Happy New Year, everyone! Biggest surprise of 2019?

[M-I-Coug]

Happy New Year everyone! As we're heading into our quiet board mode until August, I thought we should take a moment to reflect on 2019, and what was the biggest surprise of last year.

Biggest surprise of 2019?

1. Our defense, and/or lack thereof. Lack of recruiting, or talent at our level.
2. The abrupt and sudden disappearance of YakiCoug. A decade of finding fault in others, criticizing and hating on so many posters. The continuous negative drama found on this board. The poison. Now gone.
3. Anthony Gordon. A one and done. Wish AG and Arconado was back this fall!
4. Another humiliating and embarrassed beat down from the Dawgs in the Apple Cup.
5. Women's soccer team head coach Todd Schulenberger and All American Morgan Weaver.

What was your biggest surprise of 2019?

 

[CougPatrol]

Honestly, Tracy Claeys walling out on the team mid season was the biggest surprise, and disappointment.

 

[dgibbons]

Honestly, Tracy Claeys walling out on the team mid season was the biggest surprise, and disappointment.

Biggest bad surprise was definitely Claeys. Biggest pleasant surprise was the women’s soccer team.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Happy New Year everyone! As we're heading into our quiet board mode until August, I thought we should take a moment to reflect on 2019, and what was the biggest surprise of last year.

Biggest surprise of 2019?

1. Our defense, and/or lack thereof. Lack of recruiting, or talent at our level.
2. The abrupt and sudden disappearance of YakiCoug. A decade of finding fault in others, criticizing and hating on so many posters. The continuous negative drama found on this board. Now gone.
3. Anthony Gordon. A one and done. Wish AG and Arconado was back this fall!
4. Another humiliating and embarrassed beat down from the Dawgs in the Apple Cup.
5. Women's soccer team head coach Todd Schulenberger and All American Morgan Weaver.

What was your biggest surprise of 2019?

Well, certainly #4 wasn't a surprise.

If we are talking about WSU athletics, #5. Nobody would've seen a final four finish for women's soccer. Good for them!

If we are talking about WSU football, I'll add one to your list: My biggest surprise is that a season could feel so disappointing even though the Cougars went to a bowl. That's how high Mike Leach has raised expectations with this program.

Glad Cougar

 

[Coug90]

Happy New Year everyone! As we're heading into our quiet board mode until August, I thought we should take a moment to reflect on 2019, and what was the biggest surprise of last year.

Biggest surprise of 2019?

1. Our defense, and/or lack thereof. Lack of recruiting, or talent at our level.
2. The abrupt and sudden disappearance of YakiCoug. A decade of finding fault in others, criticizing and hating on so many posters. The continuous negative drama found on this board. Now gone.
3. Anthony Gordon. A one and done. Wish AG and Arconado was back this fall!
4. Another humiliating and embarrassed beat down from the Dawgs in the Apple Cup.
5. Women's soccer team head coach Todd Schulenberger and All American Morgan Weaver.

What was your biggest surprise of 2019?

I’m saving my biggest surprise because I think we landed a helluva BBall coach that’s going to get the program back on the map. For a program that was left for dead I think I’ll look back on that hire as a very pleasant surprise. Within 3 years the Cougs will be in the tourney. Now when that happens hopefully we can keep KS in Pullman.

 

[79COUG]

I'm going with CP on this. Claeys departure came out of left field.
I wonder about yaki too. We go way back on this board and it's various names.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I'm going with CP on this. Claeys departure came out of left field.
I wonder about yaki too. We go way back on this board and it's various names.

Claeys leaving was definitely the biggest surprise for me.

A close second was Anthony Gordon winning the starting job and then leading the country in passing. Personally, I'm not disappointed that he's graduated, but I hope he tears it up at the senior bowl and gets his chance to make an NFL roster.

As far as Yaki goes, we never saw eye to eye and I had him blocked so I didn't even realize that he was gone, but he certainly had been around so long that it seems strange that he's MIA.

My biggest single disappointment of the year was living through the surreal experience of that fourth quarter against UCLA.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Biggest bad surprise was definitely Claeys. Biggest pleasant surprise was the women’s soccer team.

Biggest impactful surprise was Thompson having to leave early for the NFL in my opinion.

 

[FnuLnu]

That somebody from WSU officialdom (and not in a memoir written in retirement) finally called out John Blanchette as a sanctimonious troll.

That other media members (including at the S-R) were surprised that when after they issued their support of Blanchette, WSU supporters doubled up with more examples of Blanchette's WSU trolling.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I gotta go with the women's soccer team's run through the playoffs. Every team in the playoffs was good; we happened to be well into the upper half, and probably even upper third. But we peaked at the right time and the ladies had both belief and intestinal fortitude. Well done, and sets them up well for next season. Can't say enough good things about the job they did.

 

[M-I-Coug]

I gotta go with the women's soccer team's run through the playoffs. Every team in the playoffs was good; we happened to be well into the upper half, and probably even upper third. But we peaked at the right time and the ladies had both belief and intestinal fortitude. Well done, and sets them up well for next season. Can't say enough good things about the job they did.

Would be so nice to have the depth that UNC, (or Stanford) has. They're so loaded, when new energy is needed via player substitution.

 

[kayak15]

I gotta go with the women's soccer team's run through the playoffs. Every team in the playoffs was good; we happened to be well into the upper half, and probably even upper third. But we peaked at the right time and the ladies had both belief and intestinal fortitude. Well done, and sets them up well for next season. Can't say enough good things about the job they did.

I predicted prior to the season that they would be good- the blind squirrel stops here to pat himself on the back- but was pleasantly surprised to find them making it at far as they eventually did. Achieving the semis was a major accomplishment and a surprise. Well done ladies. That said, my major surprise was Claeys abandonment of his responsibilities in the midst of the season. The defense was obviously dysfunctional but so dysfunctional that the DC threw in the towel and walked away?! Wow.

 

[Wasichus]

I predicted prior to the season that they would be good- the blind squirrel stops here to pat himself on the back- but was pleasantly surprised to find them making it at far as they eventually did. Achieving the semis was a major accomplishment and a surprise. Well done ladies. That said, my major surprise was Claeys abandonment of his responsibilities in the midst of the season. The defense was obviously dysfunctional but so dysfunctional that the DC threw in the towel and walked away?! Wow.

Great minds think alike!! LOL

Not going to crow too much about predictions because I'm wrong way more than I'm right. And I'm not going to even try and go back to find any post confirming....but I recall making a post, after watching an early season game or two in person, that this year's soccer team could be the best we've ever had.

I was also shocked to see Claeys bolt like he did. Especially since both he and Leach swear up and down that there was no bad blood between them.

I have to say I was at least a bit dismayed to see how bad our defense was, from the very start of the season. All the pre-season talk had been about how good the DL would be. NMSU ran for 126 yds (net 96), N Colo ran for 256 (net 216), and Hou ran for 250 (net 239). I had expected our rush defense to totally dominate NMSU and N Colo. We shut down NMSU pretty well overall, but they did run for 130 yds against us. Most teams we played ran the ball pretty damn effectively against us. We also suffered in terms of QB sacks/pressures. That, along with woeful coverage, ultimately showed up in some dismal pass defense stats and total offense figures against our defense, let alone some bad scoreboard figures.

Maybe that shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was (to me) this season? But, when things are so bad that your DC bolts before the midway point in the season, reportedly of his own account, that's a HUGE negative surprise.

 

[Fab5Coug]

The AC loss was the least surprising thing that happened this year.

A surprise to me, was the disappearing act of Oguayo, Taylor & Rogers on the DL.

 

[CougEd]

Happy New Year everyone! As we're heading into our quiet board mode until August, I thought we should take a moment to reflect on 2019, and what was the biggest surprise of last year.

Biggest surprise of 2019?

1. Our defense, and/or lack thereof. Lack of recruiting, or talent at our level.
2. The abrupt and sudden disappearance of YakiCoug. A decade of finding fault in others, criticizing and hating on so many posters. The continuous negative drama found on this board. The poison. Now gone.
3. Anthony Gordon. A one and done. Wish AG and Arconado was back this fall!
4. Another humiliating and embarrassed beat down from the Dawgs in the Apple Cup.
5. Women's soccer team head coach Todd Schulenberger and All American Morgan Weaver.

What was your biggest surprise of 2019?

I am more surprised about Claeys giving up and salary and quitting rather than wait to be fired and get paid. That is surprising.

A second surprise is the lack of development along the dline. They did nothing this year. Rodgers almost seemed to take a step back. Hobbs did not develop. Taylor was non existent.

Lucas didn't get better either. He was the same or worse than he was as a freshman.

It surprised me Gordon wasn't asked to sit. His turnovers were just killer with this defense. He sat Falk, not sitting Gordon with his dumb pick was surprising. Along with the fact AG could have moved the chains with his legs and chose not to, instead drifted to his right when he felt pressure.

It surprised me that in 2018 everything fell in place. They made the catch that was needed to ice a game, they blitzed at the right time, they scored before half and at the end of the game. Leach pulled every lever perfectly.

In 2019 it was just the opposite. That did surprise me we didn't get one bit of good fortune. Every mistake was exposed. Not spying the ASU Qb at the end of the game and letting him run 27 yards untouched.

It was an interesting year.