Football Friday on Thursday – Montana State Edition

Hello Followers.  Hope you’ve had a great week. Well, after having the dust kicked off of me by our Cougars on Saturday night, I’m now poised for the big improvement in Week Two.  Now, on to the picks:

Quack 31  Vols 17.  Most of me thinks that the Quack are just going to roll in this one. But, even if Tennessee is down, road games into the South are seldom easy affairs for Pac-10 teams (see WSU circa 1988 as an exception). So, I expect to see the Vols make this interesting until the 4th quarter.

Trees 31  Bruins 23.   UCLA showed lots of moxy last week in NEARLY putting the game into OT (failed two point conversion).  Here’s to thinking that they put enough offense together to keep this one close til the very end.

CAL 24  Colorado 23.  Future Pac-12 rivals put together a dandy.  Again, home field is the key–Colorado would lay the wood to the Bears in Boulder.

Arizona 63  Sit-On-Dell 2.   Yes, this is how you ensure bowl eligibility.

Washington 41  Syracuse 23.   People round these here parts (note – Sutra is now residing in upstate NY) are thrilled about the Orange’s performance against AKRON last week.  While the Cuse can run the ball, I expect this to be a very angry and dangerous Washington team.  The good news: 1-1 is going to be 1-3 real soon in Montlake!

USC 55  Virginia 10.  Some things never change.  If you’re Virginia or Arkansas, do NOT play USC in the first month of the season.

Arizona State  45  NAU 10.   Yawni, yawn, yawn.  

And the Big One:

WSU 44  Montana State 27.    Lots of offense in this one.  And yes, MSU may make us nervous for a bit.  But, here’s the deal:  When you have Pac-10 atheletes going against Big Sky athletes in football, the better athletes ALWAYS win.  And we saw that time and time again last year as we faced Pac-10 teams when we had Big Sky calliber talent.  This year, however, get ready to watch Marquess Wilson, Isiah Barton, Chantz Staden, and James Montgomery run away from guys early and often.

Enjoy the win, because, as we all know, it might be the only one.

LUCASCOUG SEZ:

LucasCoug and ESPN SportsGuy, Bill Simmons, deep in conversation.  No doubt discussing how badly the NBA SCREWED Seattle. 

Anyway, on to LucasCoug’s weekly picks:

Oregon at Tennessee:  The Ducks and Vols combined to shutout their opponents at home last week by a combined score of 122-0.  LaMichael James returns to the Ducks offense, and Oregon returns to Eugene knocking on the door of the Top 5.  Oregon 42 – Volunteers 24

Stanford at UCLA:  Like I predicted last week, UCLA is in trouble with injuried.  Cardinal 38 – UCLA 21

Colorado at Cal:  Last week the Buffs won by three scores against their in state rival; a team who beat them just last season!  Has Hawkins team turned the corner?  Cal will be an excellent test, but I don’t see Colorado pulling the road upset.  Cal 31 – Buffs 30

The Citadel at Arizona: You thought Nick Foles and Company looked good against Toledo?  This game is going to be even worse for the underdog.  AirZona 70 – The Citadel 6

Syracuse at Washington:  Last weekend, BYU proved the Huskies still aren’t good enough to win on the road.  A harsh reality for a team that has remaining road games against Oregon, Cal, USC, and AirZona.  Remember when I said Dion Lewis would be the only Heisman Candidate playing in Utah last week?  Jakey is gonna need to step it up this week as the Cornhuskers and Trojans are up next.  1-3 starts don’t take you to the Downtown Athletic Club in December.  Huskies 31 – Orangemen 20

Virginia at USC:  If we learned anything in Week One, it’s the Trojans defense is very suspect and their offense is as good as ever.  USC 45 – Tony Bennett’s 23

Washington State and ASU over Montana State and Northern Arizona, respectively.

SEANHAWK SEZ:

What’s up Cougs?  Ready for week two as much as I am?  After last week, I’m ready to wash the horrible, craptacular taste out of my mouth, aren’t you?  And what better way to do so than to get a full helping of FCS opponent to get you on your feet again.

Let’s face it – last week was CRUSHING to your crimson soul.  All the hope and buildup from nine months of “we’re going to be much improved” fell apart in about 30 seconds of the first quarter.  The initial, gut reaction to Saturday was that there is very little to take from week one, other than another bout of HERE WE GO AGAIN.  But I don’t know, after a few days to chill and think about everything, it’s once again important to keep it all in perspective.  For example:

1)  Like it or not, this team is young, young, YOUNG.  And while talented, with youth comes huge mistakes, breakdowns, what have you.  Last week, I was personally shocked when I read that stat that said 96 of the 113 players on the roster haven’t even been at WSU for three years, period.  I know hindsight makes it all crystal clear, but to think they were really going to go out on the road against a team that has done nothing but win in recent years and keep it within shouting distance, well, it wasn’t realistic. 

2)  While we can argue Wulff’s credentials or record at WSU or at EWU or whatever else, sadly we are still in the middle of this rebuilding plan. As much as we want to overanalyze his performance as a coach, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind. Look, nobody wants to wait around to get better.  And our westside cousins in Montlake went from 0-fer in ’08 to 5 wins in ’09, hey man, WE WANT A TASTE TOO!  But Sarkisian walked into a much, much better situation than Paul Wulff.  That’s been so thoroughly documented that I won’t waste time here recounting all the BS that Wulff inherited, nor will we look at what UW had waiting for Sarky.  But Jim Walden said it best in the KJR interview the other day (and you really should do yourself a favor and listen to it if you get the chance), all Paul Wulff has been able to do in 2+ years is try to clean up a mess bigger than any of us can comprehend when he took the reins! 

I know, I know.  It’s a “pro-WSU” highlight, and you conveniently don’t see any of the OSU onslaught of 65 flippin’ points scored.  But still, there are some reasons for hope.  Personally I love seeing the flash-n-dash of true talent at the skill positions in the youngster, Marquess Wilson, and the JC transfer, Isiah Barton.  As much as I like Jared Karstetter and Gino Simone, they were virtually non-existent last week with injuries, but they also don’t bring the same playmaking abilities in terms of raw talent that a Wilson or Barton can give you. 

Now imagine adding Karstetter and Simone back into the mix this week, and what they bring to the table, to go with what Wilson and Barton can flash?  Just the very idea of having a thorough, complete receving corps makes it look like Jeff Tuel is going to have four very legit-type wideouts for the first time in his brief WSU tenure.  How can I not be excited to see what they can do?

Anywho, just remember what Mike Holmgren used to say all the time (no, not “it is what it is”).  “It’s NEVER that bad, and it’s NEVER that good!”  In other words, things are never that awful when they are going bad, and things are never that great when it’s going good.  So don’t get too low when we get crushed, and don’t get too high if we roll over someone.

On Montana State, it’s still hard to know for sure what they are all about.  They won big last week, but that was against something called Fort Lewis(?). 

We looked hard at Montana State with the ‘ol fishwrap series this spring, and there are some capable players on this team.  Frosh QB Denarius McGhee looks like the real deal, a good athlete who beat out former Quack QB Cody Kempt for the starting job.  He was a modest 11-for-17 for 178 yards in his first-ever start, and also ran for 15 yards on two carries.  And there is some skill at wide receiver in Everett Gilbert.  Taken from the fish wrap: 

The 5-9, 177-lb speedster from Rockwell, Texas burst onto the scene as a frosh last year, earning all-conference honorable mention honors while leading the team in catches (46), receiving yards (556) and receiving TD’s (six) in ’09.  He also added another 151 rushing yards and 478 kick return yards, to finish 3rd in the Big Sky in all-purpose yardage.

So they have some talent.  But in the end, I think it’s important to note that while they have a few players who could probably play in the Pac-10, they just don’t have enough of ’em right now.  No, they don’t have a Kendall Hunter who is going to gain 164 yards on broken tackles.  I think back to the Portland State game for WSU in ’08, one of the worst WSU teams in recent memory, and they absolutely laid waste to the Vikings, 48-9.  And the last time Montana State played a BCS team on the road, they were flattened by Michigan State last year, 44-3. 

So the trends are really positive here for WSU.  Add in the fact that the Cougs are embarrassed, angry and ready to fight in their home opener, and the receiving corps should be in full health?  You have to like the Cougs this Saturday.  I think it will be a little sluggish early on, but WSU pulls away for a 41-20 victory, and you all can enjoy a post-game VICTORY beer!  But savor it, my friends.  There may not be many chances to do such a thing the rest of the way. 

Other games:

Quackers 38, Vols 20 – I know it’s the SEC, but as Chip Kelly said earlier in the week – “this isn’t our first rodeo.”  Cocky, confident, and full of speed and depth, Oregon flexes some serious Pac-10 muscle in this one.

Stanford 34, UCLA 17:  The Bruins are in big trouble already. 

Berkeley Bears 40, Buffs 21. Our new Pac-12 friends are going to play this one awfully close early, but Cal always seems to score a big early season home non-conference victory every year, don’t they? 

Wildcats 63, Citadel 8: Really?  I love LucasCoug’s moniker for the Wildcats – “AirZona” is perfect. Hide the women and children, this one is ugly by the middle of the second quarter.

UW 33, Cuse 18. UW is mad, at home, Cuse isn’t very good and a long way from home, blah blah blah.

USC 31, VA 24. Call me crazy, but SC did NOT look very good last week.  Had they played a BCS team, they might have been in bigger trouble.  I know, they were on the road in Hawaii, they are on probation, they didn’t hit much in fall camp, etc.  But I can’t get past 588 yards and 36 points to Hawaii.  That is just UNREAL to think of SC giving up that much! 

ASU 35, N. AZ 6.  Eeesh.

All for now.  ENJOY YOUR THURSDAY, and GO COUGS!