PULLMAN - For the fourth time this season, the Washington State Cougars find themselves prepping for a freshman quarterback.
And although it's incalculably easier to game-plan for these rookies than for the succession of veteran QBs they saw last year, they're not prepared to call themselves lucky.
Besides, it's the 12th game of the season and these freshman opponents are growing up.
"You see he's getting better every week," WSU linebackers coach Ken Wilson said this week of Jake Browning, the true freshman who calls signals for the Washington Huskies. "He's making better reads. He's throwing the ball much better, and he's just another in a long line of freshman quarterbacks we've faced."
His point: They're starting as freshmen because they're prodigiously talented.
The bowl-bound and 20th-ranked Cougars (8-3, 6-2) head to Seattle to face the improving Huskies (5-6, 3-5) on Black Friday (12:30 p.m., FOX) in the 108th Apple Cup.
"We've played some really good guys at that position all year," WSU outside-linebackers coach Roy Manning said. "Some of those young guys, by this point in the season, the game has kind of slowed down for them. We're expecting his best, and he's got a lot of skill around him."
Browning, 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, is completing 62 percent of his passes for 2,468 yards and 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Another true freshman in the Huskies' exceedingly young offense, tailback Myles Gaskin, needs just 17 rushing yards to hit quadruple figures for the season.
More experienced are the top wide receiver Jaydon Mickens, who has caught 45 passes for 516 yards, and senior tight end Joshua Perkins, who actually boasts the highest yards-per-catch average on the team, at 14.4.
"Their tight ends are like receivers out there, and obviously their receivers are very skilled," Manning said. "It's like, pick your poison. It really is. Any of those can make you miss, and a lot of those guys have great speed.
Browning "gets the ball to them in open space, they run a bunch of pick routes and get your eyes all over the place with misdirection and motions. We're really going to have to be disciplined going in there Friday."
And yet the Huskies' overall strength is their defense, led by linebacker Azeem Victor with his 87 tackles, including 71/2 for loss. Most notably for the Cougars' Air Raid offense, Washington and its skilled secondary have allowed only eight touchdown passes, seven fewer than any other team in the Pac-12.
The Huskies' youth appeared to be a liability early in the season, but the team is coming off a 52-7 rout of Oregon State, three weeks after a 49-3 dismantling of Arizona. In between the two landslides came respectable showings in losses to Utah and Arizona State.
BOWL BUBBLE - The Huskies obviously need to win the Apple Cup to become technically bowl-eligible with six wins. But with the glut of bowl games this year and a probable shortage of eligible teams, they could wrangle a bid even if they lose.
Of course, they're not thinking in those terms.
"Ugh - I think there's too many bowls," Washington coach Chris Petersen said. "I'll say that, if we're talking about that."
SMACK-FREE CUP - With Petersen placing UW players off-limits to the media this week, there's been precious little trash-talking across the mountains prior to this rivalry game.
Some Huskies took exception to an excised quote by WSU offensive lineman Gunnar Eklund. In context, though, the remark was benign.
"We know they're not going to be tougher than us," he said. "That's one thing we've tried to make (clear) this season. No one's going to be tougher than us. And they might have better recruits or however you want to call it, but they're not going to hit us harder than we hit them. We really believe we can win every game and I think that's huge."
Actually, the most pointed comment of the week might have come from WSU coach Mike Leach, directed not at the Huskies but at Seattle, in a veiled way. He was talking about recruits inquiring about the Cougars' home in Pullman.
"Too often they ask if it rains all the time here," Leach said. "Which, clearly, no, we're in the foothills of the Rockies. We're not over there in the cold swamp."
PROPS FOR GRINCH - First-year WSU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is one of 34 nominees for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach.
The only other Pac-12 nominees are UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and USC receivers coach Tee Martin.
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Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.
