2019 Schedule

[dgibbons]

I may be reading this wrong, but it looks like two bye weeks.

Friday Apple Cup.

https://pac-12.com/article/2018/12/03/2019-pac-12-football-schedule-announced

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I may be reading this wrong, but it looks like two bye weeks.

Friday Apple Cup.

https://pac-12.com/article/2018/12/03/2019-pac-12-football-schedule-announced

Nope....you're correct. From the WSU page:

The complete 2019 football schedule for Washington State follows:

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado
Sept. 13 – at Houston
Sept. 21 – UCLA
Sept. 28 – at Utah
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State
Oct. 19 – Colorado
Oct. 26 – at Oregon
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California
Nov. 16 – Stanford
Nov. 23 – Oregon State
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup)

Home Games in Bold

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Only 1 home game in a seven week stretch (including byes). Road Warriors!

 

[wazzucougs96]

Everyone gets 2 byes this year, since there are 14 weeks available to play 12 games.

 

[CougPatrol]

That Houston trip comes at a bad time. Right before UCLA and Utah.

 

[CougPatrol]

As a season ticket holder, I like the way the home schedule plays out. Labor Day opener against NMSU. The follow week against Northern CO is probably the game I'll skip (there's 1 every year). After that, we have nice separation.

UCLA in September
Colorado in October (Homecoming likely)
Stanford in mid-Nov (Dads weekend likely)
OSU the week before Apple Cup and Civil War will be a tough attendance draw.

 

[dgibbons]

That Houston trip comes at a bad time. Right before UCLA and Utah.

I like it. Two what should be tune ups with a new QB, then a decent road test at Houston before conference play starts.

 

[Coug90]

I like it. Two what should be tune ups with a new QB, then a decent road test at Houston before conference play starts.

The byes between the back to back road games is nice too. Also back to back home games before AC, the second being Oregon State which may provide an Apple Cup tune up as well.

 

[Loyal Coug]

Nope....you're correct. From the WSU page:

The complete 2019 football schedule for Washington State follows:

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado
Sept. 13 – at Houston
Sept. 21 – UCLA
Sept. 28 – at Utah
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State
Oct. 19 – Colorado
Oct. 26 – at Oregon
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California
Nov. 16 – Stanford
Nov. 23 – Oregon State
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup)

Home Games in Bold

Can't say I like this schedule all that much. Labor Day home game to start, then a second home game against a 1-AA school. So two poor attendance weekends in a row. Then the Houston game is on a Friday, so short week plus travel.

Then one home game, 2 byes and 4 road games in 7 weeks? During perfect Football weather (October anyway)? Then back to back home games in declining weather. At least the second one is OSU, should get some attendees from there. But still a likely poor attendance game. Then Apple Cup on Friday AGAIN. Us-mutts and UA-ASU on Friday, the rest on Saturday.....

2 home back to backs out of 6 total games should be able to be avoided. Although the non-con's are probably more our fault than not.

So right about now it is time for Schulz and Chun to start lobbying their peers and barking at Scott about the 2020 schedule. First and foremost. NO Friday Apple Cup. Who makes this schedule and who approves it anyway? Is it all up to the Pac-12 offices?

 

[kougkurt]

Looks like 8-4 to me

 

[extermin8r]

Looks like 8-4 to me

Fair take... I'll take a crack, this is assuming QB is sorted quickly (big if).

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State - W
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado - W
Sept. 13 – at Houston - W
Sept. 21 – UCLA - W
Sept. 28 – at Utah - L
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State - W
Oct. 19 – Colorado - W
Oct. 26 – at Oregon - L
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California - W
Nov. 16 – Stanford - W
Nov. 23 – Oregon State - W
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup) - W

10-2...Overly optimistic probably

 

[CougEd]

Looks like 8-4 to me

I am not going to have any reservations about the team like I did this year. I will assume we plug and play at the QB position, the Dline position will be better. 10-2 with the outside chance of 9-3.

 

[CougPatrol]

I am not going to have any reservations about the team like I did this year. I will assume we plug and play at the QB position, the Dline position will be better. 10-2 with the outside chance of 9-3.

Impossible to predict an overall w/l record at this point. I'll start with 8-4. I think our team may be more solid on defense, but we could still lose a couple more games. Road games at Houston, Utah, Oregon, Cal, ASU, and UW will present challenges. At home, UCLA won't be a bargain next season.

 

[roses04]

12-0, so far in 2019 we are undefeated, and until we lose a game, I will keep 0's in the loss column, all the rest in the win column

 

[PINGDUDE4]

Was kind of hoping that you guys would miss Utah next season. Hate to say it but they are kind of due for a W in what has a close but one sided match-up for WSU.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I think I remember reading that every team in the league gets 2 byes, and there is a max number of games at a single stretch.

I like the position of our two byes. Good points in the season and two good potential wins for which to use the prep time.

 

[CougPatrol]

Was kind of hoping that you guys would miss Utah next season. Hate to say it but they are kind of due for a W in what has a close but one sided match-up for WSU.

Utah returns a lot of talent next season. Hopefully some of their all-conference defensive linemen turn pro.

 

[ttowncoug]

QB spot will be the big Q heading in. Camm seems like he might get the nod. Will Leach consider another grad transfer into the mix? I would.

 

[Loyal Coug]

QB spot will be the big Q heading in. Camm seems like he might get the nod. Will Leach consider another grad transfer into the mix? I would.

Boy, I completely disagree on this. The two Seniors deserve their shot next year. And CML has a history of 5th year seniors starting and succeeding. Minshew was a once in a longtime success.

 

[chipdouglas]

Nope....you're correct. From the WSU page:

The complete 2019 football schedule for Washington State follows:

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado
Sept. 13 – at Houston
Sept. 21 – UCLA
Sept. 28 – at Utah
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State
Oct. 19 – Colorado
Oct. 26 – at Oregon
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California
Nov. 16 – Stanford
Nov. 23 – Oregon State
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup)

Home Games in Bold

• I live in Colorado and had no idea there was a Northern Colorado University
• @Houston is utterly moronic scheduling. Zero upside and tons of downside.
  • Upside: you win, nobody cares, you should have, little to no rankings bump.
  • Downside: you lose and drop 20 spots. It's an arrow in every doubter's quiver for the next 2 years. Let's hope it's the last scheduling turd for awhile.
• This is a lot tougher than this year. @Houston, UCLA will be way better, then on the road @Utah, then @ASU which is a house of horrors for us, @Oregon, @Cal which will be much improved I'm sure, then home vs. Furd and @UW for the AC.
  • I'm not making predictions after the way this year turned out, but 3 years ago I would pencil in minimum 5 losses there

 

[jarvis1981]

Cougs win all their home games in 2019
Two or three wins on the road. - Don't know which ones.

I think the schedule works out great. Two home wins to start and get everyone in the game. Then a real test for the new QB but on the road so less pressure to perform. This sets up well for an improved Uclan team.
Cougs will be 4-1 and finish up 8-4 or 9-3.

 

[random soul]

I expect a hot start as long as there's no FCS turd. Houston will be good but lose Oliver and King I believe, and it'll be early going so no guarantee they'll have been successfully replaced yet. I'd rather have UCLA early than late. The trips to Salt Lake, Eugene, Berkeley, Tempe, and Seattle will be tough. We might lose 4 of those, but that'd still be a solid season.

 

[OrangeGravy]

• I live in Colorado and had no idea there was a Northern Colorado University
• @Houston is utterly moronic scheduling. Zero upside and tons of downside.
  • Upside: you win, nobody cares, you should have, little to no rankings bump.
  • Downside: you lose and drop 20 spots. It's an arrow in every doubter's quiver for the next 2 years. Let's hope it's the last scheduling turd for awhile.
• This is a lot tougher than this year. @Houston, UCLA will be way better, then on the road @Utah, then @ASU which is a house of horrors for us, @Oregon, @Cal which will be much improved I'm sure, then home vs. Furd and @UW for the AC.
  • I'm not making predictions after the way this year turned out, but 3 years ago I would pencil in minimum 5 losses there

Until I see what/who is pulling the trigger for us, I'm expecting 5-7 win range. If our QB situation turns out to be subpar, all bets are off. It could 2-5 wins. 6-10 if he turns out to be good. There's really no way to tell with a school/team like us unless you have a team like this year with the QB returning also and I don't pay attention enough to other teams to know anything about them until the season gets going.

 

[fingerdisco]

I think I remember reading that every team in the league gets 2 byes, and there is a max number of games at a single stretch.

I like the position of our two byes. Good points in the season and two good potential wins for which to use the prep time.

Maybe it’s just my shiddy memory but seems like we have historically played bad after bye weeks?

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Finger, sometimes yes and sometimes no. What we are almost always better at is physical health. The rest has value to the players. The issue has been that we sometimes have lost focus with the time off.

 

[Cougatron]

Maybe it’s just my shiddy memory but seems like we have historically played bad after bye weeks?

We had Oregon after the bye this year and definitely didn’t play poorly.

The schedule looks pretty good although I wish the UCLA game was swapped with Stanford putting that at the end of the year.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Fair take... I'll take a crack, this is assuming QB is sorted quickly (big if).

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State - W
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado - W
Sept. 13 – at Houston - W
Sept. 21 – UCLA - W
Sept. 28 – at Utah - L
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State - W
Oct. 19 – Colorado - W
Oct. 26 – at Oregon - L
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California - W
Nov. 16 – Stanford - W
Nov. 23 – Oregon State - W
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup) - W

10-2...Overly optimistic probably

Obviously optimistic without knowing about our QB play next year, but everything else suggests that the only game that you are overly optimistic about is the AC. It will not surprise me at all if WSU is 11-0 heading into that game. Don't be surprised if the mutts are 11-0 as well. They only have five potentially challenging games before the AC and four of them are home games (Cal, USC, Oregon and Utah). Stanford is the only road game and I think we'd all agree that isn't all that intimidating of an advantage. I'm guessing that the 2019 AC will be deciding the North....again.

 

[Cougatron]

Obviously optimistic without knowing about our QB play next year, but everything else suggests that the only game that you are overly optimistic about is the AC. It will not surprise me at all if WSU is 11-0 heading into that game. Don't be surprised if the mutts are 11-0 as well. They only have five potentially challenging games before the AC and four of them are home games (Cal, USC, Oregon and Utah). Stanford is the only road game and I think we'd all agree that isn't all that intimidating of an advantage. I'm guessing that the 2019 AC will be deciding the North....again.

Depends on Oregon really. If Herbert stays I think Oregon is the main competitor. UW loses Browning and Gaskin.

Oregon has a lot of players returning so I expect them to be better next year, however if Herbert leaves things can fall apart for them.

 

[CPtheCoug]

Honestly I think our defense steps up next year and will be the unit winning us a lot of games. This despite the fact we lose Pelleur.

5-6 wins with uninspiring QB play (least likely scenario).
7-8 wins with servicable QB play.
8+ wins with balling out QB play.

 

[jarvis1981]

Anyone revise there 2019 predictions after getting the 11th win this year?

 

[Coug90]

Nope....you're correct. From the WSU page:

The complete 2019 football schedule for Washington State follows:

Aug. 31 – New Mexico State
Sept. 7 – Northern Colorado
Sept. 13 – at Houston
Sept. 21 – UCLA
Sept. 28 – at Utah
Oct. 5 – BYE
Oct. 12 – at Arizona State
Oct. 19 – Colorado
Oct. 26 – at Oregon
Nov. 2 – BYE
Nov. 9 – at California
Nov. 16 – Stanford
Nov. 23 – Oregon State
Nov. 29 – at Washington (Apple Cup)

Home Games in Bold

These are interesting exercises. One of the QBs next year steps up like Minshew did, could be 12-0. Turns out all we have waiting in the wings is Chad Davis, could be 5-7.

 

[95coug]

These are interesting exercises. One of the QBs next year steps up like Minshew did, could be 12-0. Turns out all we have waiting in the wings is Chad Davis, could be 5-7.

So much depends on our QB play. Most of the offense is back, so even with a “game manager” sort of QB we should score points. If our starter is a player like Minshew/Gesser/Leaf, we should be next to unstoppable.
I’d like to say our D will be better, but we’ll still have depth and size issues on the DL, and have to replace pieces in the secondary, plus our defensive leader (Pelleur). Any improvement may be very, very modest.
I could see anything from 5-7 to 12-0. Historically we don’t play well in the desert, and Herm Edwards surprised me this year. We also don’t show well in Seattle, and the backup is supposed to be better than Browning, so I’m not real confident about those 2. All of our conference road games are tough, it’s not hard to imagine being under .500 on the road. Also not hard to imagine being undefeated at home...which gets us bowl eligible.

 

[CougPatrol]

Feels like a 3-9 season to me.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Pro's, fake concerns and con's.

Pro's: A lot of returning starters, including the whole WR corps. What looks like an improved D with some bigger D linemen and the only real unknown being how we replace Pelleur.

Fake concerns: QB. CML always has a serviceable QB. Is a great QB worth a couple more wins during the year? Of course. But we will have a QB who can play.

Con's: We need a good right tackle (he will be moving to LT) and we need a good MLB, and there is not an obvious replacement for either at this time. That may change during spring ball, but they are obvious concerns today.

Top end expectation if the QB, MLG and RT are better than average: 9 reg season wins plus bowl win = 10 wins.

Bottom end expectation if the QB is average by Leach standards and there is nothing special at RT and MLB: 7 reg season wins plus bowl loss = 7 wins.

 

[CougPatrol]

Impossible to predict at this stage. We could have finished 8-5 or 12-1 this season.

The question mark for me again is the defense. I thought our D this season was a hard working group, but we were fortunate to face a lot of mediocre offenses (and QBs). That won’t alwsys be the case. Our interior DL, MLB and our corners are the keys this offseason.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

• I live in Colorado and had no idea there was a Northern Colorado University
• @Houston is utterly moronic scheduling. Zero upside and tons of downside.
  • Upside: you win, nobody cares, you should have, little to no rankings bump.
  • Downside: you lose and drop 20 spots. It's an arrow in every doubter's quiver for the next 2 years. Let's hope it's the last scheduling turd for awhile.
• This is a lot tougher than this year. @Houston, UCLA will be way better, then on the road @Utah, then @ASU which is a house of horrors for us, @Oregon, @Cal which will be much improved I'm sure, then home vs. Furd and @UW for the AC.
  • I'm not making predictions after the way this year turned out, but 3 years ago I would pencil in minimum 5 losses there

I'm going to disagree on the no upside to the Houston game. When the game was scheduled, we didn't know that we'd be in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, so a game in Texas against Houston is a good way to get Texas exposure for our program and Leach likes to recruit Texas still. It's not going to hurt for us to get two wins in the state of Texas in a roughly 9 month span.

With us losing Minshew, I have no doubt that WSU will not be in the Top 25 to start the season. Given Houston's "struggles" and coach firing, it should end up being a pretty winnable game if we have a decent team and I think we'll be back in the Top 25 after beating the other Cougars, if not sooner. From a recruiting standpoint, getting a game that's close to Texas and Louisiana kids (and Mississippi?), isn't a bad deal.

 

[chipdouglas]

I'm going to disagree on the no upside to the Houston game. When the game was scheduled, we didn't know that we'd be in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, so a game in Texas against Houston is a good way to get Texas exposure for our program and Leach likes to recruit Texas still. It's not going to hurt for us to get two wins in the state of Texas in a roughly 9 month span.

With us losing Minshew, I have no doubt that WSU will not be in the Top 25 to start the season. Given Houston's "struggles" and coach firing, it should end up being a pretty winnable game if we have a decent team and I think we'll be back in the Top 25 after beating the other Cougars, if not sooner. From a recruiting standpoint, getting a game that's close to Texas and Louisiana kids (and Mississippi?), isn't a bad deal.

First off, I strongly believe we find ourselves in the Top 25 to start next year. I'd like to protect that, which is why I'm against playing pointless games vs occasionally dangerous teams like UH whom we get no credit for beating.

Second, I wonder if you are separating your own bias for seeing matchups that are interesting to you, from what is in the best possible interests of WSU Football.

In the abstract - which is what any university scheduler is working off of - I maintain that Houston is not a good call. Whether or not that makes sense in a given year can change the arithmetic a bit, but not enough to justify the following risks IMO:

• Even apart from Case Keenum and a few other competitors floating around the NFL, here is a school which put 6 players in the NFL in 2016-17, including multiple top 2 rounders
• Until this year, they hadn't missed a bowl game in 5 years
• Just this year - a bad one for UH - they laid the wood on the P12's own Arizona, 45-18. Without this loss, Arizona would have been bowl eligible
• It's a home game for an AAC opponent
• Regarding recruiting, I'm skeptical of the value. For a home game against Arizona this year, UH turned out 32k - 20% of capacity unused. And WSU is also not Notre Dame, Michigan or Oregon - i.e., a beatable and quasi-marquee team - so I don't think those numbers fare much better for us.

Could we get get a couple vaguely interested Houston metro 3 stars on the sideline? Possibly. But in any given year that is not worth the risk IMO of opening the season behind the 8-ball with a loss to a team the nation will give you zero credit for beating. And ask Arizona and the bowl game they didn't go to if they'd like to have had UConn instead...

 

[kougkurt]

First off, I strongly believe we find ourselves in the Top 25 to start next year. I'd like to protect that, which is why I'm against playing pointless games vs occasionally dangerous teams like UH whom we get no credit for beating.

Second, I wonder if you are separating your own bias for seeing matchups that are interesting to you, from what is in the best possible interests of WSU Football.

In the abstract - which is what any university scheduler is working off of - I maintain that Houston is not a good call. Whether or not that makes sense in a given year can change the arithmetic a bit, but not enough to justify the following risks IMO:

• Even apart from Case Keenum and a few other competitors floating around the NFL, here is a school which put 6 players in the NFL in 2016-17, including multiple top 2 rounders
• Until this year, they hadn't missed a bowl game in 5 years
• Just this year - a bad one for UH - they laid the wood on the P12's own Arizona, 45-18. Without this loss, Arizona would have been bowl eligible
• It's a home game for an AAC opponent
• Regarding recruiting, I'm skeptical of the value. For a home game against Arizona this year, UH turned out 32k - 20% of capacity unused. And WSU is also not Notre Dame, Michigan or Oregon - i.e., a beatable and quasi-marquee team - so I don't think those numbers fare much better for us.

Could we get get a couple vaguely interested Houston metro 3 stars on the sideline? Possibly. But in any given year that is not worth the risk IMO of opening the season behind the 8-ball with a loss to a team the nation will give you zero credit for beating. And ask Arizona and the bowl game they didn't go to if they'd like to have had UConn instead...

Isn’t Houston game 3 next year.

 

[chipdouglas]

Isn’t Houston game 3 next year.

I'm playing fast and loose with "open the season" but if we've learned anything in the CML era, it's that we're vulnerable in the first few games of a season.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

First off, I strongly believe we find ourselves in the Top 25 to start next year. I'd like to protect that, which is why I'm against playing pointless games vs occasionally dangerous teams like UH whom we get no credit for beating.

Second, I wonder if you are separating your own bias for seeing matchups that are interesting to you, from what is in the best possible interests of WSU Football.

In the abstract - which is what any university scheduler is working off of - I maintain that Houston is not a good call. Whether or not that makes sense in a given year can change the arithmetic a bit, but not enough to justify the following risks IMO:

• Even apart from Case Keenum and a few other competitors floating around the NFL, here is a school which put 6 players in the NFL in 2016-17, including multiple top 2 rounders
• Until this year, they hadn't missed a bowl game in 5 years
• Just this year - a bad one for UH - they laid the wood on the P12's own Arizona, 45-18. Without this loss, Arizona would have been bowl eligible
• It's a home game for an AAC opponent
• Regarding recruiting, I'm skeptical of the value. For a home game against Arizona this year, UH turned out 32k - 20% of capacity unused. And WSU is also not Notre Dame, Michigan or Oregon - i.e., a beatable and quasi-marquee team - so I don't think those numbers fare much better for us.

Could we get get a couple vaguely interested Houston metro 3 stars on the sideline? Possibly. But in any given year that is not worth the risk IMO of opening the season behind the 8-ball with a loss to a team the nation will give you zero credit for beating. And ask Arizona and the bowl game they didn't go to if they'd like to have had UConn instead...

On the comment of "interesting to me".......ummmm no. I couldn't care less about Houston and having just done the 20 hour round trip to San Antonio......I don't care to drive in Texas any time soon. Driving in Texas sucks a lot. So, don't try to make this about me. I don't understand why some folks on this board feel that everything has to be personal in some way. My comment was geared towards the idea that Leach likes recruiting Texas and any exposure there is good exposure. Whether you like him recruiting in Texas means nothing to Leach.

On your comment about Arizona losing to Houston......Arizona sucked this year. If not for their win against Oregon, it would have been a disaster of a season. I don't think WSU should gauge it's chances against Houston based on Arizona.