That said, if YOU by chance caught some of it and want to recap it yourself, please feel free to add a comment about what was said. And let me just say that this kind of thing, it won’t happen again. Next week we’ll be right back to normal, as schedules and other things will all be taken care of.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything else we can’t round up for you? Things are pretty busy, so let’s take a look at some solid points of interest on a pretty busy Humpday….
Ian Furness did a great job on the KJR airwaves yesterday, talking Cougs with Jim Walden and also Chris Ball. Give the first link a full listen, as Ian and Puckett discuss the Cougs, and then Walden joins in around the 7-minute mark. But wow, OK State’s Kendall Hunter had 164 rushing yards off missed tackles on Saturday?? As Ian says, that’s LITTLE KIDS football!
On the Ball interview, which is around the 26-minute mark of the second clip, it’s a good listen as well. They talk about fighting back, the look in their eyes when they got back into the game, and how suddenly they started “playing not to lose” when they got it to 17-10 in the 2nd quarter. And of course, they lament the poor tackling and how poorly they graded out there. Not a ton of answers right now, clearly, but it’s good to hear things like this directly from the source.
The interesting thing that we heard from Ball after the game is that he didn’t think they tackled enough this year in camp. And you heard the same type of thing out of USC, after they let Hawaii score 36 points and rack up 588 yards of offense last week. This is interesting in that it is something Mike Riley and Oregon State has done in recent years, where they’ve scaled things back a bit in camp to try and preserve some healthy bodies down the line. Did it work? Well, yes and definitely no. Yes in that, according to many, WSU came out of fall camp looking about as healthy as they have looked in years, aside from the obvious tough injuries to LeAndre Daniels and Louis Bland, plus some nagging things like Gino Simone’s hamstring and Jared Karstetter’s hip (and now a concussion for Karstetter). But an emphatic NO, obviously, when you look at the poor tackling in week one! There has to be a happy medium here, where they can keep guys healthy but still get the physical work done?
Moving on, we did our weekly blog poll ballot now that week two is finally in the books. Check it out:
WSU Football Blog Ballot – Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | — |
| 2 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | — |
| 3 | Boise St. Broncos |  2 |
| 4 | Texas Longhorns | — |
| 5 | TCU Horned Frogs | 4 |
| 6 | Oregon Ducks | 6 |
| 7 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 1 |
| 8 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 2 |
| 9 | Florida Gators |  -6 |
| 10 | Oklahoma Sooners | -4 |
| 11 | Miami Hurricanes | 2 |
| 12 | Wisconsin Badgers | -1 |
| 13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 7 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -7 |
| 15 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 3 |
| 16 | Florida St. Seminoles | 3 |
| 17 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -3 |
| 18 | Utah Utes | 7 |
| 19 | LSU Tigers | -3 |
| 20 | Auburn Tigers | 3 |
| 21 | Georgia Bulldogs | 1 |
| 22 | USC Trojans | 2 |
| 23 | West Virginia Mountaineers | — |
| 24 | Stanford Cardinal | — |
| 25 | South Carolina Gamecocks | — |
| Dropouts: Pittsburgh Panthers, North Carolina Tar Heels, Oregon St. Beavers | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
Some things that might stand out: 1) Boise State, obviously, sits at #3. Impressive win in a big-time environment, but as much as I’ve doubted them, right now they deserve #3. 2) Watch out for those Quack Attack’s. 72-0 over NM isn’t the greatest thing ever, but after week one already it’s not hard to see they are the most complete team in the conference. 3) Florida looked AWFUL against a lower-division foe, and they deserve to drop like a rock.
Just remember, it’s super-early to even be doing a poll, you know? This first month is going to see a lot of movement up and down the board, but things should pretty much settle in by early October? Then we’ll have a pretty good idea about who’s legit, and well, who isn’t.
Next, WSUCougars.com has video of Wulff’s weekly press conference. Some good highlights here in the 8+ minutes of video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5soP9hHxf0&w=400&h=258]Back to Pac-10 news, Bud Withers has this article on the conference’s continued work with coming to agreement on revenue sharing and alignment. Withers has some good items here, including who’s up for revenue sharing (and who isn’t), on the possibilities of USC bailing on the Pac-10, and a source tells Withers that the realignment floated last week of the Cali schools and AZ, well, that was meant with skepticism. Give it a read, it’s a great update on what is going on behind the scenes!
Next, Howie Stalwick reports on the positive vibes some of the players are feeling on campus right now.
Finally, Cougfan has a lot of updates, although some are of the premium variety:
This one asks if Montana State is the classic trap game (premium).
This one recaps some practice action from Monday night, and says the Cougs look angry, while Kevin Kooyman says to keep the faith.
Ryan Leaf has an excellent read on former teammate Jason McEndoo. Some of you may recall that McEndoo was rumored to be on the short list of O-line coaching candidates last year, but he remains the O-line coach of Montana State. And Leaf adds some great perspective on McEndoo and how he has overcome tragedy to get where he is. I remember when that accident happened, back in the summer of ’96, and there was a lot of wondering what was going to happen with McEndoo. He came back for the first game vs. Colorado, and it was tough. But wow, the part about the winning TD vs. Temple and what happened afterwards on the sideline? WOW. Talk about emotional! Fantastic job, Ryan.
And to wrap it up from Cougfan, here’s an article on the newest verbal commit, prospective D-lineman T.J. Poloai. Poloai is a defensive tackle prospect from Sacramento, and has played some o-line in high school but projects as a defensive player at the next level. Here’s some video on Poloai:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yloOI2Y7quk&w=400&h=330]Looks pretty light on his feet, although at 265 pounds he’s not exactly your typical offensive guard. But you can see the quickness as a defensive lineman. And you have to love the motor, as he doesn’t really stop on many of those clips!
That’s it for now. Again, we’ll have the radio show deal next week. Enjoy your Humpday, and as always, GO COUGS!
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