{"id":272904,"date":"2015-09-17T13:24:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T18:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsufootballblog.com\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2015-09-17T13:24:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T18:24:36","slug":"football-friday-on-thursday-week-3-of-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/football-friday-on-thursday-week-3-of-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Friday on Thursday, Week 3 of 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
Happy Football Friday on Thursday Cougs, and we hope things are great with you and yours. \u00a0I don’t know about you, but I have to say that my week has been better compared to last week, when we were coming off a downer loss to PSU. \u00a0After all the hype and all that, well, that result had yours truly fading back into the shrubs, feeling pretty much done….<\/p>\n
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But sometimes the beauty of college football is that the bad losses and the hangover feeling that lingers with fans and alums? \u00a0Well, sometimes it doesn’t stick with the kids and they are able to actually go out, play the game and forget about what happened. \u00a0I remember back in 2006, when UW lost to a really awful Stanford team the week before the Apple Cup. \u00a0Bill Doba said on his radio show sure, UW struggled against a down opponent. \u00a0But he then said something like “but I can assure you, by the time we kick off on Saturday, they will NOT be thinking about last week!”. \u00a0And he was right, as UW won a shootout and kept a 6-win WSU team from a bowl. \u00a0But it is a good perspective that yeah, we can take things far too seriously, but kids can often times be much more resilient in terms for flushing the bad from the prior week and just going out and having the ability to do something about it!<\/p>\n
That said, it was quite the bounceback win at Rutgers, wasn’t it? \u00a0I was telling my good friend Sutra that sure, Rutgers isn’t a Big 10 powerhouse or anything like that, but there is a lot to feel positive about with this\u00a0outcome. \u00a0The kids traveled to the east coast, a time zone that hasn’t been friendly to good ‘ol WSU (4-18-1, per Stephanie Loh of the Seattle Times). \u00a0I believe the last time they won back there was at Temple in 1996, Ryan Leaf’s sophomore year? \u00a0Anyway, just winning back there is a good thing and it simply hasn’t happened very often in our history. \u00a0But Rutgers is a gross mess right now, what with Kyle Flood now suspended for 3 games over academic “issues”, as well as a string of arrests-n-such that pretty much sucks the life out of you as a college fan. \u00a0But they still had been a bowl team 9 of the last 10 years, they won 8 games last year, and oh yeah, they kind of started us on the 3-and-9 nightmare of 2014 with the season opening stunner in Century Link!<\/p>\n
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So it was nice to win that thing, and to come back and do it in such a wild second half\/4th quarter is all the better. \u00a0A lot of people have said that this game reminds them of the road game at Utah last year, where they made some big plays late and beat a decent team on the road when it looked a little bleak. \u00a0But let’s hope the kids use this game as a jumping off point for the rest of 2015, as it all starts this week with a chance to keep up the good feelings vs. a struggling Wyoming team that hasn’t really done anything but get pushed around their first two games of the year.<\/p>\n
On to this week’s games:<\/p>\n
UW 27, Utah State 17:<\/strong> \u00a0Washington did what you are supposed to do last week, and that’s crush a lower-level opponent in Sac State and put up some crooked numbers in the process. \u00a0Meanwhile Utah State has kind of stumbled a bit out of the gate, 1-1 and in their lone win, they didn’t look very good. \u00a0I really liked Utah State to pull off the upset here prior to the season, but I’ve kind of come around and now I think that UW’s improving defense and better-than-expected running game will be the difference.<\/p>\n Colorado 34, CSU 30<\/strong> – Shootout in the rivalry, but the Buffs improve to 2-1 with a superior passing game in the end.<\/p>\n CAL 41, Texas 23<\/strong> – Hate to say it, and it’s hard because I really don’t like them….but I think Cal is the REAL DEAL this year. \u00a0They look fast and deep from what we’ve seen the first few games, and Jared Goff keeps reminding folks of Aaron Rodgers.<\/p>\n USC 31, Stanford 16<\/strong> – I think USC is really loaded, with the most explosive set of playmakers in the Pac-12 on both sides of the ball this year. \u00a0And Stanford just isn’t what they used to be, and this game shows the gap between the elite and Stanford falling back to the middle.<\/p>\n UCLA 45, BYU 34<\/strong> – I felt like this could be an UPSET ALERT, and if this game was in Provo I would probably pick BYU. \u00a0But I believe UCLA’s talent and speed will be too much at home, and UCLA will pull away in a wild one.<\/p>\n ASU 37, N-Mexico 14<\/strong> – Still waiting to be impressed by ASU, maybe this is the week they match the preseason hype??<\/p>\n Oregon\u00a0A LOT,\u00a0Georgia State not much<\/strong> – Yeah, Vernon Adams broke his index finger on his throwing hand, and that’s not good. \u00a0But I think you or me could start at QB this week and this would still be a blow out. \u00a0Whether it’s Adams or Lockie or someone else, it really won’t matter in a laugher in Eugene.<\/p>\n Oregon State 23,\u00a0\u00a0San Jose State 17<\/strong> – I think this will be tight, but the Beavs are the better coached team at the end of the day and make a few more plays late. \u00a0But we’ll see how OSU bounces back after their physical humiliation at the hands of the Harbaugh’s last week.<\/p>\n Utah 30, Fresno State 23<\/strong> – Travis Wilson is hurt – AGAIN – but Utah looks like a legit contender in the south this year. \u00a0And contenders like Utah go out on the road and win games like this. \u00a0It won’t be easy, but the Utes take care of business.<\/p>\n Arizona names their score over\u00a0Northern Arizona<\/strong> – Blowout city.<\/p>\n Finally, Cougs – Wyoming<\/strong>. \u00a0Ladies and gentlemen, I will be brief. \u00a0I think we continue the feel-good story after last week as the Cougs continue to put the PSU loss in the rearview. \u00a0Meanwhile Wyoming has looked, well, awful the first two weeks, losing at home vs. North\u00a0Dakota\u00a0(not ND-State, the one that beats a Power 5 team every year!),\u00a0and followed that up by looking even worse in week 2, a blowout loss to Eastern Michigan, again in Laramie. \u00a0I like Craig Bohl, the former 3-time national champion at North Dakota State, \u00a0and eventually it will work in Wyoming. But not right now, and not this week.<\/p>\n I think this game will go a lot like we all thought the first game of the year was going to go. \u00a0I expect a lot of yards and points, and I believe this Coug team\u00a0will come out and play with a sense of urgency that we saw last week. \u00a0They will be\u00a0fast and with an edge, and we should be in good shape by the second half. \u00a0I’ll go WSU 47, Wyoming 27<\/strong>.<\/p>\n All for now. \u00a0Enjoy the games as we hopefully get to 2-1 before the bye week, and of course, GO COUGS!<\/p>\n SUTRA SEZ:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hello Followers. Hope you all are doing great!<\/p>\n As for me, well, things are going great! \u00a0I mean, our Cougs are now sitting at an AWESOME 1-1. \u00a0And suddenly, the season is full of possibility!!!!!!!<\/p>\n Last week, I offered my predictions regarding the “four keys” to winning. And I am happy to say that I was wrong about all of them. \u00a0For example:<\/p>\n Would Falk throw over 400 yards?<\/strong> \u00a0I said: NO. \u00a0The correct answer: YES<\/p>\n Would WSU run for over 100 yards? \u00a0<\/strong>I said: \u00a0YES. The correct answer: \u00a0NO<\/p>\n Would WSU score over 35 points?<\/strong> \u00a0I said: \u00a0NO. \u00a0The correct answer: \u00a0YES<\/p>\n Would WSU be +1 or better in turnover margin? \u00a0<\/strong>I said: \u00a0NO. The correct answer: \u00a0YES<\/p>\n So, what we’ve seen so far is that I have been completely wrong about everything related to 2015 Cougar Football! \u00a0At the same time, we’ve also seen that when we achieve 3 out of these 4 keys, we have a great, great shot of winning the football game–even when two GINORMOUS special teams gaffes are included.<\/p>\n So, let’s move on to this week’s game:<\/p>\n Will Luke Falk throw for over 400 yards? \u00a0<\/strong>I say: \u00a0YES. \u00a0But it won’t be by that much because I don’t think he’s gonna play in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n