Happy Birthday!

Hello Followers. Hope you’ve been having a great week. Well, as today’s header indicates, it is birthday weekend here at the WSU Football Blog. Not only do we have the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of the good ole USA: We also get to celebrate the B-Days of two of my favorite people associated with the blog, plus a WHOLE NEW CONFERENCE! 

The first is none other than our own SeanHawk, who turns the ripe old age of 39 today (which I think he’s held for two years now, if I’m not mistaken?):

Next, the Pac-12 is officially born today, 7/1/2011.  Happy birthday new conference, we at WSU are happy to have a seat at the table!

And the other Birthday? None other than my good, good friend and colleague, Mr. Bob “Benedict” Condotta. Those of you who have frequented these blog parts over the years know that I am convinced that Benedict Bob is a cunning cross between Harry Potter and the evil young Malvoy from Smitherin (or however you spell it). But whether right or wrong on that characterization, here’s one thing we can all agree on: Bobby C. is one helluva college sports writer. So, as an ode to Bob, I’ve ripped off one of his latest posts. And in so doing, have discovered why our fortunes this year may not be as bright as once thought. Read on…..

Followers, in a recent post on his amazing blog, Benedict Bob completed his annual post of previewing the lines between the Huskies and all of their 2011 opponents.

His conclusion: The Huskies would be favored in 6 of the 12 games played this year–and would contend for a bowl game once again in 2011. Of course, reading the Dawgs mock lines got me wondering how many games we might be favored in going into 2011-2012? And so, when I met SeanHawk for our first Football Friday in years last week, we put together what we felt would be the opening lines on all of our games for the upcoming year.

Keep in mind, these are lines that we think would spur betting on both sides of the ledger:

Game 1: Idaho State (WSU minus 17.5) – Experienced QB and lots of skill position guys back for WSU, a whole new coaching staff for Idaho State.  Home opener should see the Cougs as a healthy favorite.

Game 2: UNLV (WSU Minus 6.5) – UNLV is still trying to climb up, but has a LONG way to go.  Think Paul Wulff’s second year, and that’s what you might have at UNLV with Bobby Hauck right now?

Game 3: @San Diego State (SDSU Minus 8) – Really good SDSU team last year returns big-time QB in Lindley plus stud running back.  Pac-12 opponent on the grass at SD should see the Aztecs as at least a TD favorite.

Game 4: @Colorado (CU Minus 6.5) – Buffs starting over at head coach and had a down year last year, but at home in the altitude should see them approach a TD or so spread as the fav?

Game 5: @UCLA (UCLA minus 8)- UCLA is quietly looming as a possible surprise team for the P-12 south?  Tough on the grass at home, Vegas will go at least 7 1/2 to 8 (if not more?).

Game 6: Stanford (Stanford minus 16.5) – Andrew Luck’s Heisman campaign makes a quick three-hour stop in Pullman to shake hands and kiss babies.  Stanford huge fav here.

Game 7: Oregon State (OSU minus 3)- Maybe the most interesting line of the entire season?  OSU in Seattle, hard to judge the crowd and such as there will be plenty of black-n-orange in the Century Link stands.  Beavs get the 3 point edge here.

Game 8: @Oregon (Quack minus 28) – Cougs at Autzen?  Is 28 enough??  Vegas might settle at 34 1/2-35 when it’s all said and done.

Game 9: @CAL (Cal minus 5.5) – Another interesting line.  Cal at the Giants ballpark for the season, it’s hard to know what kind of home edge they will have in ’11.  But WSU hasn’t won at Cal in forever, and the Berkeley Bears might be a lot better than people think? 

Game 10: Arizona State (ASU minus 6)- Might be a little low and we debated on this one a bit.  ASU is SeanHawk’s darling pick for the P-12 south, but Sutra is a little unsure at this point.  But late in the year in chilly Pullman might keep the line down a bit.

Game 11: UTAH (Utes minus 4)- Utes have been wildly successful the last several years, but what will they look like this late in the year after their first run through a full Pac-12 schedule?  Hmmm.

Game 12: UW (Huskies minus 8)- Finally, UW in Century Link should be fun and there will be plenty of Crimson-n-gray out there.  But Vegas will view this as a home game for UW, no doubt, and at least a TD will be on the Husky side of things.

Although Sean and I believe that we should win some of these games, neither of us could come up with a good case as to why we should be favored in any games outside of the first two.  And honestly, that needs to really sound the alarm.

After all, can we really expect to go bowling if we are going to be favored pre-season in only 2 of 12 games??

While I am still keeping my expectations up for this group, perhaps we should all be preparing for something we’ve talked about for some time: This group may still be one year away.

Happy Birthday all. And go Cougs.