Hello Followers. Hope you’ve had a good week as well as a GREAT month of Zeptember and are ready for one heckuva ride into Rock-tober.
As for me, well, its been a bit crazy around the compound. You see, on Wednesday night, I was watching the baseball saga unfold (while skyping with Cindy B) when I hears these huge “Crashing” sounds from upstairs.
So, I immediately said adieu to my latest obsession, and ran upstairs to see what the heck was going on. And, as soon as I got to the top of the stairwell, I ran face first into the visage of my good knave, and your friend, Brinkhater.
Of course, as soon as I saw him, I knew what was coming…..:
“SUTRA, I am so darn sick of all the crap that you and your soft-bloggers have been putting out as of late on MY stinking blog,” “I mean, this is one of the biggest games in like four years of WSU Football and no one on the WSU blog is providing any sense of context.” He continued:
“I mean, its been two years since I was laid off from the blog and the only good posts that been on the blog since have occured the two times I was able to steal your fricking log-in name and passphrase.”
“And to think,” he added, “you actually allowed fricking CLETIS to blog and not me?!!! Are you fricking kidding me?”
And, of course, in his true blue fashion he went on some more, some more, and some more after that:
“And I’m not taking it anymore, Sutra, I’m really not. And so, I’m here to tell you that me and the rest of the Brinkhater Army are coming to get YOU, Sutra, as well as the rest of your pansy-ass blowhards. And I mean it. So, consider yourself warned that you will wake up someday soon to find a new personna that will be competing to take your place!”
“Oh really?” I replied. “And exactly, what type of personna are you envisioning, BH? You know, fellah, its been FOUR LONG YEARS since Alex Brink graduated with THREE Apple Cups to his name. Don’t you think that your whole “Hater” trip has become a bit passe?”
“Not really,” he replied. “Its YOU, Sutra, that represents a thing of the past. But, I agree, the BH thing has run its course, which is why I am telling you, Cletis, and the rest of your sissy girlfriends on the blog that a new force is here to be reckoned with. And that new force is none other than:
THE COUGLA KAHN!!!
So, at that point, I knew it was time to give BH a shot of meds. But alas, as we all know, when he gets like he was (and is), you can’t really stop a guy like BH, you can only hope to contain him.
And so, I think you all should be forwarned, my dear followers, that the Cougla Kahn is probably coming soon (albeit only occasionally) to a WSU Football Blog near you.
Now, onto Today’s pre-Colorado post (READ ON!)
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Followers, as you all know, one of my main jobs around here is to provide you with important kernels of “the truth.” And so, allow me to begin this brief post with one of that them kernels:
THE COLORADO BUFFALOES ARE NOT A GOOD FOOTBALL TEAM!!!
Mind you, there is a difference, albeit a slight one, between being “bad” and “not being good.” So, we really should all avoid the temptation of thinking that Colorado is a “bad” football team. At the same time, we should also beware of the other following “kernel of truth”:
A TEAM THAT CANNOT BEAT A FOOTBALL TEAM THAT IS “NOT GOOD” IS, IN FACT, A BAD FOOTBALL TEAM!
And really, that is the issue and fear heading into this game. While there are several questions regarding our team that remain unanswered, the same cannot be said about Colorado: They look EXACTLY like the South doormat that we all thought they were.
And so, count this game as one of two MAJOR litmus tests that will determine not only our fate for this season, but also that of Paul Wulff. Lose the next two and, nothwithstanding Jeff Tuel’s injury, significant questions will emerge regarding whether or not this team has improved much from the end of last year….
Now onto the issues regarding this game:
1) Our pass rush is more than a secondary concern.
Yesterday, SeanHawk made the bold statement that he “really liked’ the play of our back 7. Personally, I don’t agree with him. In fact, I think our corner play–as well as the play of Mr. Toomer–has been sub-par all season long. But, I agree with him and the view that a big culprit of our pass defense–WHICH RANKS 90TH even though we’ve largely played patsies!–invovles the lack of a consistent pass rush. Which brings me to the following questions;
A) Was SDSU’s 4th quarter onslaught merely an abberation?
Maybe. When you look at the fact that our defense was on the field FOREVER in that game, coupled with the fact that our D had received all of 2 quarters worth of work in the previous game, it could be that the fourth quarter was the result of fatigue that we won’t see again the rest of the year. At the same time, count me in as a guy that was VERY concerned about the number of plays AND points that SDSU left on the field two weeks ago, particulary in the passing game. Of course, we’re gonna find out which was more indicative of this defense–quarters 1-3 or quarter 4 real quick.
B) Is it time to see something besides a 4-3?
When Wulff said that Logan Mayes would play this weekend, it became pretty clear that the coaches want to see what the 4-3 would look like with a faster End playing in passing situations. But, one has to wonder if even that will work. After all, when you’re not getting pressure even when you’re blitzing, somethings gotta give. So, one has to wonder if a 3-4 or 3-3-5 isn’t in the cards for this weekend. I mean, if you can’t get pressure, why not throw an additional man in coverage? Why not try to move your speed around a bit to better disguise some of your blitz packages? Again, we’re going to learn a lot about our D this weekend (and our coaches) because SDSU showed that our defense may not be developed enough for us to be competitive.
2) Four on the Floor.
One of the disturbing aspects of the SDSU game was seeing how frail Galvin looked once he got through the initial front four. In short, when he got hit, it looked like he just got BLASTED. Moreover, while I like aspects of Winston’s game, I just don’t think he gives us a presence that is as good as the old Monty or Dwight Tardy, and that, followers, does not bode well for our running game, since neither of those two guys were world beaters.
In short, I don’t think we’re gonna run the ball that well right now–especially since one of our running threats is sitting on the sideline with a broken clavicle.
So, if we’re going to score points tomorrow–and keep them off the field for a bit–we’re going to have to throw, throw, and throw.
And, while I like the “Four Verticals” look we threw at SDSU last week, I’d like to see something else this week: FOUR HORIZONTALS.
Meaning, the more that I see us in four WR sets, spreading their 3rd string corners all over the field, the better. And by that, I mean that I would like to hear the following for three hours on Saturday afternoon:
“Marshall to Marquees Wilson up the ride side for 5 yards.”
“Marshall hits Barton for 4 yards on a slant.”
“That’s Kristoff Williams for 5 yards over the middle.”…
Yep, Dink and Dunk them morning, noon, and night. Do that, and I think that we’ll be on our way to keeping our season very much alive.
3) Be a Hoot, But Don’t play Cute
Not much negative talk around these here parts of late–in part because we all are HUGE Paul Wulff fans–but the previous game had moments that smelled a whole lot like desperation, and if not, then we sure seemed to transverse that fine line between being aggressive and reckless..
Of course, the blocked punt call against SDSU was Exhibit A for trying to be too cute, but so the were calls to go vertical on 1st and 10 when we needed to give the D a breather in both the first and second half…And the personnel moves of late? I mean, does Mitz REALLY deserve to not play? Does Taylor M really deserve to go to third string based on ONE stinking start–and his first one at that?
Mind you, all of this could be just a bunch of background noise to the season’s main narrative. But here’s my view anyway:
Coaches don’t need to “make things happen” when their teams are good. If you’ve got playmakers, let them make plays. If you don’t, well, then you’ve got problems that probably won’t get fixed via trickery.
4) Can we implement the Marshall plan?
In the first two games, we saw Super Marshall. And in the third, we saw Super Marshall for two quarters, and the old Marshall for much of the final two (as well as a bit of Dave Krieg too–that was a VINTAGE soap dish pass!)
Of course, in this game, we’ll get a better sense of who the real, current Marshall is. Meaning, Is he the same old QB that locks into one wide receiver and hits him when the competition is bad , but gets hit HARD when the competition is good? Or, is he able to go quickly through his reads when time is short and find his third option with a BANG. If its the latter, we’ll probably win the next two. If its the former, look out!
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In the end, I have gone back-and-forth and back-in-forth on the outcome of this game. Part of me thinks that the second half against SDSU was just “one of those things” and, consequently, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we went out and really laid the wood to the Buffs tomorrow a la a 42-20 type whooping that we saw in Boulder in 2003.
But ultimately, I gotta say that I am becoming increasingly convinced that this is a marginal football team with Jeff Tuel and a bad one without him.
So, here’s to hoping that absence makes the heart grow weaker and more confused….
But in the meantime, I’m thinking Buffs 45 Cougs 17.
And if that happens, beware of the Cougla Kahn!!!!
(You can follow the Coug-A-Sutra on twitter at www.twitter.com/cougsutra)
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