Air, land and ‘D’
Washington State brings new identity into its Apple Cup showdown vs. Washington,
Mike Leach coaches a team in a city that is 250 miles from the closest metro area of a million people. He has never won a conference championship as a head coach. He was out of coaching in 2010 and ’11.
Yet he is one of the most identifiable coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
It partly has to do with his affinity for pirates, Geronimo and Key West. It mostly has to do with football and the offense he has deployed since the 1980s, the Air Raid.
But if identity doesn’t change, it can evolve. And this season Washington State has played its way into contention for its first Pac-12 North Division and Pac-12 Conference titles under Leach by evolving in two ways not commonly associated with an Air Raid team: It can run the ball frequently and efficiently on offense and take it away on defense.
“Everybody we play now is playing us differently than they played us three years ago,” Jim Mastro, Washington State’s running backs coach, said in the days leading up to Friday’s Apple Cup vs. No. 5 Washington.
“Safeties are a little tighter, they’re trying to disguise the box more. To where three years ago they just lined up in a nickel front and rushed the passer and off they went. Now we’re making defenses have to prepare for us.”
A glance at Washington State’s play selection and run efficiency during Leach’s and Mastro’s five seasons in Pullman bears that out.
In 2012, the Cougars’ total rushing yardage (349) for the season was comparable to what Pac-12 North Division rival Oregon averaged per game (315).
Leach said Washington State’s offensive line, which now averages 320 pounds compared with 260 in 2012, wasn’t big enough or good enough to mount a strong run game at the time. Mastro said, “It was tough. We were as bad as you can get. You’re coming in and you’re putting in an Air Raid, so obviously you want to establish the passing attack. The run was an afterthought back then. It was just about throwing the ball, finding ways we can throw it.”
This season, Washington State running backs Jamal Morrow, Gerard Wicks, James Williams, Alijah Lee and Keith Harrington, as a group, lead the Pac-12 in com- bined rushing and receiving yards (2,497) and touchdowns (30).
Yet because this is an Air Raid team, the pass — and in particular a passer — is still crucial to the big picture. Washington State has relied on Luke Falk not only for his passing accuracy (his 71.4% completion rate leads the Football Bowl Subdivision) but also his offensive acumen, frequently changing calls at the line of scrimmage, often from passes to runs.
“It’s not a coincidence that the last two years we’ve run the ball so well and it’s the last two years he’s been the quarterback,” Mastro said. “It’s not a coincidence at all. He is the key to this whole thing. Like he says, ‘I’d rather win than throw for 600 yards.’ ”
Something else happened in the last two years that has greatly benefited the Cougars. Alex Grinch left a job coaching safeties at Missouri to become Washington State’s defensive coordinator.
On the practice field before his first season with the Cougars, Grinch demanded that the second or third player in on a tackle must attempt to strip the ball. “That is a style of play, and the whole idea becomes second nature,” he said. “It is what they know. It is how they know to finish plays.”
In meetings, Grinch and his fellow coaches shared with their defense the results of a study that showed that Football Bowl Subdivision teams with defenses that generate 24 or more turnovers in a season win at least nine games on average. The data held up before this season, too.
This season, Washington State’s defense has generated 21 turnovers and has eight wins with at least two games to play. Its turnover margin of +0.82 per game — stoked by safety Shalom Luani’s four interceptions and linebacker Dylan Hanser’s three forced fumbles — is tied for 12th in the FBS.
But Friday’s opponent, Washington, is second in the FBS in turnovers generated per defensive possession and points scored per offensive possession. Washington State’s ability to retain possession and regain possession, two factors that have given the Cougars their greatest average time of possession since 2003, might never have more value.
“We talk about takeaways equaling victory,” Grinch said. “We try to convince our guys that our sole purpose for being on that field is to get the ball back to the offense. It is that extreme. That is why you play defense. It’s not to limit yards, it’s to get the ball back to the offense.”
In Washington State’s case, that means getting the ball back to an offense that is a bit different in 2016. And better.