{"id":1315826,"date":"2019-10-18T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T20:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/washington-st-colorado-both-stumbling-heading-into-showdown\/"},"modified":"2019-10-18T14:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T20:52:00","slug":"washington-st-colorado-both-stumbling-heading-into-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/washington-st-colorado-both-stumbling-heading-into-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington St., Colorado both stumbling heading into showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Colorado’s Alex Fontenot rushes against Oregon during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo\/Chris Pietsch)<\/strong>
AP | FR24134 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Washington State coach Mike Leach has seen improvement in his defense but more is needed as the Cougars seek their first Pac-12 win of the season when Colorado visits Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Cougars have given up 143 points and 1,715 yards in losing to UCLA, No. 13 Utah and No. 17 Arizona State in consecutive games. The losses to UCLA and Utah prompted defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys to abruptly resign two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve been disjointed on defense and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve totally grasped an identity,\u201d Leach said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we did a great job of giving a clear message in camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leach said Claeys\u2019 resignation also set the defense back, although he thinks interim defensive coordinators Roc Bellantoni and Darcel McBath have already improved things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink it created a lot more energy,\u201d Leach said. \u201cI think the communication was better. I think we lined up better, and I thought we had a lot more energy on the sideline,\u201d<\/p>\n

But the defense still gave up a touchdown with 34 seconds left to give Arizona State a 38-34 victory last Saturday, keeping the Cougars (3-3, 0-3 Pac-12) winless in the conference. It was the last in a series of big plays for the Sun Devils.<\/p>\n

Leach said the defense needs some more vocal leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got kind of a quiet group,\u201d Leach said. \u201cWe need a few alpha guys in there that kind of lead the charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado is also looking to right itself. While Washington State lost in the final seconds, Colorado (3-3, 1-2) got blown out 45-3 by No. 12 Oregon last week for a second consecutive league loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach individual guy has to get better and fix his individual issues, whatever they are,\u201d coach Mel Tucker said. \u201cThen we can get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other things to know as the Cougars prepare to host the Buffaloes:<\/p>\n

AERIAL ASSAULT: Colorado\u2019s Tucker is wary of Washington State\u2019s passing attack. The Cougars lead the nation in passing at 452 yards per game behind quarterback Anthony Gordon and top the Pac-12 in scoring at 43 points per game. Colorado comes in yielding 307 passing yards per game. \u201cIt\u2019s the pure Air Raid,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like a version of the Air Raid. They really have it down to a science and they have a quarterback that can run it.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOCIAL MEDIA BAN: Leach banned his players from social media after the loss to Utah, and the ban is expected to extend the rest of the season. The coach is also taking a break from Twitter, although assistant coaches can still use social media as part of recruiting. \u201cI thought they were distracted with it,\u201d Leach said. \u201cI wish I had done it in camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

HBO: The cameras for HBO\u2019s \u201c2 4\/7 College Football\u201d show were in Pullman all week recording the preparations leading up to the Colorado game. The show has also followed Florida, Penn State and Arizona State this season. The Washington State episode is expected to air Oct. 23. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the school and good for everybody,\u201d Leach said. But \u201cwe\u2019ve got to go about our business and not be distracted.\u201d Asked if he would prefer to watch the football program or \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d Leach picked the latter. \u201cI\u2019d watch somebody else before I watch me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

STAMPEDING BUFFALO: Leach is impressed by Colorado receiver Laviska Shenault, a 220-pounder who will also sometimes run the ball. \u201cHe\u2019s a key guy. He\u2019s explosive. He\u2019s a bigger guy than people realize,\u201d Leach said. Shenault has caught 21 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns this season. He has run the ball nine times for 66 yards and one TD.<\/p>\n

THE COUGAR WAY: Leach said Washington State rarely has the talent to overpower other football teams. \u201cWe have always won games around here because we were tougher than our opponents,\u201d Leach said. \u201cThis has always been a deal where you scratch and claw for anything you have \u2026 we\u2019ve got to maintain that mentality all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado’s Alex Fontenot rushes against Oregon during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo\/Chris Pietsch)AP | FR24134 AP Washington State coach Mike Leach has seen improvement in his defense but more is needed as the Cougars seek their first Pac-12 win of the season […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 17:53:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}