The Pokes opened up the season at Qwest Field in Seattle against the Washington State Cougars, led by new head coach- Paul Wulff. The Cowboys, who were and are still being doubted because of lack of experience on the D-Line and an untalented secondary, showed drastic improvement starting with the opening drive of the game.
The defense started by allowing a couple mediocre runs but in the following plays began to pressure the Cougar's QB, Gary Rogers. The defense then seemed to pick up some momentum after Ricky Price sacked Rogers on the fourth play of the drive. The Pokes’ strong play from the secondary along with a good pass rush made up for the slow moving, no-huddle spread offense lead by Zach Robinson. The defense gave up 82 yards in the air and 114 yards on the ground combing for a total of 186 yards and 13 points. This is a huge improvement compared to the whopping 443 total yards and 29.5 points allowed per game in 2007. JUCO transfers Swanson Miller, Lucien Antoine and Jeremiah Price all put in a great effort in holding Wazzou to only 13 points.
The special teams unit showed that they are going to pick up right where they started ended of after the 2007 season. Sophomore receiver Dez Bryant had 4 punt returns, averaging 14 yards and Senior Ricky Price also had a 68-yard punt return that almost went the distance. Perrish Cox also ran right through the Cougars special teams, ruining any chance of a comeback by returning a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.
The Cowboys relentless offense, rated seventh in the nation last year for total offense per game (486 yards), did not really seem to be intact until the fourth quarter. The Pokes had a total offense of just 202 yards in the first 3 quarters compared to 138 in the fourth quarter alone. However, sophomore running back Kendall “Spud” Hunter had a great day on the ground, running for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns (1st multi-touchdown game of his career).
Hunter had great blocking from the Pokes’ highly underrated O-line consisting of talented guards Russell Okung and Brady Bond. Okung will continue to be a great asset for the offensive line if he continues playing as he has the past 2 years. He is a target of several NFL teams because of his amount of talent, strength and size (6-5, 300lbs).
Overall, this game was a great boost in morale for the Pokes defense. Even though Wazzou's new no-huddle spread offense was slow and not very productive, the cowboys secondary still showed great improvement. I think if the Pokes keep a balanced offensive attack and the defense continues to grow and improve, it would be a challenge for the cowboys to lose 6 games, as they've done the past 3 years. This could be a great year for the cowboys with the amount of talent they have.
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