Cougars not exceeding Leach’s expectations
Washington State is at a similar spot as last season when it was unbeaten entering a late September nationally televised game on a Friday night against USC.
Last year, the Cougars beat the No. 5 Trojans 30-27 in Pullman, Wash., that elevated them to No. 11 in the rankings the following week.
Washington State is 3-0 heading into Friday’s night game at USC, which is not ranked this time and is struggling at 1-2,
“I’m glad we are 3-0,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said Monday. “I think we have to improve and I think we have to improve a lot this week, quickly. We have to make sure we get a week better this week.”
USC is coming off a 37-14 loss at Texas last weekend, but this is still the Trojans, and many of Washington State’s players are from the Los Angeles area. Leach does not anticipate Washington State’s approach to be any different this week despite playing USC after beating the likes of Wyoming, San Jose State and Eastern Washington.
“You’re trying to play your best every time,” he said. “And if we’re actually doing that, there shouldn’t be room for change.”
Washington State outscored their three non-conference opponents by 131-43, but Leach is not surprised about the dominance. Generally, in past years, Leach’s teams have struggled and even lost to non-conference opponents they were favored against.
But he reiterated Monday that his team has not exceeded his expectations.
“Not really: Our expectations start out real high, and we had a really good offseason,” he said. “And also of course, we got a pretty good preview internally of our guys, both in the offseason and in spring football. But we are highly motivated and have pretty good chemistry going right now and we want to keep this going.”
The Cougars have also outscored their three opponents 52-0 in the fourth quarter this season.
“The biggest thing I think is our entire squad has played well in the fourth quarter,” Leach said. “Offense, obviously, but defense and special teams too. We’ve gotten a lot of plays in the fourth quarter, and we’re trying to manufacture that for all the quarters really.”
