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WSU's backup tries to forget Apple Cup in time for UCLA Matt Kegel may not play a single down Saturday, but the junior backup quarterback is in the national college football spotlight as Washington State starter Jason Gesser remains questionable for the game against UCLA. Gesser was in Seattle earlier this week having a special brace molded to his foot with help from the training staff of the Seattle Seahawks and remains only 50-50 to play in the game that will determine so many of college football's bowl games. As coach Mike Price prepares his team for a trip to Pasadena to determine if the Cougars get to go back for the Rose Bowl, he said he was comfortable with Kegel at quarterback. "You have to be around the team to appreciate how good an athlete Matt is," Price said. "He's going to be a great quarterback before he graduates." Kegel was anything but great replacing Gesser in an overtime Apple Cup loss to Washington. "The Apple Cup is over and done with," Kegel said in a teleconference from Pullman on Tuesday. "There were a lot of things that went wrong for the Cougars. It's in the past. Now we have one big game to concentrate on. I was personally devastated by the loss in the Apple Cup, but good quarterbacks have to have a short memory." This is the third season Kegel, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound redshirt junior from Havre, Mont., has been a backup. It might be Kegel's third career start. "It's different because of the number of reps you get in practice," Kegel said. "The offensive line, the running backs and the receivers get more comfortable with your cadence and just the way you play." Until now, Kegel may be best known as the first cousin to Ryan Leaf, who quarterbacked WSU to the 1998 Rose Bowl after a 67-year absence. Price said he talked to Leaf on the phone Tuesday, but Price said he did not suggest Leaf call his cousin. "Ryan said that Matt doesn't need his advice and knows that he has his support," Price said. "I know Matt will handle things just fine, and Ryan feels the same way." Kegel said that he and Leaf, who left WSU a year early to go to the NFL, are "close." "He lived 110 miles away, but we would go watch all his high school football and basketball games," Kegel said. "We also always had Thanksgiving and Christmas at Grandma's. Ryan has forgotten about football - put it in his past. As long as he's happy, I'm happy for him." Kegel said the response he got from the team when he returned to practice on Thanksgiving Day bolstered his confidence. "The team is responding to the loss in the Apple Cup in a very positive way," Kegel said. "I'm anxious to get down there and accomplish our goal." The fate of most of the bowl games hangs in the balance, but Kegel said, "I'm trying to treat it like any other game. "Sometimes when you approach it like everything is on the line, you don't play as well. What's at stake is in the back of all our minds, but we've tried to approach this like any other game." Price prefers that approach. "The less pressure on the players the better," Price said. "My job is to relieve pressure, not put it on them. These last four days have been great for Matt. He's practiced very well." Besides, Kegel said, being a backup quarterback means not having any expectations. "It comes with the territory," Kegel said. "You never know what is going to happen. I play and let the coaches coach." If he plays well Saturday, WSU will be back in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. | ||||||||||
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