Washington State deals with loss, coaching rumors

Oct 17, 2017 - 3:52 PM Washington State coach Mike Leach is preparing his 15th-ranked team to bounce back from last week's humbling loss at Cal while dealing with the questions surrounding a potential move to Nebraska.

Former Washington State athletic director Bill Moos, who hired Leach before the 2012 season, is Nebraska's new athletic director. Leach must work past that distraction while game-planning for visiting Colorado this Saturday.

"I don't have any plans to do that," Leach said during his Monday news conference when asked about the possibility of following Moos to Lincoln, Neb.

"They already have a head coach there. He's a pretty good one -- Mike Riley."

Leach mentioned that Moos "is the best AD I've ever met."

"Of course, a bunch of Nebraska media is hammering on me," Leach said. "I don't really have time to do any of that until we get done game-planning."

Colorado (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) is coming off its first Pac-12 win while the Cougars (6-1, 3-1) are trying to recuperate after suffering their first loss, a 37-3 rout suffered against the Golden Bears.

Washington State returns home to face a less-demanding challenge defensively against the Buffaloes, who have allowed 35.5 points per game in Pac-12 play.

Last week, Colorado allowed 33 points to Oregon State, which had only reached 30 points once before this season. That's promising news for Washington State, which ranks third nationally in passing (380.9 yards a game) behind quarterback Luke Falk.

Falk is coming off a five-interception performance against Cal, which sacked him nine times.

"We played sorry and got what we deserved," Leach said of the loss. "The team is pretty determined to improve, pretty determined to focus in. We have to coach everybody better."

Most of the press conference on Monday was about Moos and the loss to Cal. Not much was mentioned about Colorado. Leach said what is most important is what his team does focusing on itself.

"We just have to worry about ourselves and be the best we can be," he said. "We just have to focus on ourselves."

NOTES: QB Luke Falk's career win total also remains at 24, which is tied with Jason Gesser for the school record for a starting quarterback. ... WR Isaiah Johnson-Mack led the Cougars with six receptions for 59 yards last week. He ranks 10th in the Pac-12 with 39 receptions for 375 yards and three touchdowns. ... S Jalen Thompson ranks third in the Pac-12 with three interceptions. He is also among the top 20 players in the league with five passes defended. ... OLB Hercules Mata'afa leads the conference with 10 tackles for loss.