From the start, no win in Cougars’ sails

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Could be that this is a bit condescending, but honestly, it was hard not to feel a tinge of sorrow for banged-up little Washington State on Saturday.

Try as they might -- and nobody should question the Cougars’ effort -- nothing short of a major miracle would have allowed them to keep their game against USC even relatively close. An upset win? That was never on the table, even against a team that has burped up some unbelievably surprising losses in recent years.

So, yeah, I had a bad feeling for the kids from eastern Washington as they plowed into the mighty Trojans, and I’m not alone.

“I was a little uncomfortable. . . . I just didn’t want the score to go any higher than it had to,” admitted Pete Carroll after loping off the cold synthetic turf at pint-size Martin Stadium, a 69-0 victory in hand. “I feel terrible for them. Those guys are busting their tails to try to find something positive and it has just been as hard as it can get.”

Carroll added, of course, that he was also “really fired up” about his team (when is he not?), which he said played with more focus and discipline than it had all season, an assertion backed by the fact that the error-prone Trojans went an entire game with no turnovers and just two penalties.

All of this is fine and good, but now a question looms: After this win, can anything about how the Trojans might play down the stretch of this season be gleaned?

Short answer: Nope.

Saturday’s opponent, remember, was a team that started the year talent-thin only to be devastated by injuries; a team that has now given up more than 60 points to four opponents; a team that came to play Saturday ranked 116th out of 119 major college teams in scoring offense and 114th in total defense.

“What was tougher,” the leaders in the USC locker room were asked, “a Trojans full-tilt scrimmage, or this game?”

Mark Sanchez wouldn’t bite. (But he did flash a cagey smile that said more than even his silence.)

Rey Maualuga: “You know, practice is always hard for us as far as going against our own offense.” (He wouldn’t be more specific.)

Patrick Turner: “Uh, well (long pause, cagey smile similar to that flashed by his quarterback), scrimmages are pretty tough considering our defense . . . but, uh . . . you know (another smile, because he really doesn’t want to get in trouble with his coaches for telling it like it is) these guys in the Pac-10, they give us a good challenge too.”

Translation: Practicing against fellow Trojans is flat-out tougher than playing against the 2008 Cougars.

You knew that the Trojans, disappointed after last week’s win, would come out firing, edging eventually toward 100 points, and that the Cougars would be lucky to score three.

Walking the half-empty stands just minutes before the game began, it was quickly apparent the hometown would not protest this assessment. “It’ll be a moral victory if we lose by 40,” deadpanned an usher. “I just hope no one gets hurt.”

“There’s only one thing I can guarantee,” said a student. “Washington State will take the field . . . our team is just so weak, that’s all we can guarantee.”

On the radio, a former Cougars head coach: “I don’t think we can win the offense and defense against this team . . . but we can win the kicking.”

It only takes a fast review of the first possessions to know how this unfolded. Washington State won the toss at midfield and elected to kick rather than trot out its offense, guided by a quarterback who recently cracked a bone in his spine. USC’s first series lasted less than three minutes and went like this: 16-yard pass, 11-yard pass, five-yard run, 22-yard run, 24-yard pass to wide-open Turner.

The first Washington State drive went for six yards or so and finished with a really nice punt that made you feel as if, yes, maybe they could win the kicking game.

By halftime, the score was 41-0. Down on the field, the Trojans were all riled up -- dancing up and down and sideways in the maniacal sort of way they sometimes do. Carroll was going around slapping butts and the fans were streaming away from the stadium and on the radio the old Cougars coach sounded awestruck in his country twang: “I hate to say it, but it is men against boys,” he said. “Even their kickers have 3% body fat.”

Probably the biggest surprise was that Sanchez was still under center at the start of the third quarter. Maybe he wanted to see if he could throw one more six-pointer after he tied a Trojans record with five touchdowns . . . in the first half.

“I thought things went smoothly and things went well,” said Sanchez, who rebounded forcefully from a tough game last weekend.

Yes, things did go smoothly and well and there were many positives. The Trojans came away without injuries and participated in what was something similar to a very good, crisp practice. They beat the oddsmakers’ best guesses. (Note: They also got away from the smog for a few days and took in a bit of the rolling hills of eastern Washington, which are calming and artful in a minimalist-Zen-pebble-garden sort of way.)

The Trojans’ schedule looks favorable the rest of the way, six games to go before a bowl, only California looming as a real toughie. But after sputtering a bit early this season, do they have their groove back? That’s anyone’s guess. Though the score Saturday was monumentally one-sided, playing gutsy little Washington State just doesn’t give us enough to go on.

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kurt.streeter@latimes.com