Washington State LB Takes A Break MID-PLAY, Gives Up TD

Washington State linebacker Devin Richardson was feeling generous during today's meeting with Oregon, essentially giving the Ducks a touchdown.

In the third quarter, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix tossed a short swing pass to running back Bucky Irving, who scampered for a first down. And that’s about all that would have happened, if Richardson didn’t start daydreaming.

For some inexplicable reason, the Cougars linebacker seems to have thought the play was over, or Irving was heading in another direction or maybe he spotted a friend in the stands. Whatever it was, he simply stopped defending and that's about the time he got leveled by a blocker while Irving sprinted by for his third touchdown of the game.

I couldn’t tell you what led Richardson to believe the play was over. If he had his eyes towards the quarterback, he would have easily seen Irving start to move up the field. The video shows the man that Richardson covered was clearly out of the play. If that’s the case, he should have had more situational awareness and located the ball. Instead, he helped give up a 42-yard touchdown.

Cameras showed that he looked disappointed in himself, so it’s hard to berate the guy too much. The devastating block probably served as enough punishment, but I’m sure he’ll get chewed out in the locker room too.

The Ducks led the Cougars 31-16 at the time of this writing. If Washington State wants to get back in the game, their defense is going to have to step up in a big way. They’ll need all hands on deck, especially Richardson.