FOOBAAAALLLLLL!!!!

Good morning and happy Friday, Cougs! I don't know if you heard, but one week from tomorrow is the first Cougar Football Saturday of 2013. Around the Huddy household, my dad started a tradition of welcoming football season (or eventually any time a game was on) by yelling, "FOOBAAAALLLLL!!!!" at volumes unnecessary for the living room. The key is to not pronounce the T in football. Give it a whirl. Trust me, it's awesome. Over the course of the fairly depressing 2012 Cougar football season and the super depressing 2012-13 Cougar basketball season, the "FOOBAAAAAALLLLLL!!!" enthusiasm had turned into, "Ugh…football. Maybe I'll just keep golfing." That, along, with some changes in my personal life (good stuff, don't worry) made me into a massive weak link among the Blogfathers. I apologize to them and to m faithful readers for not providing the weekly drivel you've come to expect and intermittently read. What's past is prologue, though. I'm back, baby! It's late August, the mornings are getting cooler, the glowing fall camp reports are flowing like Bridgeport Hop Czar and my enthusiasm for Cougar football is at its usual preseason fever pitch. That said, I've gotta take it easy, lest I find my high hopes crashing down once again. "It's not the despair. I can handle the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." With that in mind, I've got to balance the hope with a little more pragmatism so in my preseason preview, I want to have equal parts reason for optimism and cause for concern. Much like Jesse Spano was when she was all hopped up on caffeine pills, I am so excited, but I'm also so, so scared.

Reason for Optimism #1 – Hair Raaaaaaid!!

We're not going to get off to a great start on the pragmatism front because I love the Cougar defense this year. The front seven is legitimately solid and probably somewhere between quite good to very good. I'm unabashed in my love for Junior Gauta, Darryl Monroe, Xavier Cooper, Cyrus Coen and Justin Sagote. While the man crush isn't quite as strong for Toni Pole, Matthew Bock, Eric Oertel, Logan Mayes, et. al., there are still plenty of quality rotational players in the mix. Where things get intriguing for me is the the new guys in the mix. Perhaps my favorite update to come out of camp this year is Destiny Vaeao's move to the Buck Linebacker spot. The thought of this monster coming off the edge set to destroy puts a hop in my step, but I'll through in a bonus cause for concern nugget here. I've heard the super huge athletic freak match-up nightmare talk in camp before and it didn't exactly work out with Andrei Lintz. Either way, I can't wait to see how Destiny is used this year and I don't just mean the bad puns I'll make with his name. The buck spot has the market cornered on intrigue for me, with Ivan McLennan also coming in as a potential stud in the making. It sounds like he hasn't quite mastered the defense and there will certainly be an adjustment to big-time college football, but Ivan might be, strictly from an athletic standpoint our next CJ Mizell. Hopefully he can channel that athleticism more effectively and not, you know, get kicked off the team and stuff. Throw in names like Robert Barber, Jeremiah Allison and Kache Palacio and you've got a lot to like in the front seven. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

Cause for Concern #1 – About that secondary

On the other hand, I'm still not sure the Wazzu defense can cover anyone. Setting aside, potential All-Conference beast Deone Bucannon, the rest of the back four comes with varying degrees of question marks. There is experience at corner, with Damante Horton and Nolan Washington, but that experience has largely consisted of playing not very well. The dude who I thought was our best corner, Anthony Carpenter, has moved back to safety where the position opposite Deone is unsettled between Carpenter, Taylor Taliulu and Casey Locker. It's good to have options and depth, but less good to have a clear-cut guy taking hold of the spot. I suppose it's good that the coaches felt settled enough at corner to move Carpenter back, but you could make the same argument that it doesn't bode well for the strong safety position.

Reason for Optimism #2 – What was that you said about the coaches feeling settled at corner?

Oh yeah! Some of the most glowing reviews from camp have been about the play of true freshmen Daquawn Brown and Charleston White (the former rated a 10 on the Bridgeport Pumped-O-Meter, just saying). Brown might just be a week one starter and both will almost certainly burn their redshirts to get some run. Sure, playing freshmen in significant roles could also be filed under cause for concern, but let's just be excited that more and more talented kids are finding their way into the program.

Reason for Optimism #3 – WSU has all the receivers! All of them.

RG5, Vince Mayle, Isiah Myers, Kristoff Williams, Brett Bartolone, Gabe Marks, Bobby Ratliff, Dominique Williams, River Cracraft and Robert Lewis. Boom goes the dynamite.

Cause for Concern #2 – Connor Halliday

Uh oh. I want to love Halliday, I really do. I certainly did when he burst on the scene with THE GAME OF HIS LIFE against Arizona State, but since then, there has been a whole lot of meh. This concern was crystallized over the summer when the Pac-12 Network was running replays of games from last season. I was reaching my peak offseason blinding optimism state when I watched some of the replays and Halliday's performances immediately threw cold water on me (um, so to speak). I like the big play potential and the chance that he'll throw up video game numbers on some days, but in my heart of hearts, I worry that he's just as likely to throw away a game. I truly hope I'm wrong. It sounds like being The Guy has been a help, but we'll find out in 8 days if "Doc" is ready for primetime.

Cause for Concern #3 – Those guys protecting that aforementioned guy.

If you're not concerned about offensive line play, you're lying to yourself. By all accounts, the line play has improved and there are certainly more dudes in the mix, which is helpful, but not saying much. The success of this season hinges on whether this unit goes from atrocious to bad or atrocious to serviceable. If it's the latter, this team could be going places. If they still struggle, well, expect more of the same.

Cause for Concern #4 – 0-2 is a very real possibility

Well turds, I'm really on a roll with the concern here. There's no way around this, though. Starting a season with games at Auburn and at USC isn't the ideal way to get the confidence rolling. If there is a right time to make a trip to Auburn this is probably it. Calling it a down year last year doesn't quite do justice to the Tigers' season. It's the first game for a new coach (well, kinda; Guz Malzahn is obviously a familiar face) and an assortment of injuries and suspensions have beset the team. That said, they're a bona fide SEC team with boatloads of talent. USC is in a similar spot, although last season wasn't nearly as bad, unless you look at it relative to expectations. In both cases, the Cougs are likely to be pretty heavy underdogs. What will an 0-2 start mean to a team with no history of success anywhere on the roster? It will certainly eliminate the fake momentum created from the Apple Cup win.

Reason for Optimism #4 – The tide is turning

Say what you will about Mike Leach's "my way or the highway" approach, but it was likely necessary to transform the program from a doormat to winner. I'm of the belief that talent trumps virtually everything, but in the case of the Washington State football program, a culture change was needed as badly as an influx of talent. Leach and his staff are getting their guys in place and the conversation about concepts like "buy-in" should continue to lessen over time. This has to mean something. I'm almost certain.

Reason for Optimism #5 – I mean, it can't get any worse, right?

Go Cougs.