desire to win.
Sarkisian, by contrast, lives for Saturdays, when play-calling isn’t so much a routine than a symphony enriched by improvised jazz riffs.
The former quarterback’s knack for breaking down defenses puts his team in position to win close games.
Since dropping the 2010 opener at BYU, the Huskies are 5-0 in contests decided by seven points or fewer. (The Cougars are 3-3, and one of those victories was a 23-22 cliffhanger, at home against Montana State).
And yet, for all of Sarkisian’s tactical acumen, the Huskies have become stagnant after a 6-2 start. A sloppy performance Saturday at Oregon State dropped their record to 6-5, and posed a question: Are UW players incapable of responding to instruction, or were they overrated by the recruiting services out of high school?
Sarkisian almost always offers a well-reasoned answer to second-guessers – even if a playbook staple backfires – but when the subject turns to the sort of all-phases ineptitude displayed at Oregon State, he talks in circles.
“Maybe we’re trying too hard,” he volunteered the other day.
Huh? When the defensive line is providing no pressure, and linebackers are attempting feeble arm tackles routinely broken, “trying too hard” is not a logical explanation.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘want-to,” Sarkisian is fond of saying.
I respectfully disagree. When I watch receivers drop passes, I want to scream. When I watch defensive backs allow 10 yards of separation on a wide receiver, I want to throw a shoe at the TV.
It’s fair to wonder: Does a Huskies season that’s hit a snag under Sarkisian take a different path under Wulff?
Improvement in Pullman has been gradual – OK, glacial – but tangible.
The 2009 Cougars finished 1-11, averaging 12 points a game. The 2010 Cougars finished 2-10, averaging 19.6 points a game. The 2011 Cougars are 4-7, averaging 29 points a game.
Wulff has supervised the rebound to respectability by signing two and three-star recruits who are a few pounds lighter, and a half-step slower, than the four-star recruits Sarkisian covets.
On the other hand, it’s also fair to wonder if WSU still might be on the cusp of a bowl game if Sarkisian were calling the shots during the overtime defeat last week against Utah.
Regulation time was about to expire when Cougars’ Jared Karstetter pulled in a pass ruled inches from the goal line.
With a season, and perhaps Wulff’s legacy, hanging in the balance, the Cougars coach turned passive when circumstances demanded a bold decision. Instead of challenging the Utes – or, better yet, surprising them – Wulff called for the game-tying field goal that set up overtime. Cougars fans know how that went.
This much we all know: There isn’t an overtime if the choice is Sarkisian’s. He would’ve understood the odds of winning are much steeper with a field-goal attempt in inclement weather – a kick that guarantees his defense will have return to the field – than with one play specifically designed for a goal-line gut check.
The Huskies were in an identical situation last season at California: Down three, ball inside the 1-yard line, bowl hopes at stake, time for one snap. Faced with the dilemma of either kicking it and hoping for overtime, or smashing it in and dancing to the locker room, Sarkisian called for a “26 power quad,” destined to be remembered as “God’s Play.” (So named because “God,” as Sarkisian would explain, “loves power runs.”)
Chris Polk took the ball and ran to the ride side of an unbalanced line, followed a block by fullback Austin Sylvester, and scored the touchdown that saved a season. What made the play especially impressive is that it was executed in a hurry-up mode, creating a precious split second of indecision by the Cal defense.
“When they called it,” Polk said afterward, “I knew it was going to be perfect.”
Many of Sarkisian’s play calls approach perfection. The coach’s challenge is to maximize a talent potential in late November that clearly was evident in the middle of October.
Wulff’s team doesn’t boast the athletes the Huskies do, but the Cougars are generally more prepared to excel today than they were yesterday. The coach’s challenge is to have some faith in them on game days.
Paul Wulff’s steady grip on the big picture is admirable, but I’m wondering if his brain-freeze in the clutch might’ve cost him his job.
Steve Sarkisian ranks second to none as a strategist, but if the Huskies are beaten in the Apple Cup, I’m wondering if UW fans will tolerate a once-promising season closing with a four-game losing streak.
An Apple Cup showdown between coaches with obvious gifts and obvious flaws finds me wondering a lot this week, searching for answers.
Paul Sarkisian would have all of them.
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