There was plenty of reason to celebrate in Pullman on Saturday night...there was also plenty of reason not to. I guess it's a case of good news, bad news. Usually I'd ask which one you want first, but in this situation you don't get a choice.

THE COUGS WIN!

From the very first play of the game (a Hallston Higgins interception that set up a touchdown), Washington State dominated Portland State. The end result: a 48-9 victory (the Cougars first of the season...like you need a reminder) on a rainy, cold night at Martin Stadium.

I guess you have to look at everything with a grain of salt (pardon the cliché). The Vikings are a step below WSU (Portland State is out of the Big Sky Conference (FCS/I-AA), so the stats are a little skewed.

Hopefully the Cougars offense picked up some confidence as they get ready to head back into the Pac-10 schedule. Wazzu accumulated 638 total yards (361 yards through the air; 277 yards on the ground). Dwight Tardy and Christopher Ivory both rushed for 83 yards (on only eleven carries each) and a touchdown. Logwone Mitz looked good in mop-up duty, picking up 62 yards and a score (Kevin Calabro pointed it out on the broadcast (I'm sure you could also see it at Martin Stadium), Mitz was just a couple moves away from breaking a big run).

Ten different Cougs caught at least one pass on Saturday night. Tight end Devin Frischknecht led the charge with five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. Early in the third quarter, Brandon Gibson helped turn a short pass into a 43 yard touchdown (easily the most exciting play of the game). He finished with three catches for 84 yards and the one TD. The senior wide receiver has now caught a pass in 27 straight games (the 14th longest streak in the country).

I saved the quarterbacks until now for a reason (so I can transition into the bad news). Kevin Lopina and Gary Rogers were both injured during the game. Before he left the game with a deep shoulder bruise, Lopina connected on 7 of 17 passes for 109 yards and also threw two interceptions. Rogers, who left the game in an ambulance (I'll update his status in a second), was 6 of 11 for 103 yards and a touchdown. The most impressive performance came from third-string quarterback Marshall Lobbestael. The red-shirt freshman (thrown into the fire) completed his first two passes for touchdowns, finishing the night 9 of 12 for 149 yards and no interceptions.

Here is the bad news: Gary Rogers is out for the season. He suffered a "stable cervical spine fracture." According to WSU, he will not need surgery, but recovery time for an injury like that is three to four months. There is good news in here as well. Rogers, who felt numbness in his upper body after he went down (a hit that was flagged by the officials), appears to be OK. He just won't play football for the Cougars again (even though he waited five years for his opportunity). My heart goes out to the kid.

As for the starter against Oregon next week...that's still up in the air. Paul Wulff said he didn't want to speculate on anything in the postgame press conference. We'll have to see if Lopina is healthy enough to play as the week goes on. If he's not...Lobbestael is the guy.

I quickly want to touch on the WSU defense before I let you go. They picked up some confidence as well. The Cougars registered three sacks, two interceptions (there were a couple of dropped INT's as well), and one fumble recovery. Portland State doesn't run the ball much (and when they tried they didn't go anywhere), so WSU was able to hold them to eight rushing yards (the lowest output by an opponent since 2006). I also want to give props to Greg Trent, who now has 259 career tackles (good enough for 15th place in school history).

Like I mentioned, the Cougars return to their Pac-10 schedule this weekend against Oregon (who was upset by Boise State on Saturday). I'll be talking about that matchup throughout the week (and keeping a close eye on the quarterback situation), so be sure to check back here soon.

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