I was reading a blog by espn and they have WSU ranked 10th ahead of the Beavs and Colorado. I really see no reason why WSU isn't ranked ahead of UW and Cal. Those spots are clearly up for grabs by a team like WSU. I see WSU more clearly as the 7th or 8th team.... this year. Even Utah is not unbeatable, per our win over the Utes in SLC last year.
movement in the Pac-12
- Thread starter wazzubruce
- Start date
The rankings are a reflection of Leach's record in the PAC 12. It is that simple.Until Leach proves that he is the coach his pre-hire fanfare trumpeted the cougs will be ranked low. He made bad decisions in hiring assistants and an absolute disastrous decision in choosing his on the field leader. I believe that the cougs will be the surprise team of the PAC 12 this year. They will be better defensively and the QB play will be much improved. The team will be more united and play with much better effort in that they will believe in their leaders
The Ute's will always scare me. They are scrappy. Always have been, alway will. Although I do think the off-season antics of their A-Director will truly affect the foundation Wittingham has put down. They are always a question mark, IMHO.
Cal, I don't get. The only thing that they have is a QB that's been around the block. But they are desperate in every other position… So I guess if you put the importance of the QB and the number of snaps Goff has taken in the Pac12, OK. But man, still don't get it. He's going to be running for his life, all season.
UW, I think they are really hurting, right now. I truly see them taking a nose dive, more so than normal. They are getting higher ranking because, well, they're the UW. When aren't they over-rated?
If we don't finish higher than Cal, Oregon State, uw and Colorado then the Leach story will begin to end. In the unlikely event of a six-win season and a minor bowl (pay to play) game the anti-Leach brigade will lose traction. Unless, of course, we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like in New Mexico. Then it is back to our normal.
In the PAC, a high octane offense that gets hot against a defense having an off day can win even if they are a heavy underdog. Of course the chances diminish as the level of "underdoggedness" increases, but it is always possible, and for that reason nobody is going to take their WSU game for granted this fall. For that reason, I wouldn't be surprised if we pull a big upset at some point. We could also be on the opposite end of one of those upsets...so I'm assuming that the two will cancel each other out.
Talking about more predictable & rational issues, I see three winnable non-conference games, plus games against Cal, OSU & CO where we are likely to be favored if we start off 3-0. If we have 6 wins going into the Apple Cup, we would probably be favored there, too, though it may also be a "pick 'em", depending upon how the season goes for the Dogs.
The above doesn't factor in key injuries. We are a little less vulnerable to that this year than we were in the past, but it can still bite us hard. On the other hand, there are other teams just as vulnerable, or even more vulnerable, than WSU in the PAC this year. UCLA does not have a really solid QB on their roster and could not name a starter by the end of spring ball. USC has a reasonably solid starter but almost nobody behind him that appears ready. UW was so desperate for a QB that they had to raid EWU, and if that guy gets hurt they are dead. Most of the teams in the league have examples of a few key players that seem likely to make or break their season. Two years ago the injury gods were kind to us. Last year they got even. Who knows what this year will bring?
6 wins seems probable to me. There is not much of an "anti-Leach brigade" now, and what little bit there is will be pretty much gone by the end of the season.
Talking about more predictable & rational issues, I see three winnable non-conference games, plus games against Cal, OSU & CO where we are likely to be favored if we start off 3-0. If we have 6 wins going into the Apple Cup, we would probably be favored there, too, though it may also be a "pick 'em", depending upon how the season goes for the Dogs.
The above doesn't factor in key injuries. We are a little less vulnerable to that this year than we were in the past, but it can still bite us hard. On the other hand, there are other teams just as vulnerable, or even more vulnerable, than WSU in the PAC this year. UCLA does not have a really solid QB on their roster and could not name a starter by the end of spring ball. USC has a reasonably solid starter but almost nobody behind him that appears ready. UW was so desperate for a QB that they had to raid EWU, and if that guy gets hurt they are dead. Most of the teams in the league have examples of a few key players that seem likely to make or break their season. Two years ago the injury gods were kind to us. Last year they got even. Who knows what this year will bring?
6 wins seems probable to me. There is not much of an "anti-Leach brigade" now, and what little bit there is will be pretty much gone by the end of the season.
I really see no reason why WSU WOULD BE ranked ahead of UW & Cal. I mean, they were both better last year and we lost to both of them, decisively to the UW in fact.
You know, your posts would be much better if you just gave up the Connor schtick.
Your opinion on him is well known. It doesn't have to be a part of every post you make anymore.
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[QUOTE="Coug95man2, post: 24876, member: 444"]The Ute's will always scare me. They are scrappy. Always have been, alway will. Although I do think the off-season antics of their A-Director will truly affect the foundation Wittingham has put down. They are always a question mark, IMHO.
Cal, I don't get. The only thing that they have is a QB that's been around the block. But they are desperate in every other position… So I guess if you put the importance of the QB and the number of snaps Goff has taken in the Pac12, OK. But man, still don't get it. He's going to be running for his life, all season.
UW, I think they are really hurting, right now. I truly see them taking a nose dive, more so than normal. They are getting higher ranking because, well, they're the UW. When aren't they over-rated?[/QUOTE]
I guess I understand your fear of the Utes against our Coug's, but fear not because we do not play them this season.
Cal, I don't get. The only thing that they have is a QB that's been around the block. But they are desperate in every other position… So I guess if you put the importance of the QB and the number of snaps Goff has taken in the Pac12, OK. But man, still don't get it. He's going to be running for his life, all season.
UW, I think they are really hurting, right now. I truly see them taking a nose dive, more so than normal. They are getting higher ranking because, well, they're the UW. When aren't they over-rated?[/QUOTE]
I guess I understand your fear of the Utes against our Coug's, but fear not because we do not play them this season.
Disagree. Vegas says 4.5 games. I think we'll beat that. I don't think we will win 6 and go to a bowl. If I'm right... and Leach beats Vegas... 2016 sets up nicely, bowl or no bowl.
I guess I understand your fear of the Utes against our Coug's, but fear not because we do not play them this season.[/QUOTE]
Proper point. Regardless, even if we were on an incredible roll that Rivaled Texas Tech's back in 2002-2009 and we were ranked in the Top 10 in the nation… Guess what… Utes would still give me a little apprehension.
The uw is breaking in an entirely new defense because they lost the most talent in the conference. They will also be breaking in a new QB. They could be good, or they can be bad.
CAL was horrible two years ago and the Cougars beat them. So, last year WSU was better, right? Of course, I believe WSU lost the game more than CAL won the game. So, there is that. Yes, the scoreboard does count. I am not minimizing that because CAL will forever have won the game. But, the teams are not that far apart to say CAL is better.
I would think that WSU and UW are going to be in a pretty similar place expectations wise, when you consider that UW loses all that talent off a team that was dominated by their defense setting the tone.
They lost a guy who was already lackluster at QB and the guy who's looked the best by quite a bit in spring is the guy who couldn't beat out the lackluster guy last spring. Their lines got gutted... I mean, they've probably got four star guys to step in, but that doesn't always translate right away.
It should be interesting- everyone loses a lot, talent wise.
They lost a guy who was already lackluster at QB and the guy who's looked the best by quite a bit in spring is the guy who couldn't beat out the lackluster guy last spring. Their lines got gutted... I mean, they've probably got four star guys to step in, but that doesn't always translate right away.
It should be interesting- everyone loses a lot, talent wise.
Not sure why you said the "almost nobody behind" [Kessler] comment, at USC? Their worries are more in the D-line, not on offense. Their WRs are good, they get a solid RB back from injury, and Davis looks good to continue from last year. Where they seem vulnerable are--maybe--attacking their D-line and even LBs....not secondary
WSU / Cal, WSU scored on the plunge at the goal line at the end of the game and the stupid refs couldn't see it. I was sitting on the goal line and it was very clear the coug rb scored. WSU, really won that game. But again get screwed at home in Pullman by the gutless zebras! Yes the Cal game counts as a loss in the record books, but WSU actually scored on that play and should have won.
As for Udub. They are gonna find out what it's like without all that talent, that they really didn't do that much with anyway. Udub could be a dumpster fire .... who knows. I hope they are!
Utah, yeah, WSU is not going to come from 20 down to beat the Utes again.... that was clearly an anomaly! But my point is that WSU is capable of beating anyone.... and that game was in SLC too.
The Beavs are going to be down too.... I see the Cougs beating them by 2 touchdowns at least.
As for Udub. They are gonna find out what it's like without all that talent, that they really didn't do that much with anyway. Udub could be a dumpster fire .... who knows. I hope they are!
Utah, yeah, WSU is not going to come from 20 down to beat the Utes again.... that was clearly an anomaly! But my point is that WSU is capable of beating anyone.... and that game was in SLC too.
The Beavs are going to be down too.... I see the Cougs beating them by 2 touchdowns at least.
That goal line rush by Wicks was too close to call definitively on the field and the replay was not conclusive to overturn. And yes, I've seen the slow mo replay and the still frames.
I do not find any fault with the officials for that game, nor even that play in particular.
And even if the refs called it a TD I would not have been surprised if we gave up another KO return for a TD.
Why wouldn't Cal be ahead of us? They beat us on our home field. They have a first round draft pick firing the ball. There defense is not worse than what we showed last year. Can we beat them? We didn't with Connor Halliday playing the perfect game.
5-7 (beating the 4.5 game prediction) would make 2016 a must win season for Leach. Still, it would be a step in the right direction and would shut up many of the naysayers, particularly if one of the losses is to Rutgers and they surprise and win 8 games. It would make next offseason miserable though. We are going to graduate 8 senior starters this year including the only proven players on the defensive line and the left side of the offensive line that watches our QB's blindside. Plenty of things to stress about if we don't win.
In terms of ranking the conference, I see:
1) Oregon - the leader until proven otherwise
2) ASU - they've always been dangerous but Graham has them thinking that 10 wins per year is expected.
3) USC - talented group is still too thin to get too excited.
4) UCLA - talented but they relied on Hundley a lot and he's gone.
5) Arizona - Arizona would be in the next level if they didn't have to replace so many key DB's.
6) Stanford - I think Stanford is primed for the big fall. Even though they finished strong, their defense was gutted by graduation.
7) Utah - They have really struggled with the Pac-12 since they came over but put together a good season last year. Always dangerous but their QB play is so bad that they are always vulnerable.
8) UW - best of the mediocre teams. My sleeper for worst team in the conference
9) WSU - I was tempted to put 9-12 in one group and move the Huskies up.
10) Cal - They underacheived less than us last year. They were four plays away from 9-3.......but also three plays away from 2-10.
11) CU - Five close losses meant another terrible season. They have the misfortune of being the worst team in the south by far.
12) OSU - I have a bad feeling about the Beavs.
WSU doesn't deserve to be higher than 9 right now and given that Cal was so competitive, I can understand the people that would make us 10th. It doesn't matter that we should have beaten them......we didn't. I can see WSU climbing up to the #7 spot in the conference if one of that group falls off the map this year. Utah has proven they can and Stanford appears ripe for the fall.
Flat I too could see UW 11. They have no QB. I could see CU moving up as they are battle tested.
I look at WSU and ask who were the top four players on each side of the ball. Halliday, Mayle I think would be two on the offensive side, and Pole and Cooper would be two on the defensive side. You could argue Pole was 5, but our defense was poor as it was, not sure becoming less experienced up front means we become better this year to leap Cal.
I look at WSU and ask who were the top four players on each side of the ball. Halliday, Mayle I think would be two on the offensive side, and Pole and Cooper would be two on the defensive side. You could argue Pole was 5, but our defense was poor as it was, not sure becoming less experienced up front means we become better this year to leap Cal.
We won't know until the footballs are flying this fall, but I believe that Falk has the potential to be a far better QB than Halliday if he learns to be disciplined with the football. Halliday got better but he still had too many picks that happened because of greed on Halliday's part instead of good play by the opposing team. Falk has better pocket presence and is strong enough to shrug off many of the hits that were sacks with Halliday under center. Halliday might have been our best QB last year, but I'm not sure that Falk can't be better this year than Halliday was last year.
Mayle was certainly a physically gifted receiver. He was not in the top five on our team in terms of playing to his potential. Every year, we have a first year receiver who performs far above expectations. This year will be no different. CJ Dimry could easily be that guy this year.
I'm not going to disagree on Cal. When you look at how they played last year, they hung around with Arizona, USC and UCLA and had chances to beat all three. That doesn't happen if you suck.
I don't necessarily disagree with anything here, but just have to point out: the 2000 WSU team lost 4 games by a TD or less, same as the 2014 CU team did. The next season, WSU was 10-2.
I think Oregon tumbles a bit this year. They don't have a QB returning, and there will be some growing pains.
Also think Utah could implode. The battle between the coach and the AD can't be good for the team.
The nonly problem is not reviewing it. It was close enough to review. SC, Stanford, UCLA and Oregon get that played reviewed automatically.
The only reason why I can't see CU doing well is that they have to play USC, UCLA, ASU, Oregon and Arizona. Throw in Stanford and you have a gauntlet of teams that are used to winning football games. Oregon was pretty good and Stanford wasn't terrible, but the rest of our 2001 schedule was filled with teams that had issues.
Oregon might struggle a little early but they have seven straight seasons with 10+ wins. That doesn't happen by accident. The QB situation could make them mortal though. They imploded in 2007 when they lost Dennis Dixon.
Utah is hard to predict. I would agree that things could get ugly fast if they struggle early. Unfortunately for them, they have a tough early schedule if Michigan and Fresno State get things figured out.
