Losing Your Lunch: Keeping it Real (DUMB!)

Hello Followers.  Hope you are doing great.

As for me, well, today is the last day of getting things together before me and the brood head to the great Smokey Mountains for some much needed R&R.

So, it is in that spirit of California Dreaming (I’m going with the vacation motif here) that I offer today’s post.

As always, I’m here to keep it real……dumb that is..

(read on)

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One of the trademarks of any program turnaround is the BIG upset victory that puts you on the map—and most importantly for recruiting—on the TeeVee.

For Sark and the evil Infidels to the West, it was a victory against #3 USC in Seattle during his first year (and yes, I know that yuck-fest happened when SC was without Mr. Barkley).  Then last year, we saw Sumlin beat Alabama..

And then David Shaw beat #1 USC and then #2 Oregon—without Andrew Luck—to cement his status an elite coach nationally.

And so, even if we don’t reach bowl eligibility this year, one of the ways we can be successful is to win 5 games and beat someone of really high profile.

So, “who is high profile?”

Well, as I told you yesterday, I am 99.9999% sure that we’re going to beat Oregon State in October.  But, I ask you, would beating a #11 Oregon State game really shock anyone? 

I don’t think so.

Then, there’s the possibility that ASU heads into Pullman as a South Division leader and is ranked in the Top 15.  Would that victory on Halloween night be a national headliner?

Um….maybe not.

And then there’s the chance that the Evil Infidels wind up having a special season—with them playing for a North Division championship (or share of) on November 29^th.   Would that be a national headline win? 

I suppose so—but then you always have that big “It’s a rivalry game—anything can happen in a rivalry game” caveat…

Which brings me to the 3 games that I think could really grab attention.  The first is our road game against a USC team that will be ranked in the top 25.  Mind you, that isn’t that great—but any early season win against Lane Kiffin is bound to start a lot of national conversation about his job status whilst our highlights of Big 80D, RG5, Kristoff, and the Mayle Man running around are broadcast over and over again in the background.

And then we have our two games against the national elites of the Northern Division:  Oregon and Stanford.   Beat one of those two teams and the National Headlines of “Mike Leach is Back” will become ablaze all over the globe!!!

So, which team do we have the best chance of beating in 2013?

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Followers, I mentioned yesterday that the Hair Raid defense tends to play much, much, much better against Pro-Style offenses.   More recently, we’ve also shown ourselves to be pretty adept at “slowing down” Oregon’s attack—at least for about 3 quarters.  We’ve also shown ourselves to be able to move the ball pretty well against Oregon through the air, which makes it pretty tempting to think we might be able to hang around once again in Eugene.

And frankly, I DO think we’re going to hang around in Eugene once again.  But I also think we’ll win up losing yet another 45-31 or 44-28 type game to them.   So, no upset there.

I also think that there’s an off chance we could surprise SC in week 2—especially if we’re able to keep the ball/block well enough to make SC’s secondary run around a lot in the first half.  But, when you factor in our success in LA over the past 70 years, that just doesn’t seem like a good bet.

Which brings me to the mighty Trees.  Mind you, I think Stanford has a legit chance this year to play in the National Title game.  They’ve got 5 star O-Lineman all of the place, a good quarterback, a good running game, and a defense that is SEC worthy in overall nastiness.  They also have something called “experience”—as manifest in their THREE STRAIGHT BCS BOWL APPEARANCES.

What a program!

But beyond all of their genuine awesomeness, there are a few key things about Stanford.  The first:  They were vulnerable last year to teams that threw the rock.  The best example of that vulnerability came last year against Arizona. 

But it was also evident in our game against us last year—a game in which our receivers showed a level of toughness not seen by a WSU team since 2006.

Plus, as great as Stanford is with the running game (and possession/play-action passing game), they also don’t get the pill outside to the edge that quickly.  And they also haven’t shown much of an ability (or interest) in really getting after teams vertically.   And so, while there’s always the chance that they could pound the middle and roll up 50 points like they did to Washington a few years back, they also feel like they can be lulled into a 31-28 type affair.   And when you have a kicker like Furney in tow—you always have a chance in those types of games.

So, while I think that we’re going 0-3 this year in those games, I have circled that late September contest in Seattle as a game that I think may put us on the map.  And if for some reason we head into that contest 3-1, this might be a night that starts us moving toward a really, really special season.

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Okay enough of my yacking–the clock has just struck 28 minutes—and a pre vay-cay Honey-Do list awaits.

I’ll be back for some more thoughts on Monday.

All for now.  Go Cougs!