Given our traditional treatment by the media, our lack of clarity at QB, lack of returning depth in the backfield, and holes that need to be filled on D, I'm surprised to see us picked that high.
LOL......you can demand all you want and you are gonna get whatever you get.
I'd argue that - at least on paper - we had a better team coming back in 2017. Falk as a senior, Morrow, Wicks, and Williams. Solid receiving corps and OL. Questions on D were probably pretty similar to this year. That team was significantly undermined by the regression of Falk, compounded by his injury, and by the D's inability to outside contain.
Can’t argue with that, it just sucks that we’re handicapped with the requirement of clawing our way up the ranks, with any loss being validation that we don’t belong and which sends us tumbling down the ranks only to have to claw our way back up; conversely, the blue bloods get placed at the top—deservedly or not—and any loss is looked at as an anomaly until there are enough of them that they simply can’t remain ranked highly without the voters risking looking like complete frauds. But as you say, there’s no fairness in life or football.
the only prereq for going to a bowl game is having a pulse. How many are there now? 40? 45?
Houston has enough recent success and credibility that I think if we beat them - on the road - and start 3-0, we enter the rankings. We'll get no credit for winning the first 2 games, but Houston will mean something, and there are always a couple teams in the bottom half of the preseason rankings that stumble early and fall out.
WSU players >>>> Houston players. Just like ISU. Comes down to if we can execute on the road. Our system is proven to win, especially vs lesser opponents. I'm not too worried about this unless Houston comes up with a wrinkle that manages to stymie whoever the starting qb is, but even then our hosses should be able to move them enough to produce a positive ground game.
That's an interesting opinion, considering that we don't have a ground game, we have one RB who's a known quantity, and our OL has shown no consistent ability to open running lanes against anyone since about 2005.
Up until last year we had QB's who refused to use the ground game. GM has been the first qb in the Leach tenure who didn't feel the need to call his own number just because he thought he had to be the man - he made real decisions based on game situations. I say this because our lack of a running game (stats wise)has been a symptom of a literal lack of a running game.
Not to mention that teams that start out higher ranked almost always are ranked higher at the end of the season when two teams have the same record.
Then that makes it doubly bad. There is a bias against P12 teams and a bias against WSU.
That hasn't hurt Oregon's ranking despite the fact we have outperformed them over the last four years.
You mention this... By many accounts on this thread, getting it done, year in and year out should place a program up somewhere, right? How many people on here are saying that's why we AREN'T in the top 25? But 'Furd is an example of the opposite, aren't they?
Here are #24's "marathon" times for the past 10 years...
