Cougars finally get points but not a win

PULLMAN — They scored early and occasionally. They held a lead for the first time in seven weeks.

These were among the Cougars' several consolations Saturday as Washington State lost to Arizona 59-28 and officially became the most generous team in the history of the Pac-10 over the course of a season.

Yes, they allowed a Pac-10 opponent to score 58-plus points for the sixth time this season. Yes, they added four turnovers and seven penalties to their prodigious season totals.

But the Cougars (1-9, 0-7) quickly ended their streak of 10 consecutive scoreless quarters, opening a lead against a conference opponent for the first time this season and going on to tally a touchdown in each quarter.

In the context of this season, these were signs of life.

"I would say everybody had heart today," WSU tailback Logwone Mitz said. "We've had half the people, three quarters of the people, going out there playing with heart. Today we all had heart. Now we've got to bring out the fire."

The numbers still weren't pretty for the Cougs, whose tackling grew shakier as the game progressed. Nic Grigsby rushed for 189 yards as the Wildcats (6-3, 4-2) outgained WSU 531 yards to 208 and became bowl-eligible for the first time since 1998.

On a wet Dad's Day that drew 24,118 to Martin Stadium, the rain stopped before kickoff and only briefly resumed during the game.

A week after breaking the Pac-10 record for single-season points allowed in league games, the Cougars snapped school and conference marks for all games. They have now given up 502 points this year, eclipsing the 460 yielded by their 1970 team and the 469 allowed by Oregon State in 1981. And both clubs reached those totals a game later.

"We kept our players in the game, competing hard," Cougars coach Paul Wulff said. "We still made some very critical mistakes that would obviously cost anybody. We need to continue to change the ratio of positive plays and negative plays."

With injuries sidelining WSU defensive ends Andy Mattingly and Kevin Kooyman, not to mention linebacker Myron Beck, the Cougars used only three down linemen. The new look seemed to work to their advantage early, but Arizona wound up producing touchdowns on five of its final six possessions of the first half.

When the Wildcats breezed 80 yards in five plays for another TD just after halftime, the score ballooned to 42-14.

Yet the Cougars avoided their customary swan dive. Kevin Lopina threw a 42-yard pass to Ben Woodard to set up a 2-yard TD run by Mitz, cutting the deficit to 42-21.

"It meant a lot," Lopina said of that drive. "We were down but our offense just kept attacking. And in the past we haven't done that. We've laid our heads down and just accepted it: You know, 'We're going to lose this game. Why go out there?' Today we were down and we just kept our heads up and kept attacking them."

The Wildcats rushed for 317 yards, becoming the fourth straight WSU foe to gain at least that many.

"It was a good solid win," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. "The way we ran the football was good, and that's what we needed to do."

When Dwight Tardy scored from 18 yards on an option sweep to open the scoring, the Cougars had their first points since the second quarter of a loss at Oregon State on Oct. 11, and their first lead since beating Portland State on Sept. 20.

It didn't last long. Six minutes later, the Wildcats fooled WSU with a 5-yard end-around by Mike Thomas to tie the score, and Rob Gronkowski broke three tackles on a 43-yard catch-and-run to make it 14-7 late in the first quarter.