Bowled Over

Happy Holidays to you, Followers!  Hope you are doing great!

Today we return to the post-season for the first time in a decade.  And what a decade it has been!

For those who don't know, Sean and I started this blog right before the start of the 2004 campaign. And so, its pretty clear to all who  have a pulse that our decade of futility wasn't caused by poor coaching, poor recruiting, poor players, poor facilities or any of that stuff.  Nope, our decade of misery was caused by the CURSE OF THE WSU FOOTBALL BLOG!!!!!

So, its pretty darn nice to see that the WSU Football Blog curse has finally been lifted  so we can all enjoy our Cougies in a bowl game!!!!

Anyhow, with respect to today's game, well, to be honest folks, I've been so bowled over by work as of late, that I haven't had much time to think of anything else.  That said, I do have a few thoughts before I poor myself a mid-day cold one and sit back to enjoy watching our young men make some noise.

1) Just win baby!

To be sure, it would be really nice to put a big hurt on the Rams today.  But at the end of the day, what matters most is just winning the stinking football game.  I mean, the only thing that rivals staying home for the holidays is going to a lower tier bowl, losing to an inferior opponent, and finishing the year 6-7.   

So, if the final score is 28-27 Cougs–get happy!  Cuz winning is really all that matters today.

2) Lay the hammer down!

Again, the most important thing is to "just win."  That said, it would be really nice if our boys could finish this year off by getting an early lead and then really finishing it off early.  So, if we get up 10 or 14 points early in this one, it would be great to see us extend that lead to 21, 28, and so forth as quick as possible.  In the past, we've relaxed a bit when jumping on teams early (Idaho, CAL, Utah, Arizona).  In order for us to take the next step as a program, we're going to need to become a bit more relentless.

3) Be Connor, Connor

As I've noted throughout the season, I really, really like how Connor has developed as a quarterback.  And one of the things I've liked the most about his development was the patience he showed in taking what the defense gave him in the Utah and Arizona games.  In both contests, I found him to be almost surgical in his approach.  If he takes the same approach today and just plays within himself, he's going to light it up.   I'm really, REALLY looking forward to watching him today as well as all of next year.

Prediction.

For the past two years, history has shown that teams give us big time problems when they feature one or more of the following features:  (1) They have fast, uptempo spread offenses.  (2) They super fast and aggressive front sevens.  

Mindful that I have only seen CSU play twice this year, their overall style doesn't fit the above bill.  So, in order for us to lose today, we're going to have turn the ball over a ton and Colorado State is going to have to use the pass to set up the run–and in so doing–possess the ball enough to keep the score down.

In the end, I think we present too many challenges for the Rams to keep us off the field and I think we'll be surprisingly effective against the run.  Cougs win 38-21 making 2013 the year that Cougar football returned to relevance.  Our Next stop:  Prominence. 

I'll be back next week to wrap up the year.  

Enjoy the game, everyone!

And Go Cougs!