Paul Wulff is in his first year as head coach at his alma mater, where he played on the offensive line in the late 1980s (photo by WSUCougars.com).

The SMU Mustangs find themselves in unfamiliar territory this week as they head to Pullman, Wash., to take on the Washington State Cougars: road favorites against a team in a BCS conference.

In a game that can be heard at 4 p.m. (central time) on KTCK (1310 AM), the Ponies will take on a WSU team that is 0-2, having dropped home games against Stanford, 39-13, and Hawaii, 38-20. The Cougars have gotten off to slow starts in both games, being outscored by a combined score of 57-9 in the first half and have been outgained by 355 yards in their first two games, 1,107-752. The Mustangs, who lead the nation in takeaways with 11, also face an offense that has turned the ball over seven times on four lost fumbles and three interceptions.

OFFENSE

The Cougars’ passing attack has undergone two significant changes since the start of the season. Quarterback Kevin Lopina, who started the first two games, has been benched and will be replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Marshall Lobbestael (6-3, 214), who has completed 10-of-19 passes for 114 yards in a backup role thus far, throwing one interception and no touchdowns. True freshman Jeff Tuel also likely will see his first collegiate action Saturday; Tuel is a mobile scrambler with a very strong arm, and is seen as the future at the quarterback position.

The other significant change came this week when junior wide receiver Jeshua Anderson — the Cougs’ most dangerous deep threat — quit the team to concentrate on his track and field career.

Without Anderson’s speed outside and with the turnstile rotation at quarterback, the Cougars will rely more heavily than ever on their running game, and they already had more rushing attempts in two games (73) than passes attempted (68) in two games — a rarity in today’s game that features so many teams taking to the air more with different versions of a spread offense.

Sophomore Marshall Lobbestael is expected to start at quarterback Saturday for Washington State (photo by SSMG).

The WSU rushing game has two primary weapons: starting running back Dwight Tardy (5-11, 204) and backup James Montgomery (5-10, 193), a junior transfer from Cal who leads the team with 78.5 rushing yards per game and a team-high average of 5.1 yards per carry through the Cougars’ first two games, and ran for a team-high 118 yards in last week’s loss to Hawaii.

“They’ve got two good running backs (Dwight Tardy and James Montgomery),” SMU strong safety Rock Dennis said. “They’re really good running backs. No. 31 (Tardy) is more the power back, the big back — he’s more of a straight, downhill runner, and No. 21 (Montgomery) is more of a slasher type. He can hit a gap and go. He’ll try to make you miss and then go.”

Without Anderson, the Cougars have a crew of receivers who rely on their size and strength to overcome a lack of a deep target with top-end deep speed. Junior Daniel Blackledge leads the team with eight receptions for 101 yards, while sophomore Jared Karstetter has a team-high 123 receiving yards through two games on six catches (20.5 yards per catch).

The offense operates behind a burly offensive line that averages nearly 6-foot-4 and just over 302 pounds per man.

Dennis said that in film study, the best WSU offensive lineman appears to be right guard B.J. Guerra.

“You have to look at the tackles to get your pass/run indicators, first, and their line, when it’s a run, they fire off the ball really well,” he said. “They try to … not necessarily pancake you, but they try to redirect you, to turn your shoulders and get you out of the play. (Guerra), the right guard … when it’s a run play, he fires off the ball really hard. He’s really big (6-3, 318) and strong, and he looks really powerful in run blocking, and he gets to the second level really well, too.”

DEFENSE

The WSU defense has struggled in the Cougars’ first two games, surrendering 38.5 points and 553.5 yards per game, and took two considerable hits when injuries cost the team its best defensive lineman, defensive end Kevin Kooyman (knee), and defensive back, safety LeAndre Daniels (leg) for several weeks.

But SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said the results and statistics from WSU’s first two games can be misleading.”

“Washington State is a Pac-10 team — they’re good,” Mitchell said. “They’ve got the athletes, they’ve got the size, they’ve got the speed, and I think their first two games haven’t really shown that. But they’re a good team — we know that. We know it’s going to be a dogfight.”

Free safety Xavier Hicks leads the WSU defense with 16 tackles in the Cougars' first two games (photo by SSMG).

The Cougars run largely out of a 4-3 alignment. With Kooyman out for several weeks, the top lineman is true freshman defensive end Travis Long (6-4, 247), who is 10th on the team with five tackles in two games … which makes him the only defensive lineman in WSU’s top 10 in tackles. But despite the Cougars’ lack of experience and production up front, SMU coaches and players alike have insisted all week that WSU’s defensive front looks formidable on film.

“I like Washington State’s line,” SMU tackle J.T. Brooks said. “Their numbers might not jump out at you, but they just got through playing Hawaii, which gets the ball out quick, like we try to do. But you break down what they do on film, and they’re the best defensive line we’ve seen yet this year.”

The WSU linebackers are led by starting middle linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis is fourth on the team with 12 tackles, and is the only player on the roster with more than one tackle-for-loss. The other stalwart is Andy Mattingly, a bruising (6-4, 249), athletic force on the strong side. Mattingly, the team’s most physical linebacker, also is listed as questionable (knee) for Saturday’s game with the Mustangs.

“One thing that I’ve seen is that No. 43 (Hoffman-Ellis) — he plays hard, really hard, on every play,” Mitchell said. “He really watches the quarterback’s eyes, and as soon as he sees the quarterback throw, he does a great job taking the right angle to make the play, and he saves a lot of touchdowns because of that, because if a corner misses a tackle, if a safety misses a tackle, he saves the play because he’s still behind them, ready to make the tackle. He catches a lot of guys — he’s pretty quick. So that’s the thing — we have a lot of crossing routes, and he’s back there, trying to make the play.”

The injury to Daniels has forced first-year head coach Paul Wulff to juggle his secondary, moving former cornerback Chima Nwachukwu to strong safety. When safeties lead a defense in tackles, it either underscores their talent or the flaws in the front seven. In WSU’s case, it’s a little bit of both. Free safety Xavier Hicks leads WSU with 16 tackles, just edging out Nwachukwu (15) for the team lead.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Punter Reid Forrest is one of the nation’s elite at his position, averaging 47.0 yards on 10 punts so far this season. He drilled a career-best 64-yarder in the season opener against Stanford, a distance he nearly matched last week when he uncorked a 62-yard shot against Hawaii. Kicker Nick Grasu leads Washington State in scoring with 15 points; he has all three extra points he has tried this season, and has connected on 4-of-5 field goals. His lone miss was from just 21 yards against Stanford.