Trojans Won’t Face Cougars’ Gesser

When USC plays Washington State at the Coliseum on Saturday, the Trojans will face one of the top passing attacks in the conference. But it won’t be quite the offense they expected to see.

Washington State’s quarterback, sophomore Jason Gesser, broke his leg in the second quarter of a 27-24 overtime loss to Oregon last week. Up to that point, Gesser was leading the Pacific 10 Conference in passing yardage and efficiency.

“He is obviously crushed,” Washington State Coach Mike Price said. “He worked so hard and it means so much to him and then not to be able to finish the season will be very disappointing.”

On a brighter note for the Cougars, reserve quarterback Matt Kegel nearly led his team to an upset. The redshirt freshman completed 10 of 20 passes for 107 yards and scored a touchdown on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“He didn’t play like a backup quarterback,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said. “They didn’t drop off [talent-wise] at all.”

Bellotti noted that, at 6 feet 5, 226 pounds, Kegel is bigger than Gesser and might have a stronger arm.

USC Coach Paul Hackett figures that whoever plays for Washington State will benefit from a pass-oriented program that has produced Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf who, by the way, is Kegel’s cousin.

“They are going to throw the ball all over the place,” Hackett said.

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USC spent Monday studying films of the Cougars and, while the defense focused on Kegel, quarterback Carson Palmer and receiver Matt Nickels watched an old friend.

A few years ago, Billy Newman was their teammate at Santa Margarita High. He was a tailback then. Now he plays safety and is one of the leaders of Washington State’s defense.

“We both knew him really well,” Nickels said. “He’s just a fantastic athlete.”