BearTerritory.net - Early look at the Cougs

October 20, 2009

Chris Nguon
BearTerritory.net Senior Writer

Spotlight on WAZZU

Last season's record: 2-11 overall, 1-9 in the Pac-10
Current record: 1-5, 0-4 Pac-10 (win over Southern Methodist; losses to Stanford, Hawaii, USC, Oregon and Arizona State)

Even though their record might not reflect it, the Cougars are having a much better season than last year's disastrous campaign under then first-year head coach Paul Wulff.

After winning just two games last year and basically getting blown out of the stadium in all the other contests, Wazzu has already recorded one victory this season (30-27 win over Southern Methodist) and has played teams relatively tough given the overall talent on its squad.

The Cougars hung tough with defending conference champ USC in Los Angeles, losing 27-6 in a game that was sloppy but hard-nosed on both sides of the ball. Last year, the Trojans smoked the Cougars by 69 points in the Palouse, so there is definitely some progress being made by Wulff's program, albeit very slow progress.

Last time out, Wazzu played Arizona State hard for four quarters but didn't have enough at the end, eventually going down 27-14 in the school's homecoming game.

Given who the Cougars still have to play from here on out (Cal, Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State, Washington), it's unlikely that Wazzu will rack up another win this year. However, you just never know and the fact that the Cougars played USC the way they did should give fans in Washington some hope.

Player to watch: Chima Nwachukwu

A big reason why the Cougars have been able to make a lot of their games respectable this season (Wazzu was shutout 3 times last year and lost by 40 points or more fives times) is their defense.

Specifically, the athletic 5-foot-11, 201 pound safety has been right in the mix of things. Nwachukwu - Wazzu's leading tackler -- is a solid defender who despite his size is also relatively strong at the point of attack.

Nwachukwu, who hails from Allen (Tex.), ranks 7th in the Pac-10 this season in total tackles (45) and tied for second in solo tackles (31), which is just one behind Cal linebacker Mike Mohamed, who leads in the conference in solo takedowns (32).

Nwachukwu also has an interception this year.

OTHER ESSENTIALS

Through the first six games of the 2009 season, the Wazzu coaching staff is still searching for continuity within its starting lineup. Though early in the campaign, injuries have forced the Cougars to use four different starting lineups in its offensive live, five different starting lineups on offense and four different starting units on defense. There has yet to be two games this year where Wazzu has used the same starting offense and defense.

True freshman Jeff Tuel was given the starting nod at quarterback last week at Oregon, marking only the second time in school history Wazzu started a true freshman signal caller. The first was Drew Bledsoe in 1990, who made his first career start at Oregon State in the seventh game of the season.

Four Cougars were included on Phil Steele's Midseason All-Pacific-10 Conference list, including Redshirt junior punter Reid Forrest was named to the first team, redshirt senior center Kenny Alfred was named to the second team and freshman defensive end Travis Long and Nwachukwu were each named to the third team.

Linebacker Louis Bland ranks 10th in the Pac-10 in tackles (42).

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