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Washington State's Mike Leach goes on epic rant about team's poor play (Video)

Sam Cooper
College football writer
(AP Photo/Young Kwak)
(AP Photo/Young Kwak)

The beginning of the 2016 season has not gone well for Mike Leach and Washington State.

The Cougars dropped to 0-2 over the weekend with a loss to Boise State that followed a season-opening defeat at home to FCS Eastern Washington. Leach, during his Monday press conference, absolutely laid into his team.

Watch this:

To recap, Leach is upset about receivers running wrong routes, ball security, “stupid moves,” running out of bounds, lack of toughness and more.

While I’m sure Leach hopes that sends a message to his team, it seems he has a few other things to worry about as well with two defensive players facing potentially serious legal trouble.

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First, linebacker Logan Tago was arrested Monday for second degree assault and second degree robbery. Both are felony charges. According to The Spokesman-Review, Tago and a group of other men are accused of assaulting and stealing beer from a 23-yard-old man in Pullman back in June.

From The Spokesman-Review:

Per Pullman Radio, which first reported the news, Tago and several other men approached a 23-year-old man early on the morning of June 4th, who was carrying a case of beer on California Street in Pullman. The alleged victim claims the group demanded his beer and assaulted him when he refused. The alleged victim suffered a concussion and the group stole the beer.

Police arrested Tago when he arrived at the police station for an interview following a lengthy investigation, having finally gathered enough evidence to positively identify one of several suspects as Tago. No other arrests have yet been made.

Tago, a sophomore, has been a starter for the Cougars this season and is sixth on the team with seven tackles.

Elsewhere, the Seattle Times is reporting that Pullman Police have recommended charges against senior safety Shalom Luani. Luani is accused of punching a WSU student in the face during an alleged Aug. 24 altercation outside a Domino’s Pizza.

Police say Luani was upset about the length of time it took for the restaurant to prepare his pizza order, though Leach and Luani have said there’s another side to the story.

From the Times:

Pullman Police Commander Chris Tennant told The Seattle Times last month that Luani was at the pizza place late one night when he got agitated about how long his pizza order was taking and got belligerent. Some people in the crowded restaurant asked Luani to leave. When he got outside the pizza place, Luani allegedly punched a WSU student in the face.

Since that report, however, Luani and WSU coach Mike Leach have both insinuated that there’s another side to the story presented by the police department.

Leach told reporters that there was reason to believe Luani was “jumped by three people” while Luani took to his Facebook page to apologize to friends and family for disappointing them but also said that there was another side to the story that has yet to be publicized.

Luani did not play in the season opener against Eastern Washington but played in the loss to Boise State over the weekend, registering two interceptions. Luani started 13 games in 2015. Per the Times, a WSU spokesman said Luani is expected to play on Saturday when the Cougars host Idaho.

For more Washington State news, visit WazzouWatch.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!