While Alex Brink continues to rack up the passing yards on a weekly basis, a crucial element to the WSU offense has fallen off the face of the earth: the running game. In what is considered a staple of the modern version of the Dennis Erickson-Mike Price one-back offense, WSU has emphasized balance in recent years as a key to offensive success. And in the Bill Doba era, which has seen Mike Levenseller and Timm Rosenbach design the offense and call the plays, the offense has been running at nearly a 50-50 run-pass ratio. But this year? Forget it. The balance has completely disappeared in 2007, and the trend is becoming a big worry for WSU.Right now, the offense is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry. That's good for 108.6 yards per game, which places them ninth in the Pac-10. That's ok, you say, WSU still leads the conference in passing yards per game at just a shade under 300, so big deal. Well, it is a big deal because WSU's offense needs that balance to be successful. Alex Brink is who he is, a solid player who is at his best when he has a strong running attack behind him. But force Alex into 2nd or 3rd and long, and like any QB in the nation, it's a whole different deal. But to really put that 108.6 rushing yards per game in proper perspective, you must realize that it is the lowest per-game average in the Bill Doba era. But the further you go back, the worse it gets. Going back to 1997, 108.6 is the lowest yards per game over that span. The second-worst rushing mark is 114 yards, turned in by a dreadful 1999 team, a team so bad that Mike Price dubbed himself the "King of Poop Island".
It's even worse when you look at just the last couple of years to see how important the WSU running game actually is to wins and losses. Late last year the season fell apart in a three-game losing streak, as WSU struggled vs. Arizona, ASU and UW. In the Arizona and ASU losses, the Cougars were held under 100 yards rushing. In both losses they were held to under two yards per carry. In the season finale against UW, they did barely crack the 100-yard mark at 102 yards, but it came on just 3.3 yards per carry. That's even worse than the 3.6 yards per carry they are averaging this year.
