WSU football fans who watched the Oregon Ducks thrash the Cougs on Saturday night had flashbacks to an unpleasant time in Cougar football: last year Those who thought 40, 50 or even 60-point blowouts were a thing of the past suffered a startling reminder of the daunting challenges facing head coach Paul Wulff. Any signs of progress from earlier in the season were not evident Saturday when the Oregon ground attack ran over, around and through the undersized Cougar defense. Watching Oregon’s defensive line pummel freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel makes it difficult to believe the Cougs were in the Rose Bowl a mere six years ago. Despite the dark, ominous clouds hovering over the football program right now, fans have to be patient with Wulff’s young squad as it faces some of the most formidable opponents in the nation.

Compounding the team’s troubles, the departure of wide receiver Jeshua Anderson deprives the offense of one of its most important weapons and calls the team’s unity into question. Coupled with a glut of injuries from the past few weeks, this collection of setbacks would be enough to turn the truest fan into a cynic. However, regardless of recent events, the crippled Cougars are learning some important lessons and finding ways to persevere. Rebuilding a football program takes time: a commodity most WSU football fans don’t understand. Properly judging a coach’s abilities takes three or four seasons and rejuvenating a program that was left in shambles by former coach Bill Doba may take even longer.

Seeing rows of empty seats at Martin Stadium on Saturdays is disheartening. Cougar fans are notoriously vocal and proud of their team, but they are also famous for being fair weather fans. Sitting through the 60-point routs will make the 60-point victories that much sweeter.

Every football team enters the doldrums at some point. Even the most storied programs in college football, such as Michigan and Penn State, fumbled their way to the bottom of the rankings in recent years. Stanford, the former laughing stock of the Pac-10, now sits atop the conference standings. There is a natural boom and bust cycle in collegiate sports, and we happen to be at the bottom of the bust period.

No matter what the score is at the end of next week’s game against Arizona State, we have to realize the rebuilding process is going to take time and calling for Wulff’s resignation will not hasten the team’s return to Pac-10 glory.

When punter Reid Forrest takes as many snaps as any of our quarterbacks or when a 30-point loss is considered close, success is judged on a different level. Cougar fans don’t need to be reminded of how their once mighty team has fallen on hard times, but they do need to be reminded to support their team regardless of the outcome.