Submitted by FoxFirstatTen on September 4th
*SWX has begun a new weekly program with the arrival of Mike Leach at Washington State. Press Pass Pullman airs every Monday night at 10 p.m., right before SWX Tonight.
Press Pass Pulllman features the highlights from Monday's media day in Pullman. And because Coach Leach limits the availability of players to the media during the week, the weekly program on SWX is a must-see for true Cougar fans!
Washington State quarterback Jeff Tuel said there would not be any moping around after last week's loss to BYU, and coach Mike Leach said there were some learning opportunities to be had.
Some of the things Coach Leach addressed during Monday's news conference in Pullman:
- He addressed the "pouting on the sideline", saying coaches failed to set the players strait in that regard. Several times players could be seen with drooping shoulders and long faces. "We spent more time putting on frustration demonstrations than we did playing football," he said.
- Leach talked about the strategy of playing teams like BYU early in the year.
- With regard to the quarterback play, Leach said Tuel "got out of some stuff I didn't think he'd get out of", and that he did a good job extending plays.
- Leach explained the reason behind limiting players to talking with the media during the week. He said he wanted hem to focus more.
Highlights of Jeff Tuel's portion of the news conference:
- Tuel also addressed the team's body language, and said Coach Leach aims to fix the problem "in a hurry." He also said the team isn't going to "sit around and mope for the whole week," and added, "those times are over."
- Tuel admitted he hadn't played in a game in a while and he may have been too relaxed. He said he needed to do a better job at leading vocally leading the team. Tuel said he didn't play his best.
From the defense's perspective:
- Defensive end Travis long said the defense was more effective in the second half against BYU after they started to line up correctly.
- Long said the new defensive scheme plays into his strengths.
- Long said the defense is ready to move on after the loss to BYU and is ready to take on EWU.
- Linebacker Deone Bucannon said the loss to BYU was a hard pill to swallow because of the heightened expectations brought on by the arrival of Coach Leach. He also said, though, Friday's practice was a good one and the team is ready to move on.