Hello Followers. Hope you’re having a great week.
Today marks the 3rd installment of a 16 part series known as “Filibuster Thursday”, the day that we take all quasi-relevant sports news and blend it all together into one giant cyber tube steak.
Lots to cover today, so we’ll get right to it…strike a pose, and jump right through it…(or something like that)
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Moving on Up
To start to the day off, we draw your attention to a couple of items from the Cougar cyber universe. The first item involves former WSUFB blogger Adam Lewis, a.k.a. “CougarLew”, whose work is now appearing at Cougfan.com. His first piece for Cougfan appeared last night, and it’s a nice little look at Coug WR Blair Bomber.
Congratulations, Adam! Rest assured we will take full credit for all of your current and future successes.
The second bit of Cougar news concerns the semi-new Cell Phone Application provided by our good friends at WSUCOUGARS.COM Currently, the APP is available for Iphone, Droid, and a couple of other platforms. But, I was really surprised after downloading it on Monday night how much BETTER it actually is than logging on from the old laptop computer. Truly, it is MUCH easier to get to football news through the app, including the schedule and depth chart, than the conventional site. Nice job, folks.
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Moving on, Athlon recently published their rankings of Pac12 quarterbacks for the 2012 season. Here’s their rankings:
- Matt Barkley, USC
- Keith Price, Washington
- Jeff Tuel, Washington State
- Sean Mannion, Oregon State
- Bryan Bennett, Oregon
- Zach Maynard, Cal
- Brett Nottingham, Stanford
- Kevin Prince, UCLA
- Jordan Wynn, Utah
- Matt Scott, Arizona
- Mike Bercovici, Arizona State
- Connor Wood, Colorado
And here’s mine:
- Matt Barkley, USC
- Bryan Bennett, Oregon
- Keith Price, Washington
- Jeff Tuel, Washington State
- Brett Nottingham, Stanford
- Jordan Wynn, Utah
- Sean Mannion, Oregon State
- Matt Scott, Arizona
- Zach Maynard, Cal
- Kevin Prince, UCLA
- Mike Bercovici, Arizona State
- Connor Wood, Colorado
Couple of thoughts:
No one in their right mind would object to the #1, but after that, things get a bit trickier.
First off, I happen to think that Bryan Bennett is the best looking Oregon quarterback I’ve seen to date.
Not only can the kid run, but he has a ROCKET for an arm and represents the first Oregon quarterback that I’ve seen in Kelly’s offense that can throw the ball quickly to the outside against top quality defensive backs. I honestly believe that Oregon has a better chance of competing with SEC defenses today than they did last year with Thomas. So, put that in your pipe, Quack fans and players.
Tough call in the #3 and #4 spot. As many of you know, I happen to believe that Jeff Tuel is a legit sleeper for the Heisman this year based on Leach’s scheme and the returning depth at the skill positions. However, it is also important to remember that Tuel has won a whopping 2 games in his career as a starter, one of which was a game we should have lost against Montana State, which is why he is ranked #4 going into fall camp.
Meanwhile, Price showed himself to be quite the player throughout last year, but was particularly spectacular in the Dawgs marvelous meltdown at the Alamo. That said, I would be bracing myself for disaster if I was a fan of Muttlake Nation. Simply put, given key losses on the offensive line and at running back (Polk), I would be really concerned about whether Price will survive the LSU game. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Price’s regal numbers of 2011 took a big, big hit in 2012.
With respect to the “middle” of the conference’s quarterbacks, well, I’m going with Nottingham at #2 even though he has yet to start a game. The reason? I like the depth the Trees have on the offensive line and I love the potential for play-action created by Mr. Taylor, who figures to rank in the top 4 in conference rushing the football. I also happen to think that Shaw is a pretty good coach of quarterbacks, but that’s just me.
The reason for picking Nottingham also applies to Jordan Wynn who I think is well poised to have Alex Smith (in SF) type numbers this year: I think he’s going to be an efficiency machine. Sean Mannion shows lots of potential in games where the opposing defense fails to mount a pass rush (e.g. their only 3 wins last year versus Arizona, WSU, and UW). But, when pressured, he’s been a turnover machine. Matt Scott follows him, simply because he and the rest of his mates are implementing a new scheme that does not altogether fit his skill set. That said, I seem to remember Scott playing pretty darn well in Foles’ stead against the Muttlakes a few years back. He’s pretty good.
Finally, moving to the lower tier, we have the bottom feeders led by Zach Maynard. Personally, I think Maynard is going to have an okay year, but I attribute that to his returning core of skill position players. That said, if Maynard has a good to great year, then you can punch the Bears a ticket to the top 15. While I have no faith in Tedford Teams that enter the season “iffy” at the quarterback position, I still think that there is a potential for them to be really, REALLY good this year.
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So, now that we’re two days away from the spring game, how about a few over-unders for Jeff Tuel’s Performance on Saturday. The current Vegas “line;”
Completion Percentage: 55%
Yards: 325
Touchdowns: 4
Interceptions: 2
My take? Under, Over, Over, Push.
That’s all we have for today. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. And if you’re going to the spring game, I’ll be putting up an open thread for you to put up your thoughts about what you saw on the grid iron.
Go Cougs.
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