WSU turns up the volume for Ducks.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Washington State will head to its practice field today, and one of the first items of business will be turning up the volume on the piped-in crowd noise.

`It drives me crazy to do that, but you have to do those kinds of things,' WSU coach Bill Doba said.

Especially this week, he added. The 21st-ranked Cougars are headed to Eugene for a Saturday afternoon matchup with 10th-ranked Oregon. It'll be the first visit to Autzen Stadium for WSU since 1999, when none of the current Cougars were playing.

`All we've heard are the rumors,' WSU's Jeremey Williams said.

So what should they expect?

`We'll tell them it's a very exciting place to play,' Doba said in a conference call with reporters. `It's a hostile crowd. They'll be throwing water at you and everything else. It's great to get a crowd like that quiet by getting a lead.'

If not, the Cougars will work on hand signals and the `silent counts' of going on the center's snap because the quarterback can't be heard. Doba expects it to be very loud ... and this is a coach who this season took a team to South Bend, Ind., where 80,000 were in attendance.

`Notre Dame isn't half as loud as Oregon,' Doba said.

Well, there's Ohio State, which seats 104,533 and hosted the Cougars in 2002.

`That was loud,' Doba said. `But Oregon is louder.'

Whether Oregon (4-0, 1-0 Pac-10) is better is probably more of an issue for the Cougars (3-1), the defending co-champions of the Pac-10 who will be playing their league opener.

Asked to evaluate his first team as the WSU head coach, Doba pronounced himself generally satisfied with its progress.

The offense `has progressed about like I expected,' Doba said, adding that quarterback Matt Kegel `has come along faster than maybe I expected.'

A fifth-year senior, Kegel had started only two games prior to this season, at the end of his freshman year after Jason Gesser broke his leg in a game against Oregon. Kegel completed 11-of-26 passes for 126 yards and took the Cougars into overtime against the Ducks in his first major playing time. A week later he led WSU to a victory over USC.

In his four starts this season, Kegel has completed 59 percent of his passes (80-of-135) for 1,038 yards and five touchdowns, with three interceptions.

The offense has, however, struggled at scoring in the `red zone,' possessions that reach inside an opponent's 20-yard line. Against New Mexico, the Cougars had to settle for field goals after first downs at the 5-, 2- and 1-yard lines, leaving WSU with eight field goals and five touchdowns on 15 trips into the `red zone' this season.

`If we can't put two tight ends in there and hammer it down somebody's throat, we might have to do something else,' Doba said. `We might need some deception in there ... spread the offense out. And there's nothing wrong with that quarterback sneak with a 6-foot-4 quarterback in there.'

Kegel scored WSU's only touchdown against New Mexico on that kind of play.

Defensively, the Cougars have hardly seemed to miss cornerback Marcus Trufant and tackle Rien Long, now playing in the NFL. WSU is allowing 317 yards per game overall - six more than Oregon - and is plus-seven in turnover margin, with seven fumble recoveries and six interceptions, while the WSU offense has turned the ball over only six times.

`We're about where we thought we could be,' said Doba, promoted from

defensive coordinator when Mike Price made the ill-fated decision to leave the Cougars for Alabama. `We thought the defense would be pretty good. ... We've gotten a few more turnovers than we might have expected, so that's good.'

If there's an area of concern, it's `way too many penalties,' Doba said.

Officials have stepped off 46 penalties against the Cougars - three more than any other team in the Pac-10 - and Doba said `the thing we must eliminate is the celebration penalties, that's something we can control. I'm dead set against taunting.'

Doba said Pac-10 officials are calling excessive celebrating more often than it's being flagged in other conferences.

`I watch games on the East Coast and guys are dancing and strutting and nothing is called,' Doba said, and while he might not like to see that, he does think there's some room for mild rejoicing on the field. `It's a game and we're supposed to have fun ... genuine excitement is part of it.'