Oregon Defensive Coordinator Nick Aliotti Blasts Washington State for Passing Too Much
By Kyle Koster
Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti was not pleased with Mike Leach’s decision to keep passing during the fourth quarter of the Ducks’ 62-38 victory over Washington State last night. He did not hesitate to share his opinions in the postgame press conference, calling the relentless aerial assault “low class.”
"“That’s total (B.S.) that he threw the ball at the end of the game like he did,’’ Aliotti said. “And you can print that and you can send it to him, and he can comment, too. I think it’s low class and it’s (B.S.) to throw the ball when the game is completely over against our kids that are basically our scout team.’’"
Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday obliterated an NCAA record with 89 pass attempts, including a touchdown toss with 11 seconds remaining. In comparison, WSU rushed 12 times — all in the first three quarters.
Aliotti then drove his point home with the old SCOREBOARD burn.
"“I am kind of stunned he would keep his quarterback and crew in there,’’ Aliotti said. “And still he threw the ball with 20 seconds left. But he did. They want stats, they got stats. But we got the most important stat and that’s the ‘W’ and we are happy about that.’’"
Aliotti’s complete comments are pretty damning. I don’t think he’ll be sending Leach a holiday card this year or any year in the near future.