Freshman receiver Wilson making an impact for Cougars | WSU notebook

DALLAS — Marquess Wilson is making an impression for Washington State.

The freshman wide receiver eclipsed the 100-yard mark in receptions — he caught six for a career-high 134 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown with 1:50 remaining.

In three games, the 6-foot-1 Wilson from Tulare, Calif., has three catches of more than 40 yards. He has two games of more than 100 yards — the first WSU freshman to do that since Philip Bobo did it three times in 1990.

He also had a 44-yard reception, in which he jumped over a defender, taken away by a holding call.

He not only leads WSU in receiving yards, but he's leading in superlatives.

"He's phenomenal in the field," said fellow frosh Deone Bucannon. "His routes are so smooth."

"We know, once we get him one-on-one with a guy, it's a really, really good deal for us because he's a special player," said quarterback Jeff Tuel, who has helped Wilson amass 13 catches for 281 yards (a 21.6-yard average).

"Marquess is a player, it is absolutely unreal the plays that he makes," said senior Kevin Kooyman.

Wilson, quiet and restrained, didn't want to talk about himself.

"Jeff did real well handling the pressure and getting the ball to us," Wilson said. "He was able to run around in the pocket and sling the ball around."

Heat plays a role

The heat, which reached the mid-90s, took its toll on both teams, although only the Cougars had to get used to it.

"It's hot, humid," Kooyman said. "It's definitely not like Pullman. I would say the second half, it caught up with me a little bit."

"We were a little sluggish," WSU coach Paul Wulff said, "but I can't say they weren't either."

The heat might have been behind some confrontations between the teams, with the Cougars hit the hardest, with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on senior center Zack Williams killing a promising third-quarter drive. Williams was replaced for one series by Chris Prummer.

One streak broken

This was the first victory for the Mustangs against a school from a BCS conference since they defeated Kansas 31-17 on Sept. 2, 2000.

The Mustangs were 0-17 against BCS schools during that span, including a 30-27 overtime defeat last year at Washington State.

That bit of information wasn't weighing heavily on the mind of SMU coach June Jones.

"I just read that on Thursday," said Jones, who spent 12 years as an NFL coach earlier in his career. "We're 7-1 in our last eight home games, and to be a good team you have to win home games. If you do that it doesn't matter if you play in the NFL or C-USA."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.