Leach doesn't spare coaches in his critique

PULLMAN - At first blush, the Washington State Cougars talked a lot of psychology as they critiqued their performance in a surprising 41-38 loss to Rutgers. During a news conference Saturday, they took a more nuts-and-bolts approach.

In both instances, coach Mike Leach didn't spare his coaching staff, especially when addressing what he sees as a need for more defensive aggression.

"We have to tackle better, there's no question," Leach said, "but we have to coach tackling better. The other thing is, we have to put (defensive) pressure on them. You can't just stand up there and take it. I thought we were too one-dimensional."

The Cougars gave up 496 offensive yards Thursday night in their season-opener at Seattle, including 173 rushing yards to deceptive tailback Paul James, who scored the winning touchdown with 3:24 left.

During a sometimes tense postgame news conference, Leach implied that the Cougars, even after making their first bowl appearance in a decade last year, are still shadowed by black clouds and enabling attitudes.

"I think for too long around this university, expectations, performance, all that, have been too low," the third-year coach said. "But unless we as coaches, we as players, change it, it's not going to get changed from outside.

"Everybody's going to have 20 pats on the back before they get back to their house. We've got to change that. We've got to expect more out of ourselves and we've got to get more out of ourselves, starting with the coaches."

His tone was more relaxed Saturday as he pointed out the team's inexperience at certain positions and the need for improvement as the Cougars prepare for another nonleague game next Friday at Nevada. The Wolf Pack opened their season Saturday with a 28-19 win over Southern Utah.

"Some of it is getting guys to grow up quick, and last week was a big step toward that," Leach said. "And most importantly, we've just got to coach better. We've got to have the ability to get more out of our players - each position, each coach."

Leach and his players, unsurprisingly, had few quibbles about the performance of the WSU offense and Connor Halliday, who threw for 532 yards, 25 shy of the WSU record.

"We were jelling," said receiver Vince Mayle, who caught 12 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. "It was kind of like we were throwing it to ourselves, with nobody on us."

The Cougars rushed for only 6 net yards, a statistic that Leach and Halliday attributed to the priorities of the Rutgers defense.

"They were stopping the run - we weren't pushing them off the ball," said Halliday, who has the green light to audible to run plays. "The times we did hit big runs, they were draws or they were quicks, not true run plays. I'm not going to call a play that's not been effective for us."

Yet the WSU offensive line, including three starters seeing their first college action, drew plaudits from both Leach and Halliday, while a green secondary's performance was "a little more mixed," Leach said. "I thought our inexperience showed at safety at times. Some good things at (cornerback), for sure, but the occasional bonehead play."

On Thursday night, Halliday had expressed disappointment in the Cougars' failure to mount a winning or tying drive in the final three minutes, questioning whether "all 11 guys truly believed we were going to win that game."

He, like his coach, assumed a different tone two days later, emphasizing the team's youth at various spots.

"I think our offensive line played a great game, a tremendous game," Halliday said. "I thought we (the offense) played a good game all the way around. It was a tough loss but I'm very happy with everybody's play."

Halliday was asked what message he had delivered to River Cracraft in the moments after the sophomore had been stripped of the ball after making a punt reception at midfield, giving Rutgers a reprieve that led to its deciding touchdown.

"I was just telling him, 'We're going to need another score, and I'm going to be coming right back at you. Forget about that, and we're going to win this game and laugh about it later.' " Halliday said.

The quarterback did go back to Cracraft, but the receiver couldn't reel in a high throw from a pressured Halliday on fourth-and-13 from the Cougar 38-yard line.

As for the muffed punt reception, Leach acknowledged that a fair catch "probably would have been a better way to do it."

NO DECISION ON MARKS - The Cougars' top receiver last year, Gabe Marks, was kept off the traveling squad for the Rutgers game, Leach said, but he reiterated that no decision has been made about whether to redshirt him.

Marks, a junior who has yet to redshirt, has battled various unspecified issues since the end of last season.

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Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.