Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008

An insider's view of the 2008 Apple Cup

By Jeff Morrow, Herald sports editor

PULLMAN -- In the 23 years I've worked at the Tri-City Herald, someone else on the staff has gone to the Apple Cup.

So Saturday's game in Pullman was my first one. Ever.

I decided to soak in the sights and sounds of the event. Here's what I found:

-- 8:30 a.m. -- Leave for the game after working late the night before. I don't usually see the sun this early in the day.

-- 9:45 a.m. -- Traffic from the Tri-Cities to Pullman on Saturday morning is surprisingly light. I mean, I know these teams are a combined 1-20. But come on, this is still for state bragging rights. Maybe that's why I saw just one state trooper during the entire trip.

-- 10:28 a.m. -- Washington and Washington State students, dressed in school colors, are walking through Greek Row together toward Martin Stadium. Sweet harmony.

-- 10:35 a.m. -- More students from both schools are getting their pictures taken together on the mall next to the Compton Union Building. More harmony.

-- 11:40 a.m. -- Nothing beats a pair of marching bands who know how to have fun, running around, dancing and still playing great songs.

-- 11:55 a.m. -- Hermiston's Luke Hansell, a squad player for the Cougars, is one of 18 seniors honored before the game.

-- 12:08 p.m. -- Pasco's Ryan Tolar, starting his sixth straight game at right guard for the Huskies, knows his job is to help move the ball forward. So maybe it's no surprise to see him run full speed to hit his own receiver during a pileup to move him forward. Tolar knows the game.

-- 12:10 p.m. -- Turns out everyone must have come to Pullman on Friday. Stadium's pretty darn full.

-- 12:15 p.m. -- Martin Stadium is quite colorful. It's mostly a sea of crimson, but the horseshoe at the east end is nothing but purple.

-- 12:22 p.m. -- Moses Lake's B.J. Guerra makes his fourth start of the season on the WSU offensive line.

-- 12:45 p.m. -- Washington coach Tyrone Willingham, who is done after this season, apparantly wants this victory bad. Three times during the first quarter, he has taken his rolled up play sheets, gestured at his players with them and is chewing them out for mistakes. The Husky beat writers say he's not usually this intense.

-- 12:47 p.m. -- Kudos to the WSU students dressed in Star Wars gear -- Stormtrooper masks, Darth Vader masks -- and yet they still wore crimson and gray. Very creative.

-- 12:48 p.m. -- Music during timeouts sends the student body into a jumping frenzy. It's especially helpful to those seven WSU male students at the 40-yard line who've decided to forego shirts in the 40-degree weather.

-- 12:54 p.m. -- WSU punter Reid Forrest runs a fake punt for a 28-yard gain. It's the fourth longest run for the Cougars this year.

-- 1:10 p.m. -- Halftime, Huskies lead 10-0. Someone in the press box states it's the first time all season the Huskies have a lead at the end of a quarter. Wow.

-- 1:14 p.m. -- I take a walk around the stadium. Among all of this purple and crimson is a guy wearing a green Oregon Ducks hat.

-- 1:15 p.m. -- I see another guy, obviously a Cougars fan, wearing a T-shirt that states "Ted Bundy was a Husky."

-- 2:15 p.m. -- Can someone please explain to me why Prosser's Cody Bruns, a true freshman wide receiver who was taken off of redshirt status by Willingham on Oct. 4 against Arizona, gets into the game for just two plays, gets touches on both plays and rushes for 24 total yards, yet never sees the field again?

-- 3:22 p.m. -- Nico Grasu kicks game-winning 37-yard field goal in second overtime to give the Cougs a 16-13 win, setting off bedlam.

-- 3:23 p.m. -- It's important to know where you are at the end of the game. So if you happen to be at one end of the field, and need to get to the other end, do it quickly. Students who storm the field will run through anything -- including me -- to get to the players. I learned this lesson the hard way, as WSU students spilled over the railings and ran on a dead sprint.

They did not see me. They looked right through me to the players. I was Mr. Cellophane in Chicago. I was knocked around. I will remember this next time.

-- 3:26 p.m. -- Through the frenzy of the fans, I see Tolar, walking off the field with his head held high.

-- 3:58 p.m. -- "This one hurts a little more just because of the stakes," Bruns tells a reporter after the game, his first Apple Cup as a player resulting in a loss.

-- 4:25 p.m. -- WSU coach Paul Wulff has now coached and played in an Apple Cup. "These emotions are real, whether you are a coach or a player."

-- 4:30 p.m. -- Wulff praises freshman linebacker Louis Bland, who has seven tackles for the Cougars -- three for loss. Bland is light for a linebacker, just 203 pounds. "He's gonna be a good player," Wulff says. "We'll get him in the weight room in the offseason. But we like light linebackers. We want those (ex-Kamiakin standout) Ron Childs guys who play like he did in the mid-1990s. We want that speed at linebacker."

-- 4:38 p.m. -- WSU cornerback Romeo Pellum states how the rest of the team is feeling after getting its first Pac-10 win of the season and an Apple Cup win in front of an enthusiastic home crowd: "It's the greatest feeling I've had in college football. I swear to God. It's the best feeling."

-- 4:42 p.m. -- Senior linebacker Greg Trent, who had a team-best 12 tackles, said he's excited to watch the young crew of linebackers over the next few years.

"Bland, (Finley's) Mike Ledgerwood, Myron Beck. They do an excellent job and they're just as good as the veterans," said Trent.

-- 4:46 p.m. -- Grasu and quarterback Kevin Lopina are buddies. Lopina said before Grasu came in to kick the game-tying field goal at the end of regulation, he stopped his kicking buddy: "I said 'Be calm. You do this every day.'"

Grasu's version? "I don't know what he said. We ran across each other while I was going out. What do you say in a situation like that?"

-- 5:10 p.m. -- I would like a piece of the McDonald's franchise in Pullman after games, please. Students never stop coming in.

-- 5:30 p.m. -- Traffic from Pullman back to Tri-Cities is pretty heavy, especially through Colfax, where it never gets faster than 30 mph.

-- 8:45 p.m. -- Back at the office.

Great day. I got to see firsthand why it's a great rivalry. I'll be ready to go again next year.