Greetings Cougar Nation.
Well, the week started off with my forewarning that the season was so bad, that the blog would have to take a bit of a rester:
Unfortunately for you all, the Blogfathers assembled, decided that it was time for us to “Compete!!!!” and not give in to our sad moods. So, Compete we will!
After all, who doesn’t love the smell of victory in the morning following a butt kicker of other teams (or Blogs)????
Sadly for us (the football team), that smell ain’t coming anytime soon.
In the meantime, our ONE AND ONLY goal for this season is to keep our darn scoring streak alive.
And in that respect, I think that its a really good thing that Lopina is going to start this game (but I hope it is this game only).
I also think that its a good thing that Mr. Peete Wonderful is a seasoned master at playing the BCS poll game. Unlike others like Mr. Tedford or Mr. Mike “I can’t get to a Rose Bowl” Riley, Carroll knows that beating scrubs means nothing unless its the type of 21-14 thrashing (NOT!) that Ohio State put on Mac-Power (not!) Ohio University.
So, expect Pistol Peete to call the dawgs (trojans) off early. Unfortunately for us, Troy will still score 21-28 points in the second half because they are so much more talented than us even when their 3rd and 4th string are on the field (think 2nd half against CAL only faster.)
If we were just a LITTLE bit better, we’d lose the scoring streak this week in the same way that USC blanked ASU last week.
But because we WILL be down 42-0 at halftime, and because Pete is both classy and kind (and his team is beat up AND playing on the road) we’ll get on the board once again.
And really, that’s what the rest of the season is ALL about at this point, don’t ya think?
USC wins another laugher 63-10 as Brinkhater extends his now completely meaningless streak to 20 games.
Elsewhere:
CAL 31 Arizona 28. Some things were just meant to come to an end. Stoops is one of them: Bad, nasty guy that can’t coach to boot. Time to go back to Clay Bennett land.
UCLA 28 Stanford 21. Upset special. Stanford will be too high and UCLA is finding themselves.
Oregon State 41 Washington 17. The second worst team in the conference proves again its just that. But, take it easy Beav fans, getting above .500 doesn’t make you worthy of talking about a conference championship. So spare us the talk until you get past CAL and Arizona–then we’ll listen AND root for you.
And the next BIG GAME:
Texas 41 Mizzou 31. Mizzou was looking ahead, Texas played over their heads. But the desperation around this game coupled with a home field advantage lifts the horns above Brinkhater’s pre-season national title holder.
Enjoy the game. And lets fricking score!!!!
Sedihawk Says:
Ah, USC.
From the land of eternally tan and beautiful people, yes, they are pretty much everything. Big winners, exciting, aggressive style of play, outstanding coach who wins conference title after conference title and who can recruit with any coach in history. They are bigger, stronger and faster at literally every position on the field compared to what we will roll out Saturday, and there is no way around it. This one looks like one of the biggest mismatches in conference history…..except for last year, when Stanford BEAT THEM AS A 41-POINT DOG!
I know, I know. That was fluke city last year, and everyone knows it. If you remember, USC came into that game having just dropped from #1 to #2, and they were pissed off about it. Further, Harbaugh had popped off to the media that summer about Pete Carroll, about his desire to go to the NFL, further inciting the masses that an epic blowout was set to occur. This was feeding babies to lions, no question about it.
And really, USC did dominate most of the action that day, outgaining Stanford 459-235 in total yards. QB Tavita Pritchard was only 11-for-30 for 149 yards, and Stanford’s leading rusher, Anthony Kimble, had a mere 32 rushing yards. Yet still, Stanford won it. How??
One word – TURNOVERS. And lots of ’em. John David Booty played with an injured hand and it showed, throwing four interceptions, including one to end the game. Overall, USC gave it away five times, Stanford just once, for a plus-4 turnover ratio on the side of the Cardinal. See, turnovers really DO matter.
Now do I think this same kind of thing will happen on Saturday?? After all, it’s happened before, with USC, and just last year as a matter of fact. What if USC comes in flat? What if Kevin Lopina plays a great, efficient game while Mark Sanchez is off? USC has already lost once in the northwest this year, why can’t it happen again??
Nah.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. We are over our ski’s this week, no way around it. USC is everything, while we are so full of flaws that there are very few BCS teams we can even run with, let alone beat. USC has responded big-time after the Oregon State loss, pummeling the hated Quacks and then pitching a shutout vs. Dennis Erickson last week. And lo and behold, look who’s back up to #4 in the country but USC? They are right back in the national title mix. There is no way they are going to kick this opportunity, not now.
Another 60+ points in this one. I’ll go USC 62, WSU 6. Yes, we’ll actually score, but only in garbage time. It will probably come off a USC mistake, like a fumbled punt or interception deep in their own territory. But the streak will live on!
The rest:
AZ 34 Cal 31. People will count out the mildcats after their loss to the Cardinal, but I’m not one of them. They will respond, and Cal gets beat in Tucson.
Stanford 27 UCLA 24. The Cardinal in a bowl game? Another step closer after this one. Harbaugh is working on his coach-of-the-year acceptance speech.
Oregon State 34 Washington 24. UW puts a scare into the Beavs. UW coming off the bye will have some new things in the offense for Ronnie Fouch, your starting QB the rest of 2008. And remember, Oregon State still hasn’t won a road game this year. It will be tight, but then a late TD salts it away for the Beavs.
And the next BIG GAME:
Mizzou 38 Texas 34. I agree with Brinkhater, that Mizzou was looking ahead, Texas played over their heads last week. But Pinkel rallies his troops, while Texas lets down after last week’s thriller.
But WOW, is the Big 12 loaded! Phew.
Enjoy your Thursday, and GO COUGS!
Longball says…
You know those tents on the practice field that none of us will ever have enough coin to get into? This is what they ought to look like this week…
Put Hawkeye, Honeycut and the rest of the 4077th on alert! Or perhaps we just set up a triage in the tunnel.
Yep, you guessed it… not only am I picking the Cougars to lose this weekend, I predict heavy casualties. This is shaping up like a Sara Palin press conference; you tune in just to see how awful it’s going to be. My esteemed colleague Brinkhater makes a great point, however. We are just bad enough to score late in this game. My only worry is that USC’s 65 man road roster means they had to leave all their 4 and 3 star athletes at home. So even their “scrubs” that come in for mop-up duty will just be a preview of the roll call at Canton, OH circa 2030. How strange that the best chance our scoring streak had this week was to be as outmatched as possible, on the road. Well, one outa two ain’t bad.
Trojans 85
Cougs 3
A few more compelling matchups….
Cal 38 AZ 30. This may be a very enjoyable game. Especially if we get to see Stoops lose again!
Stanford 28 UCLA 10. I know I post late on Thursdays so in case you missed it, I totally called the Cardinal win last week. How did I know? It was magic, and a little bit of genius. The Hammerin Harbaughs are on a roll and UCLA is just the next footnote in their magical season.
Oregon State 42 Washington 35. I think the Beavs are gonna be fat, sassy and ripe for the pickin this week. After throwing bombs for the end zone when they were up by 100 last week, I can’t exactly say they don’t deserve to lose… but they are playing the Huskies. Despite some of the Beav’s signature road struggles and a heroic effort from the Dawgs, in the end we will all be reminded that nobody circles the wagons like the Buffa… er, I mean the Oregon State Beavers!
Mizzou 35 Texas 28. The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of…. MISSOURI! Tigers silence the burnt Orange on the back of a heroic effort from Mr. Daniel.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone and GO COUGS!!!
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