Football Friday – Week VI of XII

On defense, again the injury big bites. It now looks like Alex Hoffman-Ellis is a no-go at middle linebacker after developing a staff infection in his arm that required surgery. I gotta say, we have had some unique injuries this year. Viral hepatitis, compartment syndrome, swine flu and now… a staff infection? It’s like an episode of House. Of course our defensive line is now down to Travis Long, an equipment manager, a tuba player and Glen Johnson… backed up by the male cheerleaders. We are officially the team that struggling offenses “right the ship” against. I hope the rest of the Pac-10 appreciates us for that. So, that brings us back to beer. We’ve got a lot of it and Amieable and I intend to drink our share.

My prediction this week… despite my best efforts I will be conscious for kickoff and:

Devils 38, Cougs 21

4 full quarters of Tuel at the helm results in a little bit of offense especially late against the 2nd teamers. Sullivan goes from the dog house to Heisman hopeful.

Elsewhere on Saturday…

AZ @ UW – Dawgs 30, Cats 24
The Huskies are going to love being home again and I don’t think the refs will screw them blind 2 weeks in a row. Brace yourself for that Husky co-worker to start wooping it up again.

ORE @ UCLA – Ducks 41, Bruins 19
Away from Autzen, but I don’t think the Bruins are going to be the ones to break the Ducks stride just yet.

STANFORD @ OSU – Cardinal 35, Beavs 17
EUTM rolls thru Corvalis on the back of Toby G-force and one of the best young QBs in the country that isn’t getting enough attention.

Florida at LSU – Tigers 28, Gators 24
Will Tebow play? When night falls in Baton Rouge crazy things happen. Get ready to feel this one on the Richter scale. GEAUX Tigers!

That’s it, have a great homecoming weekend and GO COUGS!

SeanHawk Sez:

DOES THE FUN EVER START??

Hello Cougs.  Are you ready for some football?  A Saturday afternoon party? Or are you ready for the bye?  I pick both, can I have both please?  One more game, then the most welcome bye of ALL-TIME comes next week.  Seriously, is there any other BCS team in the universe that needs the week off more than these Cougs?  Maybe CAL, OK, I’ll give you that.  And they are off this week, doing who knows what, but after getting outscored 72-6 in their two biggest games of the year vs. Oregon and USC, well, they are probably happy in Berkeley to get away from it all? 

These Cougs, the poor guys are gasping as they reach the mid-point of 2009. Injuries, illness, suspensions, quitters, you name it it’s happened to this rag-tag group.  You can even go back to last spring and the tragic news with Cory Mackay, and things have slowly gone south since then.  But oh well, what can you do?  Go lay down and blame the world for your misfortune?  Or do you pull up the britches, roll up your sleeves and get back in there and fight your asses off??  We’ll find out tomorrow.

Denny’s Devils of ASU are up before the welcomed bye week.  What’s up with ASU?  They are looking OK, if not a little disappointing after last week’s loss to the hated Beavs of Corvallis.  But doesn’t Oregon State always do this?  OSU usually waits a month before they start getting serious, so maybe ASU was just in the way.  So will ASU come in unmotivated and flat up here in the corner of the PAC-10 landscape?  Or will they come in fired up and angry over a lousy loss at home in a game they probably thought they should get vs. OSU?  We’ll get to that in a second. 

First, three things the Cougs must do to hang in this one:

1) MAX PROTECT THE KID QB

I thought we might see a lot of that last week, given the young starter on the road in Jeff Tuel, plus the most beat-up O-line in recent WSU memory.  But after the passing game pretty much sucked and numerous protection issues resulted in eight sacks, there is no doubt they need to adjust the protections for Tuel, or, possibly Marshall Lobbestael.  That means more double-tight-end sets, with one of them staying in to block at all times on passing situations.  That also means keeping the running back in on passing downs to serve as an extra blocker/blitz-picker-upper, and maybe that means more Logwone Mitz or Marcus Richmond?  ASU is going to come, with a bad-ass rusher in Dexter Davis, a stud d-tackle in Lawrence Guy, and some athletic, fast linebackers who will knock your block off.  Whatever they do, however they do it, they MUST protect the “franchise” in Jeff Tuel!   

2) HERE’S AN IDEA – SOMETHING GOOD EARLY!?

It was ugly, early and often last week (42-0 @ the half)…..and the week before that (20-0 @ half vs. USC)….SMU wasn’t too bad, just 17-7 at the half in a game they actually won.  But before that?  35-6 vs. Hawaii, 22-3 vs. Stanford.  The trend of horrific, slow, slumbering starts is distrubing to say the least.  77-0 outscored in the first quarter? How about 136-16 in the entire FIRST HALF!?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?  Five games in, and these guys have scored ONE TOUCHDOWN in the first half!??  That’s “tehr-ible”, as sir Charles would say….

Look Cougs, you’ve got a Homecoming crowd this weekend.  You’ll probably get a decent turnout, not just because it’s homecoming and the weather should be OK, but it’s not even on TV.  Maybe something close to 30,000?  So the only way people can come see Jeff Tuel run for his life grow as a starting QB, well, you gotta buy a ticket.  Whether it’s a big special teams break, an interception or fumble deep in ASU territory that leads directly to points, whatever, they MUST get off to a good start.  Nothing can get a crowd into the game more than a fast start.  And nothing can deflate a homecoming crowd that retreats to the RV lots at halftime more than getting buried early, yet again.

3) COME AFTER ASU QB DANNY SULLIVAN

We’ve seen some passive approaches early this year on defense, vs. Hawaii, SMU and Oregon.  Basically sitting back in zone coverage, read-and-react type defenses.  How has it worked out?  They are 119th in the nation in total defense, one of only two teams giving up over 500 yards per game, and we’re 1-4.  How do YOU think it’s gone!?  Now, that said, ASU is certainly a more traditional attack, via the Erickson one-back offense that WSU QB’s used to excel with back in the glory days of, oh, 2007.  But one thing we do know is how do you beat the one-back?  You attack that sucker.  Make the QB pay, with multiple WR sets and a back coming out of the backfield on passing plays, back there all alone in the pocket. 

New QB Danny Sullivan, well, he’s been “a-ight”, but not anything special.  51% completion rate, 3/2 TD-INT ratio, and only 5.79 yards per attempt doesn’t exactly scream superstar.  He was a woeful 10-for-32 vs. Georgia in their tough 20-17 loss.  He did complete 32 passes vs. the Beavs last week, but that was on 58 attempts (58!) in a losing cause. 

Speaking of ’07 – one of the better games of the that season was ASU at WSU.  ASU won it 23-20, on their way to the Holiday Bowl that year, as WSU missed a field goal late that would have put it into overtime.  That was also the Brandon Gibson TD reversal on replay, when it really wasn’t clear enough to overturn it.  But I won’t cry about replays and whatnot….that’s for the OTHER BCS school in the state of Washington…..Anywho, WSU held ASU to just 296 total yards that day, with a couple of INT’s to boot.  Anyone remember the absolute defensive star in that game?  He wears #45, and he starts at strongside linebacker in what will be his final homecoming at WSU this Saturday.

Andy Mattingly would record three sacks that day among several big plays, coming from all over.  Check out the clip for some highlights from that ’07 game….

Damn.  Oh, to be 5-7 again.  Those were the days.  So oh yeah, back on topic.  Attack and dictate the tempo on defense!  Bring Mattingly, bring Louis Bland and Myron Beck, even bring Chima Nwachukwu or Xavier Hicks from way back there.  What do you have to lose at this point?  And hey, even if you get burned for some deep scores, who the heck knows, maybe you’ll also create some opportunities you didn’t think you would get?  Would you rather get beat being passive or aggressive?  I think we would all prefer to go down swinging vs. just sitting there and taking a beating.

So will any of this happen?  I think we get a much better effort, across the board, compared to last week.  The 52-6 depants-ing at the hands of the Quacks was all the reminder these guys needed of how awful 2008 was.  We don’t want to relive any of that, and these guys sure as hell don’t either!  I think the offense will be under constant pressure, and Tuel will have it thrown at him from everywhere, but things will click much more like the USC game than they did last week vs. Oregon.  I also think the running game will be a pleasant surprise, with Carl Winston getting more involved in the rotation for carries.  And, hopefully, we’ll see a spirited, aggressive defense in front of the home folks.  But, as usual, it won’t be quite enough to bag a win.  ASU has the talent edge, pretty much everywhere.  But it will be especially apparent along their defensive line against our beleagured offensive hogs.  We just don’t have enough capable, healthy bodies up front to pull this one out.  ASU has too much strength and speed with the aformentioned Dexter Davis, Lawrence Guy, and the monster frosh linebacker, Vontaze Burfict.  I think we’ll see a few nice drives, maybe even a TD or two, but that will be it. 

Devils 30, Cougs 14.  But in breaking news…..Nico Grasu WILL MAKE BOTH EXTRA POINTS! And the fans are on the field!

Other games:
UW 34, AZ 24 – Locker shows he’s worthy of that latest Mel Kiper Jr Top Five rating (yes, top five players for the upcoming NFL draft.  I heard a rumor two NFL scouts have already said that after the USC game, Locker looked better than Matt Stafford looked at any point last year.  Enjoy #10 while you got him UW’ers).  

ORE 24, UCLA 20 – Tight game, as Ducks have to go out on the road, on grass, against a fast, physical UCLA defense that can get out in space and win those one-on-one matchups.  Oregon hasn’t been on the road since their debacle at Boise State, but while it’s tempting to call the upset?  Masoli or Costa at QB, it really doesn’t matter for an offense that is absolutely clicking right now.  And while Prince returns at QB for the Bruins, he won’t have quite enough in the tank to get the win. 

STANFORD 27, BEAVS 17 – Toby G adds another 100-yard game pelt on the wall, while Stanford shows it is the most underrated team in the country.  Nice win by the Beavs vs. ASU, but they still have consistency issues week-to-week.  Outside of Oregon at the end of the year, Stanford may be the most complete team OSU will see in ’09.

And the biggie – LSU 20, Florida 18.  Bayou Bengals, at night, at home?  Tebow wobbly after the concussion and bye week?  Florida’s title hopes take a big hit as LSU pulls it out.

Hope to see you in Pullman this Saturday.  Enjoy the games, and GO COUGS!

SUTRA SEZ: