Cougars Football | Injuries pecking away at WSU line

PULLMAN — A few hours before today's California-Washington State game, first-year WSU coach Paul Wulff hopes to catch up with teammates from the 1988 Aloha Bowl victory back in town for a 20-year reunion.

He might be tempted to take a few of those guys with him for the 3:30 p.m. kickoff, especially the offensive line.

Injuries have pecked away at what mostly would have been a veteran line, retarding WSU's progress in Wulff's new no-huddle offense. It struggled through a scoreless first half against Oklahoma State before coming alive for two second-half drives in a 39-13 loss to the Cowboys.

"Because we're moving guys around, it may take us a little while to get this going," Wulff said. "That part is a little challenging."

That wasn't a problem back in 1988, when WSU's offense rolled through the Pac-10 for nine wins, including a road upset of No. 1 UCLA. The season propelled Dennis Erickson to Miami, where he won two national championships, and augured the arrival of Mike Price, under whom the Cougars would go to two Rose Bowls.

Erickson has called that line the best among the collegians he's coached, better than those at Miami. Wulff and Dave Fakkema played center, Mike Utley and Jim Michalczik were the guards and Chris Dyko, John Husby and Ken Kuiper were tackles.

"We had two first-round draft picks behind them," Wulff points out, referring to running back Steve Broussard, now on his staff, and quarterback Timm Rosenbach, who was taken as a top NFL supplemental-draft pick.

"That, and we started running an offense no one could defend. The line was good. We had a big, physical presence on one side and an athletic one on the other."

Michalczik is now offensive-line coach at Cal. When a reporter told Wulff that Michalczik joked it was WSU's best line ever if you take Michalczik out, Wulff quipped, "I would agree."

Says Michalczik, "The hardest thing is to realize it's been 20 years. It feels like yesterday.

"Wish we didn't have to play the game, and we could all run to Vegas together."

Those were the days. Now WSU is groping for answers up front after three injuries of significance. Senior Dan Rowlands quit the team late in camp with chronic shoulder problems. This week, sophomore Andrew Roxas was felled until midseason when a defensive lineman fell on his knee, causing a partly torn ligament.

At least WSU will have left tackle Vaughn Lesuma, who missed the opener with a back injury. Steven Ayers and Brian Danaher, who became starters last week in the shortfall, will again be pressed into action.

"Danaher played a pretty solid game; he needs to play a lot better, to be honest with you," Wulff said. "Steven did some good things, but made some mistakes, too. He's got a ways to go. They did OK under the circumstances."

Washington State figures to need to improve on offense, because Cal rolled up 467 yards in a 38-31 opening-game win over Michigan State. On the other side, Montana State rushed for only 81 yards and passed for 324, but threw 48 times to accomplish that.

"I was impressed with the way our defense flew around," said Cal coach Jeff Tedford.

Cal has one of the best group of linebackers in the country, and Tedford singled out Anthony Felder, a former O'Dea High School linebacker, as one of the leaders on a team that has been touting improved chemistry.

Meanwhile, WSU will have to upgrade special teams if it hopes to hang with the Bears, who have won the past three in the series. Wulff says the Cougars should have punter Reid Forrest, who missed the opener in recovering from a broken ankle.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com