PACIFIC 10 / MAL FLORENCE : Cougars’ Price Mixes Fun With Business

Football practices can be dull and repetitious at times, but not at Washington State.

Coach Mike Price entertains his players with disguises and stunts, symbolizing the team’s next opponent.

Some examples:

--He once pulled out a starter’s pistol and “shot” a WSU student, who was dressed as a USC Trojan and riding around the field on a horse.

--He walked to practice in a duck-hunting outfit the week of the Oregon game, carrying a shotgun and a sack full of decoys.

--To relieve the monotony of practice, he called it off one day and took the entire team to his home to enjoy an afternoon swim.

--Last week, before the Brigham Young game, he dressed as a Mormon missionary, wearing a white shirt with a black tie and black rolled-up pants.

The Cougars didn’t win the game at Provo, Utah, although they led at halftime, 29-6, before losing, 50-36.

Washington State was assessed 10 penalties in the second half. That wasn’t funny.

Miami may be the most talkative team in the country. The Hurricane players keep up a steady chatter, taunting their opponents.

But California wide receiver Brian Treggs enjoyed his conversations with the defending national champions last Saturday in Berkeley.

“That was the most fun game I’ve played, by far,” said Treggs, who caught 12 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown as the Bears lost, 52-24. “I’ve never seen a team that talks like them.”

Treggs said he likes to talk, too, so the bantering was mutual.

California Coach Bruce Snyder, noting that Miami quarterback Craig Erickson completed 32 of 47 passes for 467 yards and four touchdowns, told the San Francisco Chronicle that his team has some problems on pass defense.

Then, Snyder added: “We stopped their running game. I think we are as tough as them and we have more class than they do.”

Stanford may be the most frustrated team in the country, having lost to Colorado and UCLA by a total of five points.

More disturbing is that Colorado beat the Cardinal in the final 12 seconds, and the Bruins won in the last second.

Stanford figures to take out its frustration Saturday on Oregon State, which has lost to Montana, Kansas and Nevada Las Vegas while being outscored, 105-47.

“We had good opportunities to win both games,” Stanford Coach Dennis Green said. “I thought we played solid run defense against UCLA. However, our long pass defense, particularly in the second half, broke down. They went to a shotgun offense and we didn’t get much of a pass rush on Tommy Maddox.”

Oregon State fumbled on its first six possessions in the second half and UNLV converted five of them into scores.

Next week, Oregon State plays at Nebraska. A forfeit is suggested.

The Pac-10 game of the week matches Oregon and Arizona, each unbeaten in two games.

The host Wildcats lead the conference in rushing, averaging 265.5 yards a game, and Oregon is second, averaging 240.

Oregon wide receiver Tony Hargain and fullback Brandon Jumper were injured in a 53-20 rout of Idaho Saturday and are lost for the season.

Pacific 10 Notes

Nathan LaDuke, Arizona State’s all-conference safety, recorded 18 tackles, 10 of them unassisted, and returned an intercepted pass 92 yards to a touchdown in a 31-20 victory over Colorado State. “There isn’t a defensive back in this country with LaDuke’s football savvy,” ASU Coach Larry Marmie said. “He does things on the field that coaches dream about.”

Arizona is averaging 52.5 yards passing after two games. . . . Oregon State is either last or next to last in six of eight Pac-10 offensive and defensive categories. . . . Russell White’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Miami was the first for Cal since the famous five-lateral return through the Stanford band in 1982.