Friday, November 2, 2001
Last year, Jason Gesser broke his leg against Oregon. Gesser focused
on Pac-10 titleBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comLast week, the Ducks broke up Gesser's undefeated season with a 24-17 victory over Washington State.
But the former St. Louis School quarterback is not broken in spirit. The junior quarterback and the Cougars can remain in the hunt for the Pac-10 championship tomorrow with a win over No. 9 UCLA (6-1, 3-1).
It's the final home game for No. 16 WSU (7-1, 4-1) and "it's a real big game for us," Gesser said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"It's the Pac-10 championship game from now on," he added. "It's a single-elimination tournament for us right now, just like St. Louis' game (today with Kamehameha) for the ILH title.
"I'm glad to be in it. We just need to go out and play hard every time."
That was evident last Saturday against Oregon. Gesser had no fear.
"It was like, 'Here we go, we're going to overtime again,' " said Gesser, recalling last year's overtime game won by the Ducks in Pullman.
Instead, WSU's fourth consecutive loss to Oregon finished in regulation. And in frustration.
With the rain beginning to fall at Martin Stadium and his team trailing 24-17, Gesser had 82 seconds to catch the Ducks. He got the Cougars oh so close, driving his team from the WSU 14 to the Oregon 8 for what would have been the 34th scoring drive of 50-plus yards this season.
Three incomplete passes and 11 seconds later, the clock ran out on what had been a perfect season. His last attempt was to 6-foot-6 basketball player Mike Bush, who appeared to be interfered with in the end zone; Gesser complained all week about the non-call.
(Said Cougar coach Mike Price: "It could have been called pass interference, but I think it was a judgment call. It's hard to call that. Bush could have easily caught the football.")
Gesser finished with 249 yards and a touchdown, connecting on 17 of 37 attempts; he had only 50 yards passing at halftime as the Ducks sacked him twice and pressured numerous throws.
It was the beginning of WSU's four-game closing schedule that the NCAA rates the toughest in Division I. After tomorrow, the Cougars travel to Arizona State and then to No. 11 Washington for the annual Apple Cup.
Gesser, the great-grandson of Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Joseph "Red" Dunn, is the only junior among the Cougars' four captains. He ranks 16th nationally in total offense (268.25 yards per game) and 13th in passing efficiency (148.17).
Gesser, who has started 18 of 23 games in an injury-plagued career, is already firmly entrenched in the WSU record books. He ranks sixth on WSU's career lists for passing -- 4,270 yards -- and seventh in total offense -- 4,512 yards.
His 432 yards passing against California was third-best by a Cougar quarterback. The two ahead of him are in the NFL -- Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf.
Gesser needs 55 passing yards to pass Mark Rypien (5th) In total offense he needs 297 yards to pass Ty Paine (6th) and 352 yards to pass Mark Rypien (5th).
The 21-year-old is also close to the single-season top 10 in two categories. He has 2,107 passing yards and 2,146 total offensive yards; Gesser needs 193 yards to move past Chad Davis (10th) on the passing list and 119 yards to pass Jack Thompson (10th) on the total offense list.
His legendary accuracy from his prep days has carried over to the collegiate playing field. While leading the Crusaders to the 1996 Prep Bowl title, Gesser had one interception in 200 passes.
Last season at WSU, he had a streak of 130 passes without an INT. This year's streak was 64, halted against Cal when a Cougar receiver fell down.
Gesser is ready for tomorrow. His coach is making sure of it.
"How do you expect us to win ballgames if our quarterback is on the phone?" Price asked, taking the receiver and hanging up, ending yesterday's phone interview with Gesser.