Future of Cougars football must wait after bizarre collapse

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Those Cougars, they break your heart. And ruin a good story.

At halftime, I almost started writing a story about how it doesn't seem to matter that with Oregon State's magnificent new stadium expansion, Washington State has the smallest and worst venue in the Pac-10.

About how that even with WSU's recent success, only two Cougars who play a lot chose WSU over Washington.

About how the Cougars find a way to win anyway.

Ahead 30-16 at halftime, the Cougars were on their way to a bowl game. They had a better pass receiver than Washington in Jason Hill, a better runner in Jerome Harrison and perhaps even a better quarterback in Alex Brink.

They'd virtually played and scheduled themselves into the postseason. It didn't matter that they had beaten up on Nevada, Idaho and Grambling.

With what appeared to be a win over Oregon State — the Cougars had 361 yards at halftime — WSU would be 4-0, needing only two wins to make it to a bowl game, and likely be favored over Stanford in the next game and Washington in the last one.

Man, the Cougars were impressive. Hill had caught seven passes for 179 yards and Harrison had run for 103 more. Brink was peerless.

In the end, they, well, lost it.

"We're going to bounce back," said cornerback Don Turner in a Gill Coliseum hallway after the 44-33 defeat." It's only one game."

It was far more than that. All the momentum and confidence the athletic director, Jim Sterk, hoped to get scheduling Nevada, Grambling and Idaho had vanished in a bizarre second half.

Now to get to a bowl game they'll have to beat not only Stanford and Washington, but someone else in a murderous lineup that sends them against UCLA, California, USC, Arizona State and Oregon.

And they may have to do it — for a while, anyway — without Hill, the receiver, who is clearly the team's most important player.

When Hill went down in the third quarter with a bruised thigh, the Cougars stopped, for a moment, throwing downfield. They quit attacking and allowed Oregon State time and life to get back in the game.

"Oregon State was saying to us that we couldn't pass against them without Jason," said Mike Levenseller, the offensive coordinator. "They played man-to-man on the corner, one safety in the middle and blitzed.

"I was proud of our guys who answered the challenge."

Off the bench, Trandon Harvey caught four passes for 92 yards and Brink threw for 531 yards, but it seemed futile with what else was going on.

Turner, a junior from Spokane, made a spectacular play in the end zone on a one-handed interception that thwarted a Beavers drive in the fourth quarter. But on the very next play, Brink's pass was picked off for a touchdown.

Brink went on to break Drew Bledsoe's school record for passing yards, but he had four second-half interceptions.

"There are a lot of people on the offense culpable for what happened," said Levenseller, "not just Alex."

Tight end Troy Bienemann said he was in the wrong place on two of Brink's interceptions. He slipped on one, and went the wrong way on another.

Fleet Michael Bumpus was running for the end zone with a pass when the ball was knocked out from behind. Three plays later, the Beavers scored again, this time as quarterback Matt Moore broke free of Will Derting's grasp and hooked up with Mike Hass for a 63-yard pass and the go-ahead score.

On another occasion, fullback Jed Collins moved before the snap as the Cougars stood first-and-goal at the 1. A touchdown gave way to a field goal.

"From my point of view," said Turner, "if we come out and score once in the second half and shut them down, they are pretty much going to fold."

Turner was probably right.

But the Cougars threw out the lifeline and the Beavers hung on.

It will be interesting to see where both teams go now.

Washington State has the better team and the better players.

"I don't think they can play with us," said Harrison, the running back. "To lose to them hurts. Really hurts."

But Oregon State has the momentum that comes with an $80 million Reser Stadium upgrade. The Beavers have followed downstate Oregon into the 21st century, leaving the Cougars with the 35,000-odd aluminum bleachers of Martin Stadium.

Before the game, Sterk took a batch of boosters on a tour of the Oregon State facility. He is trying to raise money to do a similar addition at WSU.

The Cougars could have made a statement yesterday for doing it the old-fashioned way, not with suites and smiles, but with an aggressive game plan and athletes from everywhere. Harrison is from Michigan via Pasadena City College, Hill from San Francisco, Brink from Eugene.

The Cougars know how to find them and coach them. They could have been the surprise team in the league.

In his own mind, Bumpus was still running toward the end zone with the ball, even though he'd lost it.

"What happened," he said, "was the worst feeling in the world."

On a day in October, it sure seemed like it.

E-mails for Blaine Newnham can be sent to sports@seattletimes.com.