Odds on Sun Bowl
- Thread starter 79COUG
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Surprised it’s not more with the reports that our OL won’t be playing.
Vs. Miami's unmatched 1-10 bowl record since 2006 -- combined the added motivation, or more specifically the lack thereof, of playing without a coach and with a lame duck staff. The Cougar "no show" OLs vs the "no show" Hurricanes. Now that's a story line that will fill the seats!
Well said, SoCal. I think it will come down to which team thinks that it means the most. That may be us, since every kid who plays and who has eligibility for next year is, in fact, auditioning for next year with Dickert; and I'd expect that our new OC will also be nearby. Not exactly the same for Miami. I doubt that Mario will be on the sidelines, unless he is going to abandon the duckies and not coach the bowl game.
Gonna be a tough matchup for us. We'll have trouble with their passing game, especially after facing Oregon, Arizona, and UW to end the season.
Mario isn't "abandoning" Oregon—he's focused on his new job. Same way Lincoln Riley won't be anywhere near the Alamo Bowl and Brian Kelly won't be at the Fiesta Bowl with the Irish.
New coaches attend bowl games for this respective new schools and generally watch from the press box and do an in-game interview to talk about next year's program. Mario will be at the Sun Bowl and having a history with the Cougs, I'm sure he'll share some pointers with the interim Canes staff and involve himself in as much game-planning as they'd like.
Dog of a bowl game, but Miami interim coach Jess Simpson (yeah, funny name) is a d-line coach on his second stint with the program (was with Atlanta Falcons for two years prior to) and some pretty solid, player-favorite assistants are taking over coordinator roles—Travaris Robinson (good resume) will fill Diaz's sorry shoes as defensive coordinator and Rob Likens (who y'all remember as an ASU OC years back) will call the offensive shots for Rhett Lashlee, who left for the SMU head coaching gig.
Not a lot of defectors for Miami; no Charleston Rambo (WR) which is a loss, Jon Ford (DT) and Tyrique Stevenson (CB) looks banged up—another loss—but more than enough receiver talent out there and Tyler Van Dyke has been throwing as good as any quarterback in the nation.
A far cry from the 20-14 game we all saw six years ago ... barring it's not another snow bowl.
1-10 in bowls since that blue turf Nevada game in Boise; pretty brutal, but like they stay, streaks have to come to an end at some point. Two 7-5 underachievers showing up in El Paso—this is an easier match-up or Miami than the Oklahoma State squad it had to face in last year's post-season, falling 37-34 with a back-up quarterback, after a slow start and 21-3 deficit (where D'Eriq King blew an ACL and was knocked out in the first half.)
Thanks for the detailed report. I can't speak for all Cougar fans, but I certainly don't consider a 7-5 WSU team an "underachiever" given all that transpired this season. Had OSU beaten Cristobal and UO, the Cougars would've played for the Pac-12 championship. That would definitely be overachieving.
Good luck to the Canes in 2022.
Glad Cougar
My closest bud is a Cougs fan; I watch y'all with him and he watches Canes game with me. Seen all your games since the 2016 season and Falk era. Was bummed to see Leach go; thought he was a great brand fit.
Yeah, you guys bounced back well after Rollo got canned—as did Miami, going 5-1 after a 2-4 start. To me, any 7-5 season is "underachieving", but maybe that's just Canes muscle memory, growing up in South Florida during that whole decade of dominance—where anything less than a championship was a down year.
(Miami is now 118-85 going back to a 2005 bowl loss to LSU—wrecked 40-3. Been a minute since the Canes have been a player.)
Glad to see y'all finally smack around Washington this year—it'd been a long drought. Huskies did their share of damage to Miami in a few meetings; wrecked a 58 home-game win-streak in 1994 and got jump on Canes in 2000 early in year, keeping UM out of title game (even though one-loss Miami knocked off #1 FSU and #2 Virginia Tech in-season.) Got 'em 65-7 in 2001, but doesn't replace what they stole—root against them every time those clowns take the field.
Have to believe the Cougs will want it more than the Canes. Both teams will move the ball, just a matter if Miami's defense remembers how to tackle under Simpson and crew, as it was forgotten under Diaz this year. Brutal.
This is Miami's third Sun Bowl in the past 11 years—each with an interim head coach; Jeff Stoutland replacing Randy Shannon for the 2010 season finale against Notre Dame and Larry Scott replacing Al Golden in 2015 for the Canes' loss to the Cougs. Now it's Simpson in for Diaz—all seasons where Miami greatly underachieved and couldn't have cared less in the post-season.
We'll see if there's any fire this go-around, as I like the guys in this interim staff a lot better than past ones—and y'all saw your team respond after Dicker replace Rolovich.
Best of luck. Curious to see where things go with Dicker in a full-time role. Surprised that Pat Chun didn't at least conduct a search and look at some better replacement options, instead of the emotion-driven move of promoting from within as an interim guy did a good job.
Canes did that with Larry Coker when Butch Davis left for the NFL and the first couple years were good because cupboard was full (35-3) only to fall apart a few years later (25-12) when Coker couldn't recruit or develop at the same level.
Let's close it out on New Years and get on to the 2022 season. Take care.
AllCanes, great post!
We actually, (believe it or not), are thrilled, (except for one guy on this board), that Pat Chun chose Dickert, without bringing in a ton of candidates for interviews, for a couple of reasons:
First, Dickert is and was a blessing in disguise, dropped from the universe. A setback is a setup. It sets up for something better. Rolovich setback - setup for what could be, (and we'll know someday when we look back), one of the best and perfect fits. For many reasons, as you would need to spend some YouTube time to fully understand why Dickert is a diamond in the rough.
Second, recruiting. He's already here. His home, family and foundation is already here. He's more than hit the ground running, he's hit everything running. Most of us can't be more happier on who we have, (sorry Biggs). Sure, he's not a big name coach, but unfortunately, Pullman is a stepping stone for a blue blood program.
Third, stability. Look at Washington and Oregon. They're seeing guys decomit almost everyday. They're portal is blowing up. This did not happen with Dickert, except for one of our backup QB's.
We want a guy for a decade, establishing a COUG team that the the rest has to reckon with, (fearing our logo), where recruits want to come here and dominate, and therefore on computer, Dickert has indeed checked all and every box imaginable.
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Well put and glad you're happy with the hire. My two buds are in wait-and-see mode and weren't completely sold yet, but solid sales pitch from you here and I trust it.
And yes, stepping stone program for sure—whether it's Tony Bennett taking his talents to Virginia, or even Leach bailing out for the SEC and a "better" job (still don't think he should've left Pullman for Starkville), or even Bill Moos taking the Nebraska AD gig years back—y'all have had some guys cut their teeth there for sure.
Short-lived, two-year guy but we also pulled Dennis Erickson from the Cougs back in 1989—the only two-time national champion coach at 'The U'.
Best of luck on the 31st. Hoping for a Canes' win, but not losing sleep over it—already won the war but punting on Diaz and bringing Mario back home. Bring on 2022.
I am in the more wait and see mode as well. But, I was not unhappy with the hiring of Dickert. I do trust our AD, Pat Chun. Throughout sports, there have been assistant coaches that have been elevated and been successful, and others that have been failures.
Dickert is a nice guy who says a lot of good things. After the disaster that was the first half of the season, Dickert was a revelation over the previous coach. He did well to keep things together when they could have gone off the rails. For a lot of our fans, that feel good emotion is enough to believe he is the longterm answer.
But, some of that is that this was an experienced team that Leach had recruited and coached. For all his faults, Leach did recruit good student athletes, and taught them how to be tough.
Regarding Dickert, frankly he did do a great job this season. However, the skills of taking over a team mid-season is not the same as recruiting players, teaching players, etc. I like most of what I am hearing from Dickert, but I am wait and see about other things. Like all coaches, the ultimate grade will be wins and losses on the field. It will be fun to see how this all plays out.
Two ways to look at Dickert. My SC buddies see many similarities with Helton in Jake's attitude, demeanor, etc. To which I respond that from what I can see, Dickert can evaluate talent better (Helton had way too many recruiting failures, considering the advantages that he had), and IMHO Dickert's track record (admittedly limited as it is) of doing more with less is exactly the opposite of Helton. No matter how alike they sound in press conferences.
I think you can be happy with the hire of Dickert and still have a wait and see attitude. What we all saw after Rolo was fired is encouraging in terms of preparation, organization, and game management. The players deserve a lot of credit, but so does the coaching staff. Obviously the million dollar question is going to be about recruiting....and we won't know that answer for at least a couple of seasons.
Glad Cougar
Glad Cougar
Do we really know if Dickert can evaluate talent better? He has been the man in charge for only a few months and they have one commit, and what specific players did he evaluate that is doing great at WSU?
Of course, it really is a staff that evaluates talent, and Dickert is the one who OK's if a scholarship is offered. Often, it can come down to the conviction and sales job of the assistant.
Every new coaching hire comes with a requisite wait and see attitude. You either get it done or you don't.
WSU football was still playing games in Spokane even after Jankovich left.
And his successor was forced to bite the bullet on ending the students free seats and start the Sports Passes.
All the large crowds for Raveling, no student had to pay.
I'm not sure that's true....at least when I was attending school. We purchased an "activities pass" at the beginning of each semester which essentially was paid as if it was part of tuition. I seem to remember it only cost $50 or so. A real bargain but it wasn't free.
Of course, that was nearly 50 years ago for me. Memory.....is.....fading......huh? What were we talking about?
Glad Cougar
Dick Young (remember him?) AD between Jankovich and Livengood brought in the Sports Passes for the games on campus.
It was split up per semester.
WSU coaches were making ridiculously low salaries in early to mid80s.
Actually all college coaches were, three former Big Sky coaches ended up coaching in the Big 9 then (Kennewick, Pasco, Moses Lake).
Gene Carlson
It was about time I-182 being built, so he didn't benefit from population boom in Pasco.
He was the AD when I was there. Such a mild mannered guy, hard to imagine him as a HFC. I mostly saw him during track season as he and John Crawford made Pasco Invite quite the event.
John Crawford before he became HS Track & XTC Meet God for the state of Washington, was one of Don Monson's assistants at Pasco.
Jank, too—of course—but Moos leaving for the theoretically better job at overrated Nebraska quickly came to mind, as leaving Wazzu in 1982 seemed less egregious than Moos leaving Pullman for Lincoln in 2017.
Don't get the allure with the Huskers' gig. Miami lost short-term AD Shawn Eichorst in 2011 to Nebraska months into the gig (albeit UM in hot water over the Nevin Shaprio scandal) and gone within four years.
Once-proud program has never recovered from their Big Ten move. Huskers are Big 8 / Big 12 football—Big Ten recruits aren't taking to their brand over the years. Horrible fit for any AD.
Yes, they are a bad fit. But, we all know this was never about fit. The money that the Big 10 pays to it's members dwarfs the payout of the Big 12. Unfortunately, it is about the money.
Nothing more to be said about what has been said already about Dickert.
But this has not been said, and add to all the rest, is that except maybe McGuire, Dickert has probably hit home runs on his Morris for OC, rest of staff, assistant coach hires.
This shows that Dickert Seems to know what he is doing on paper.
Recruiting still needs to be finished up, and Games played, wait and see, etc, but still sure seems like Dickert is a Good Hire so far.
Definitely checks the Boxes.
But this has not been said, and add to all the rest, is that except maybe McGuire, Dickert has probably hit home runs on his Morris for OC, rest of staff, assistant coach hires.
This shows that Dickert Seems to know what he is doing on paper.
Recruiting still needs to be finished up, and Games played, wait and see, etc, but still sure seems like Dickert is a Good Hire so far.
Definitely checks the Boxes.
We should beat Miami again. It will be close but our underrated defense will force turnovers and our offense will score enough TD's to win the game!
WSU 21- Miami (FL.) 17...
WSU 21- Miami (FL.) 17...
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As a bettor, I wouldn't touch this game. Way too many unpredictables.
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also, I don't think that's a fair characterization. "Thrilled" might be a little strong for me personally.. As he's a first time HC I'm more in the wait and see crowd. I am optimistic though.
I'm definitely in the wait and see camp. Didn't love hearing that there wasn't really a search. Do like the Morris hire. Don't know enough about the DC to have an opinion...yet. But am hoping it works out, and have more optimism than I initially did.
