Happy Football Friday on Thursday Cougs, and we hope things are great with you and yours. I don’t know about you, but I have to say that my week has been better compared to last week, when we were coming off a downer loss to PSU. After all the hype and all that, well, that result had yours truly fading back into the shrubs, feeling pretty much done….
But sometimes the beauty of college football is that the bad losses and the hangover feeling that lingers with fans and alums? Well, sometimes it doesn’t stick with the kids and they are able to actually go out, play the game and forget about what happened. I remember back in 2006, when UW lost to a really awful Stanford team the week before the Apple Cup. Bill Doba said on his radio show sure, UW struggled against a down opponent. But he then said something like “but I can assure you, by the time we kick off on Saturday, they will NOT be thinking about last week!”. And he was right, as UW won a shootout and kept a 6-win WSU team from a bowl. But it is a good perspective that yeah, we can take things far too seriously, but kids can often times be much more resilient in terms for flushing the bad from the prior week and just going out and having the ability to do something about it!
That said, it was quite the bounceback win at Rutgers, wasn’t it? I was telling my good friend Sutra that sure, Rutgers isn’t a Big 10 powerhouse or anything like that, but there is a lot to feel positive about with this outcome. The kids traveled to the east coast, a time zone that hasn’t been friendly to good ‘ol WSU (4-18-1, per Stephanie Loh of the Seattle Times). I believe the last time they won back there was at Temple in 1996, Ryan Leaf’s sophomore year? Anyway, just winning back there is a good thing and it simply hasn’t happened very often in our history. But Rutgers is a gross mess right now, what with Kyle Flood now suspended for 3 games over academic “issues”, as well as a string of arrests-n-such that pretty much sucks the life out of you as a college fan. But they still had been a bowl team 9 of the last 10 years, they won 8 games last year, and oh yeah, they kind of started us on the 3-and-9 nightmare of 2014 with the season opening stunner in Century Link!
http://gty.im/488456500
So it was nice to win that thing, and to come back and do it in such a wild second half/4th quarter is all the better. A lot of people have said that this game reminds them of the road game at Utah last year, where they made some big plays late and beat a decent team on the road when it looked a little bleak. But let’s hope the kids use this game as a jumping off point for the rest of 2015, as it all starts this week with a chance to keep up the good feelings vs. a struggling Wyoming team that hasn’t really done anything but get pushed around their first two games of the year.
On to this week’s games:
UW 27, Utah State 17: Washington did what you are supposed to do last week, and that’s crush a lower-level opponent in Sac State and put up some crooked numbers in the process. Meanwhile Utah State has kind of stumbled a bit out of the gate, 1-1 and in their lone win, they didn’t look very good. I really liked Utah State to pull off the upset here prior to the season, but I’ve kind of come around and now I think that UW’s improving defense and better-than-expected running game will be the difference.
Colorado 34, CSU 30 – Shootout in the rivalry, but the Buffs improve to 2-1 with a superior passing game in the end.
CAL 41, Texas 23 – Hate to say it, and it’s hard because I really don’t like them….but I think Cal is the REAL DEAL this year. They look fast and deep from what we’ve seen the first few games, and Jared Goff keeps reminding folks of Aaron Rodgers.
USC 31, Stanford 16 – I think USC is really loaded, with the most explosive set of playmakers in the Pac-12 on both sides of the ball this year. And Stanford just isn’t what they used to be, and this game shows the gap between the elite and Stanford falling back to the middle.
UCLA 45, BYU 34 – I felt like this could be an UPSET ALERT, and if this game was in Provo I would probably pick BYU. But I believe UCLA’s talent and speed will be too much at home, and UCLA will pull away in a wild one.
ASU 37, N-Mexico 14 – Still waiting to be impressed by ASU, maybe this is the week they match the preseason hype??
Oregon A LOT, Georgia State not much – Yeah, Vernon Adams broke his index finger on his throwing hand, and that’s not good. But I think you or me could start at QB this week and this would still be a blow out. Whether it’s Adams or Lockie or someone else, it really won’t matter in a laugher in Eugene.
Oregon State 23, San Jose State 17 – I think this will be tight, but the Beavs are the better coached team at the end of the day and make a few more plays late. But we’ll see how OSU bounces back after their physical humiliation at the hands of the Harbaugh’s last week.
Utah 30, Fresno State 23 – Travis Wilson is hurt – AGAIN – but Utah looks like a legit contender in the south this year. And contenders like Utah go out on the road and win games like this. It won’t be easy, but the Utes take care of business.
Arizona names their score over Northern Arizona – Blowout city.
Finally, Cougs – Wyoming. Ladies and gentlemen, I will be brief. I think we continue the feel-good story after last week as the Cougs continue to put the PSU loss in the rearview. Meanwhile Wyoming has looked, well, awful the first two weeks, losing at home vs. North Dakota (not ND-State, the one that beats a Power 5 team every year!), and followed that up by looking even worse in week 2, a blowout loss to Eastern Michigan, again in Laramie. I like Craig Bohl, the former 3-time national champion at North Dakota State, and eventually it will work in Wyoming. But not right now, and not this week.
I think this game will go a lot like we all thought the first game of the year was going to go. I expect a lot of yards and points, and I believe this Coug team will come out and play with a sense of urgency that we saw last week. They will be fast and with an edge, and we should be in good shape by the second half. I’ll go WSU 47, Wyoming 27.
All for now. Enjoy the games as we hopefully get to 2-1 before the bye week, and of course, GO COUGS!
SUTRA SEZ:
Hello Followers. Hope you all are doing great!
As for me, well, things are going great! I mean, our Cougs are now sitting at an AWESOME 1-1. And suddenly, the season is full of possibility!!!!!!!
Last week, I offered my predictions regarding the “four keys” to winning. And I am happy to say that I was wrong about all of them. For example:
Would Falk throw over 400 yards? I said: NO. The correct answer: YES
Would WSU run for over 100 yards? I said: YES. The correct answer: NO
Would WSU score over 35 points? I said: NO. The correct answer: YES
Would WSU be +1 or better in turnover margin? I said: NO. The correct answer: YES
So, what we’ve seen so far is that I have been completely wrong about everything related to 2015 Cougar Football! At the same time, we’ve also seen that when we achieve 3 out of these 4 keys, we have a great, great shot of winning the football game–even when two GINORMOUS special teams gaffes are included.
So, let’s move on to this week’s game:
Will Luke Falk throw for over 400 yards? I say: YES. But it won’t be by that much because I don’t think he’s gonna play in the fourth quarter.
Will WSU run for over 100 yards? I say: YES. We’ll rush for about 125.
Will WSU score over 35 points? I say. YES
Will WSU be +1 or better in turnover margin? I say: YES, we’ll finish +1 once Wyoming is forced to throw the football (I expect Bender to throw a pick in the fourth quarter, so I think we’ll force two TOs)
If you want a detailed explanation of what’s going to happen this weekend, I encourage you to check out Brian Anderson’s take on Wyoming and the Tampa 2. But essentially, the only thing we need to care about this Saturday is how we look on offense (specifically, how we fare on third and short) and how our health is following the game. Cuz, lets face it Coug fans, the path to a successful season now lies in our ability to “steal” one against either CAL or Oregon. And with a bye week coming up, the CAL game once again looms large in determining our season’s fortunes.
Meantime, Cougs come out of the gate fast in this one and “coast” to a solid 45-21 victory. (In other words, don’t bet on this game and the 24 point spread!)
Elsewhere:
Utah State 24, UW 21: Washington did what I didn’t think they would do last week and that was BLAST an upset minded Sac State (who have beaten Colorado and Oregon State over the past couple of years). Utah State, meanwhile, looked AWFUL in Week 1 against Southern Utah, but held their own against Utah last week on the road. Frankly, I think Utah is better than Washington (much better, especially on D and on the ground) and I think that Chucky is getting his mojo back just in time. Don’t know about you all, but just thinking about the Huskies at 1-2 makes me want to cry. Here’s hoping for a sob-fest early Saturday evening!
CSU 38 Colorado 35– CSU lost a heartbreaker last week to a very good Minnesota team that gave TCU all they wanted in the opener. And yes, this was the same CSU group that beat us in New Mexico and then won 10 games last year. I know that Mike Mac thinks that his team is turning it around, but here’s to thinking that CSU still has a bit too much for them in Denver.
CAL 38, Texas 31 – I think that Texas is going to give CAL all they want in this game, much in the same way that Illinois had us nearly beat in Champaign in 1997. And yes, there’s a reason why I am bringing up that 1997 WSU team: While CAL could still be a 7-5 type outfit, I’m starting to think that they might be the best in the North.
USC 38, Stanford 10 – John Wilner said it on Twitter earlier today, it feels as if either Stanford is going to win a close one, or SC is going to blow their doors off. I’m picking the latter because I think SC has developed enough to not get out-muscled by Stanford at the point of attack. And Stanford’s Offense is simply not powerful enough to keep up with the Trojans once Kessler and company start rolling. (interesting stat: Stanford is something like 34-3 under Shaw when they are +1 in turnover margin)
UCLA 35, BYU 34 – Like Sean, I think this game has upset alert written all over it. And we better hope not. Because with opening wins against Nebraska, Boise State, and UCLA, BYU would have good reason to suggest that they belong in the national conversation. And who wants that?
San Jose State 21 Oregon State 20 – This game is going to show about whether the Beavs are in for a hard season or a HORRIBLE one. After watching the replay of the Michigan game, I’m starting to lean toward the horrible. Needless to say, the Pac-12 conference needs them to win this game!
Utah 41, Fresno State 3 – I’m picking this game to be lopsided because Fresno shockingly got a 70 spot dropped on them by Ole Miss last week. So, either Mississippi belongs in the Top 3 in the country (which they might) or Fresno State just isn’t very good.
And your College GameDay Special:
In case you haven’t heard, I will be at GameDay this Saturday helping our Cougar brethren #WaveTheFlag. And, of course, GameDay is coming to Tuscaloosa to cover the Saturday night clash between Ole Miss and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Mind you, if this game was three or four weeks from today, I’d pick BAMA to win because they have the most talented roster. But with so many question marks still at Quarterback for the Tide and given the current state of their kicking game, I’m thinking that Mississippi is going to beat Bama in consecutive years for the first time in the history of the series. Call it Ole Miss 31 Bama 24.
Enjoy the games. And lets make this fun and easy this weekend, Cougies. Please!!!!!!!!
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