Now on to business – Here’s this week’s press release:
Some interesting things to note:
1) Both Bienemenn and Boyd are listed as injured. Jesse Taylor is the starter at TE. Sounds like Bienemenn is going to be a game-time decision, but Boyd is probably out for the month.
2) Bumpus gets the start in the slot in place of Marty Martin. Get him the ball on the bubble screen, let’s see what this kid can do in the open field! Just, please, all WR’s, catch the ball!?!?!
3) Steve Cook is NOT listed as the starter at DT, but all indications are he will play a lot. He should have a special boot tomorrow in time for practice so he’ll have a few days before the game to get used to it, but all indications are he’ll be the starter. Ripoti meanwhile will not start and is extremely doubtful to play. The chances are better he’ll return for Stanford, from what I’ve read the last few days.
4) Doba hinted at this last week, but Bruhn is still going to start. Any more 5 carry/1 yard performances with a couple of fumbles, however, and Bruhn might as well not even suit up! I’m sure we’ll see a lot more Harrison and Thompson the rest of the year, especially on passing downs we’ll see Harrison.
5) You hear a lot of Husky WHINE coming from Montlake about how young they are, but has anyone cared to look at the Cougs and how DAMN young we are!?!? Of the 24 players listed as starters (11 on both sides of the ball, plus both kickers), WSU starts 17 underclassmen this week!
Even more amazing, take a look at our complete skill-position players listed this week. Out of 18 “skill” position players (QB, RB, WR’s and TE’s), did you know that there is only 1 SENIOR IN THAT ENTIRE GROUP!?!?! Chris Bruhn. That’s it.
Any surprise that we’ve been inconsistent on offense this year?!?!? Amazing. I can’t remember the last time we were so frickin’ young. Looking back even to 2001, we still had Nakoa McElrath and Dave Minnich, both seniors to rely on. 2002 had Bush, Riley and John Tippins/Jermaine Green, along with Gesser. Last year had Kegel with Sammy Moore, Scott Lunde, and J-Smooth (Jonathan Smith). All seniors playing huge roles. Not this year!
Just think how good they are going to be next year! Not only are all those cats back, but defensively the entire front 7 (sans Derting??) will return! Make your New Year’s day reservations for 2006 now.
Funny, but WSU has found ways to win tough games – on the road no less – with so many kids. Meanwhile UW, well, they just lose.
6) The Cougs are 5-1 coming off the bye since 2000. I always thought teams have complained how tough it can be to get it going again coming off the bye, but 5-1 is nice. The lone loss after a bye??? The dreaded 2002 Apple Cup that was stolen from us.
7) Cougs are now 33-9 since the start of the 2001 season, 37-16 in the new milennium. The 33-9 mark is 8th best in America. We are also tied exactly with USC at 33-9, 20-5 in conference play.
8) Cougs are 17-3 in their last 20 home games, including 12 of our last 13. Meanwhile, interesting but did you know Oregon is just 7-6 in their last 13 home games?? Wasn’t Autzen supposed to be tough?? I guess not when Indiana can come in and beat them in the opener.
I’ll be vacationing this weekend with my lovely wife as we celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary about a month late in Deer Harbor, but you bet your butt I’ll find the game on the radio at 2 PM on Saturday (yet another reason to HATE Belotti!).
One other thing – in the last couple weeks I’ve managed to purchase a VCRDVD burner. Meaning I can take any VHS tape, push a button, and viola! A DVD is born.
So far, I have the 1994 Apple Cup (sorry Captain Bug-Eyes!), the 1997 Apple Cup (cried like a baby on the 50-yard line), the 2003 Holiday Bowl (with either the ESPN broadcast, the WSU radio broadcast, or the Texas broadcast), and just the other day, the 90-minute 2003 highlight tape that Todd provided to me all burned to DVD. The quality is pretty good for these home-brew DVD’s too. The 2003 DVD is especially cool, with a ton of the shots taken from the sideline with crowd noise only, and you can even hear some of the coaches yelling and the players talking above the roar of the crowd.
If you are interested, let me know and I will make you copies of any/all. It’s fun to watch the 1994 Palouse posse just dominate Damnit Damon Huard and Nippy Kaufmann, or the 1997 team with Leaf, Michael Black, Chris Jackson and the fab 5 spread the field and ring up 41 points and 500 yards of O, or watching the Holiday bowl with the Texas broadcasters just crying about the poor officiating that cost the Horns the game! Also, if you happen to have any great WSU games on tape that you’d like to see converted over, let me know.
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