Ouch...
- Thread starter wulffui
- Start date
Let's hold them to something less than 31 (without Ross playing on offense or scoring a point) before we make too many statements like this.
I watched a few of their games last year. Our struggles notwithstanding, it's a true statement.
And just what kind of statement did Wulffui make? He simply said the mutts have lost their most explosive player. He didn't say, "Without Ross, we're going to kick purple butt!" But even if he had said as much, it's perfectly fine to suggest WSU might beat a team that has lost so many players (Shelton, Kikaha, Miley Cyrus, Thompson, Ross, Williams, most of its starting o-line). Their defense may not drop off too much, considering they return key back-ups and some talented 2014 contributors (Elijah Qualls, Travis Feeney).
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I think you need to calm down either way, but the primary statement he made that was questionable was "the one explosive player in their offense - gone." I don't have any purple in my closet, but if we're being honest, Mickens is probably as explosive from the slot as anyone on our roster. He sure has made our defense look slow in past ACs. (Note that I didn't say he's "more" explosive than our guys -- he's at about the same level as Dom Williams, IMO.) They also have some young, talented guys who, while unproven, are good athletes. They'll probably get Baker reps on offense, owing both to necessity and to promotional considerations, and probably still have enough weapons for us to have a hard time shutting down their offense in November. Would love to be wrong, but we'll see.
John Ross was an extremely good explosive player for them. Is it a setback for UW? Yeah. Losing someone that brings that kind of big play spark hurts, but they do have other players on the team.
Here was his production last year -
Rush - 6 att 54 yards 1 td
Pass - 23 catches 425 5 tds
Returns - 38 - 938 yards - 2 tds.
While a contributor to the offense he was definitely not as big as someone like Mickens but his impact on special teams was GIGANTIC. In just the return game he had almost 1000 yards. That's going to be sorely missed. His offensive numbers someone can fill the void, but those return numbers are going to be very very hard to replace.
Here was his production last year -
Rush - 6 att 54 yards 1 td
Pass - 23 catches 425 5 tds
Returns - 38 - 938 yards - 2 tds.
While a contributor to the offense he was definitely not as big as someone like Mickens but his impact on special teams was GIGANTIC. In just the return game he had almost 1000 yards. That's going to be sorely missed. His offensive numbers someone can fill the void, but those return numbers are going to be very very hard to replace.
