Losing Your Lunch: Double Secret Probation Edition

Hello Followers.  Hope you’re having a great week.

Yesterday, Coach Mike Leach—aka Dean Wormer—threatened to send the press corps into double-secret exile if they choose to report on player (practice) injuries.

For more on that, and a whole lot less, read on..

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Followers, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there hasn’t been a lot of content out of this site lately.  And there are three reasons for that.  First, time has been short on my/our end.  Second:  Pretty much you, me, and the rest of the world know that our season’s fortunes rest squarely on the shoulders of our offensive line, and to a lesser extent, our defensive secondary.  And honestly, I haven't wanted to write about that question more than once–let alone over a period of weeks or months.

Third: Unless you can be easily captivated by second or even third hand information, none of us have had the opportunity to actually see any of our boys play yet.  So, at this point, trying to speculate on the speculation of others has just seemed a bit silly–at least at my current stage of blog-idiocy.

(Note: Longball actually took in the second scrimmage, so at some point, he’ll actually have something to say about how we look prior to the Auburn game).

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been interested and/or glued to the internets over the past few weeks.  As I mentioned a week or so prior, my daily ritual (starting at about 10:00 Eastern) has been to constantly refresh my twitter feed with the hope that Christian Caple would provide one of his most excellent practice updates on Sportslink.

Unfortunately, although his recent stuff has been pretty darn stellar, it has been dampened a bit by the fact that practice is now closed.  And while closing practice is understandable on one hand, limiting broad-based media access also serves to limit the “buzz” of the upcoming season.  I mean, not only does a lack of information limit what it is that folks like Christian can write about, it also limits what it is that sites like Cougcenter and even this blog can write about as well.   In other words, quiet one media outlet, and you can also quiet the whole blog-o-sphere as well.

Sshh!  You've now enterred the Cone of Silence

So, yesterday’s announcement by Leach that he would banish reporters who talked about injuries represented a bit of a slippery slope in my book.   On one hand, if you believe that injury reports can lead to a competitive disadvantage, then unrestricted media access can wind up hurting the program and its buzz if it limits you’re ability to win.  On the other hand, limiting media access can hurt the program if it dampens the ability of news outlets to wet the appetite of fans who are the most likely to (a) Talk about the program to family, friends, and colleagues (and get them interested or excited about the team/season); and (b) Are the most likely to call talk radio shows and infuse Cougar content into the west-side dialogue.

Personally, at this point in the program’s development, I don’t think leaking RG5’s health status is going to alter one lick of the outcome against Auburn.  Zero.   So, at this point, I would just assume that Leach spend more time trying to be able to figure out how to best fold his play sheet than bully folks like Caple that are trying to keep major newspapers a mile or so ahead of fan blogs like this one.

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Finally, a quick few words about our Cougs.  First off, Christian had a really great chat yesterday that you should check out if you get the chance.  While he is pretty quiet about the season’s fortunes, you can tell in this chat that he thinks the offensive line IS much improved.  He also says that the completion percentage among QB’s is also way up, which gives good confidence that the Air Raid may actually start to look like, well, the Air Raid.

Of course, hearing that news should give lots of room for quiet optimism.  As I noted last year, in 2011, we were 4-0 when we scored more than 30 points and 0-8 when we did not.  Last year, we were 2—2 when we scored more than 30 points, and 1-7 when we did not.  What’s more, when you factor in that those two losses (where we score 30 pts) occurred when we (a) Blew that huge fourth quarter lead against Colorado; and (b) Scored a truck load of (essentially) garbage points against UCLA (after being down 38-7 at the half), well, it gives you an idea about critical that ppg. mark is for this team moving forward.

So, when I read that the O is looking good and that Auburn has (a) Kicked its leading safety off the team; (b) is thin in the secondary—especially at safety; and (c) Lost its leading DE to injury last week, well, it makes me think we have a fighter’s chance in this one.

Cuz, frankly, in my book, the 30 point mark in this game represents a tipping point for both teams.  Get to 30 and with the heat, humidity, and Auburn’s lack of depth, I think we’d probably wind up scoring around 42.  And that would mean that this season would start with an upset that would be sure to send shockwaves around the conference.

Anyhow, that’s all I got for today.  Hope you have a great rest of your week.  Go Cougs.