2019 Schedule

[Loyal Coug]

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.
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So after playing a complete patsy and a D1-AA team, who exactly would you schedule for our 3rd OOC game? And is Houston undesirable because they are not Power 5, but might be good enough beat us?

If they end up being good, it does help out SOS rating, which negatively affected us all year long. Personally I'd like to see us go play an SEC team, pocket the million, and get the upset win. But that's just me.

 

[COUGinNCW]

So after playing a complete patsy and a D1-AA team, who exactly would you schedule for our 3rd OOC game? And is Houston undesirable because they are not Power 5, but might be good enough beat us?

If they end up being good, it does help out SOS rating, which negatively affected us all year long. Personally I'd like to see us go play an SEC team, pocket the million, and get the upset win. But that's just me.

I’d like to see a home and home with a Power 5 school that will actually not buy their way out of the return game. Minnesota, Iowa State, Virginia, Kansas....

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Sorry to not agree with everybody on this, but I really like our schedule. OOC, then PAC south, then PAC north. Two byes that are at reasonable points in the schedule. UCLA at home, early in the season (my suspicion is that Chip will have them on the upswing by the end of the year). Utah before the weather turns bad.

No schedule is perfect, but this one has a lot to like. I particularly like the PAC north games bunched up at the end, since I think we are finally at the point that our depth is at least mostly comparable to the rest of the division, and our conditioning program has done better than average from an injury perspective over CML's tenure.

 

[YakiCoug]

So after playing a complete patsy and a D1-AA team, who exactly would you schedule for our 3rd OOC game? And is Houston undesirable because they are not Power 5, but might be good enough beat us?

If they end up being good, it does help out SOS rating, which negatively affected us all year long. Personally I'd like to see us go play an SEC team, pocket the million, and get the upset win. But that's just me.

Funny how playing Patsy Cline never seems to affect the perception of Alabama's/or any SEC team's SOS.

 

[dgibbons]

Funny how playing Patsy Cline never seems to affect the perception of Alabama's/or any SEC team's SOS.

That eight game conference schedule with The Citadel and some directional schools mixed in is murderer’s row!

 

[CrimsonDisciple]

• 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.

Houston agreed to a WSU home and Houston Neutral game.... we are not in position to turn those deals down. It would also be a solid win in a recruiting hotbed for WSU. Love this deal.

 

[Coug90]

Houston agreed to a WSU home and Houston Neutral game.... we are not in position to turn those deals down. It would also be a solid win in a recruiting hotbed for WSU. Love this deal.

It’s ok, Houston is now a part off the Power 6 according to their conference. Good to know they not only make up national championships, but also makes up where their conference stands in the CFP landscape.

 

[etowncoug]

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.

Leach's teams are 7-0 in the third game of the season.
2012: @UNLV 35-27
2013: Southern Utah 48-10
2014: Portland St 59-21
2015: Wyoming 31-14
2016: Idaho 56-6
2017: Oregon St 52-23
2018: Eastern Washington 59-23

This seems to be where we start to take care of business.

 

[Observer11]

I’d like to see a home and home with a Power 5 school that will actually not buy their way out of the return game. Minnesota, Iowa State, Virginia, Kansas....

Those teams are all in conferences with competent commissioners. $1 million buyout is a rounding error in their financials.

Lesson being, ALWAYS be the home team first in a series. And all the teams listed above would be solid OOC games under the right terms.

 

[425cougfan]

Houston agreed to a WSU home and Houston Neutral game.... we are not in position to turn those deals down. It would also be a solid win in a recruiting hotbed for WSU. Love this deal.

You probably know this, but the game originally was going to be played at the on-campus stadium in Houston. We didn't force Houston's hand to move the game (I don't think). Also a bit of a stretch to call a game vs. Houston in Houston "neutral-site."

I'm not a huge fan of us having scheduled this game, but I think it will be OK. From a selfish perspective, being down here and able to drive to it, I'm glad they're playing it.

 

[95coug]

I’d like to see a home and home with a Power 5 school that will actually not buy their way out of the return game. Minnesota, Iowa State, Virginia, Kansas....

I’d prefer not to play Iowa state again until Butler, Montgomery, and Purdy are gone.

Kansas, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Baylor, Texas Tech....any of those would be fine by me. I really don’t have an issue with Houston either, although I think as the P-5 team we should be able to force them to travel first.

 

[chipdouglas]

Leach's teams are 7-0 in the third game of the season.
2012: @UNLV 35-27
2013: Southern Utah 48-10
2014: Portland St 59-21
2015: Wyoming 31-14
2016: Idaho 56-6
2017: Oregon St 52-23
2018: Eastern Washington 59-23

This seems to be where we start to take care of business.

And we're .500 or below in the 1st, 2nd and 4th games of the season. There is nothing magical about the 3rd game.

The point here is we should do everything we can to put ourselves in a position to win and compete in the postseason. Volunteering for risks such as road games vs overachieving Group of 5 schools with solid NFL resumes is totally incompatible with this objective; even irresponsible.

 

[CougPatrol]

The only problem with the Houston game is the travel. It’s an odd number year when we already play 5 road conference games, but it is a home and home series.

New Mexico St, Northern CO, and Houston are the perfect non league schedule for WSU.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

The only problem with the Houston game is the travel. It’s an odd number year when we already play 5 road conference games, but it is a home and home series.

New Mexico St, Northern CO, and Houston are the perfect non league schedule for WSU.

For the fact that we have question marks in certain spots, I see it as the perfect schedule as well. NMSU went 3-9 and was whipped by every decent team they played. Northern Colorado went 2-9 in FCS. Houston is a train wreck right now and we should be able to take them down. We should have the bugs worked out by then. ASU, CU and OSU are games that look pretty darned encouraging. UCLA needs to prove that it isn't a trainwreck. Utah and Cal have to find an offense. Oregon, Stanford, and UW are the games that look the toughest on paper. I see us getting 8+ wins if our QB situation is figured out and the Pac continues to be just meh.

 

[TSKCoug]

Seems to me that Houston pulled the trigger on firing Applewhite awfully fast! But perhaps there is a back story that makes sense, though an 8-5 record does not seem too bad (granted it hurts to get killed that bad in a bowl game). All in all though I look forward to seeing the Cougs vs. Coogs in person this September!

 

[etowncoug]

And we're .500 or below in the 1st, 2nd and 4th games of the season. There is nothing magical about the 3rd game.

The point here is we should do everything we can to put ourselves in a position to win and compete in the postseason. Volunteering for risks such as road games vs overachieving Group of 5 schools with solid NFL resumes is totally incompatible with this objective; even irresponsible.

We've seen the team struggle in week 1, sometimes in week 2 but after that point in the season we hit our stride with only the occasional hiccup. I feel pretty good about our chances once we get the offense/defense clicking and this typically happens by week 3.

 

[dgibbons]

For the fact that we have question marks in certain spots, I see it as the perfect schedule as well. NMSU went 3-9 and was whipped by every decent team they played. Northern Colorado went 2-9 in FCS. Houston is a train wreck right now and we should be able to take them down. We should have the bugs worked out by then. ASU, CU and OSU are games that look pretty darned encouraging. UCLA needs to prove that it isn't a trainwreck. Utah and Cal have to find an offense. Oregon, Stanford, and UW are the games that look the toughest on paper. I see us getting 8+ wins if our QB situation is figured out and the Pac continues to be just meh.

It's the perfect schedule to break in a new QB and get ready for conference play.

 

[FnuLnu]

It's the perfect schedule to break in a new QB and get ready for conference play.

Hopefully not like Wulff broke (in) his QBs vs Portland State and Idaho State.
(hidden Jeff Tuel reference there for you)

 

[CougPatrol]

Not sure I'd call Houston a train wreck. Their roster always has a lot of talent, but moving to a new Air Raid coach will take time to work things out.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Not sure I'd call Houston a train wreck. Their roster always has a lot of talent, but moving to a new Air Raid coach will take time to work things out.

They lost 4 out of their last 5 games including a bowl game loss by 56 points, and then fired their coach.............aka......trainwreck.