Everyone CALM down!

Even Jim Walden is weighing in today, and more or less blasts Doba and company. I have to say I’m surprised to see this, as this has to be the first real calling-out of Doba since he took the job.

Ok, look at the whole thing a few days later now that we’ve had some time to digest it all, if only for a moment.

Here’s what I think about the Brink-Rogers-2006-StateOfTheProgram-ETC:

1) Brink has the stats that I’ve pounded at away, time and again, but the biggest issue here is he has never passed the “eye” test. That much is clear now. Nobody has any illusions that this guy will ever be John Elway, and given his physical issue of an average-to-below-average Pac-10 arm, there will always be a weakness in specific passes that will never change as long as he’s the QB. He is who he is, and while Brinkhater has pointed out, against a lot of Pac-10 teams, it’s sufficient (Cal, 432 yards and 5 TD’s, OSU school record 531 yards and 4th most ever in Pac-10 play). Seriously. It is good enough against most teams except the true elite defenses with speed, like USC last year, Auburn this year. There is NO argument there.

2) Gary Rogers? Everyone calm down for a second. He’s huge and has a gun for an arm, but coming into Saturday night, he had thrown 5 career passes. Who the hell knows what he’d do in extended playing time? Let’s get real on Rogers for a second. This guy was NOT, I repeat, NOT, the next Drew Bledsoe or Ryan Leaf coming out of high school. It’s not like he’s a recruit that people have predicted will be a star the moment he showed up on campus. Now I love what I saw from him on that TD drive, I mean who wouldn’t, but let’s keep it in perspective!

3) The state of the program. It’s getting nuts out there, I mean the message boards are getting out of hand with people already saying we’re going 3-9 as long as Brink is the starter, blah blah BLAH. Far, far, far too much has been tied up into this game, period, but look at some of the predictions. I picked Auburn 31-20, Rooster I missed your score but I know you picked Auburn by a few scores, and Brinkhater came the closest of all of us, 42-13 I think?? So why should we freak out because THIS GAME WAS EXACTLY WHAT WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!?!?!

All that said, I’m agreeing with Glenn at the Spokesman and many others right now, and that is Brink is this team’s QB. Even though a lot of people believe they know more about these QB’s than even their own position coach, offensive coordinator and head coach, Brink is the choice of the staff and that is it. Maybe Brink will fall apart and they’ll lose one of their next two games, and the staff will change their minds and decide to go with Rogers…..but I still doubt it will happen. Pulling the plug on Brink will basically throw away any sacrifices they made as a team by starting Brink over the last few years and enduring the virtually GUARANTEED growing pains the everyday QB experiences in this offense. I don’t care how great Rogers looked on ONE series. Growing pains are inevitable. They know the odds are good that if they go with Rogers right now, they are tossing away a bowl season, which is crucial beyond words for this program, THIS year.

Think about that for a second. Why is this year so crucial? Well, we’ve had consecutive losing seasons as we know too well the last two years. Phase 3 of the stadium renovation is a huge undertaking, and some people close to it already claim they are nowhere NEAR their goals, and have such a mountain to climb that it may never happen. They need goodwill in the football program immediately, and getting to postseason play makes those Call-A-Coug conversations much more enjoyable for all parties involved!

Now think about the senior players on the media guide right now. Scott Davis, Jason Hill, Mkristo Bruce, Steve Dildine, Eric Frampton, Cody Boyd, Chris Jordan, Charles Harris. All seniors, all huge factors, ALL gone next year. Like it or not, we’re right back to 4-win territory next year regardless of what happens this year. I don’t like it either, but it’s reality based on what we’re going to lose from this team, and sadly, reality for who WSU really is. We’re a bowl contender every 3 seasons, nothing more. 2001-2003 looks a hell of a lot more like a fluke than anything else, and the rest of the school history is much more accurate (sort of like when a young MLB hitter comes up to the bigs and crushes the ball for a month, and all the fans freak out saying they are an MVP candidate? Yet all the moneyball roto-geeks simply claim “small sample size” and sure enough, they drop back off to regular levels? That’s what the Cougs are right now, that hitter that has returned back to earth). So this is it fellas. Get to a bowl game now, or else we’re going to start rebuilding with an eye towards 2009.