Well it will be an interesting year...
First up tonight the draft!
We may have Hercules and Frankie Luvu drafted that would be 2 NFL draft picks from the professed "Disaster 2014 class" (The chances of a Player being Drafted are 1 in 50 sooo 2 out of 25...well you can do the math on it (and that assumes that the few remaining from 2014 (Dillard,Fernandez, Harrington, Comfort etc. don't add to it) adding to the completely false track record from the habitual bs posters that lack evaluation skills)
And also may see as many as 4+ Cougs heading to the NFL which will be excellent.
For the 2018 football season I like to use a window.
6-6 to 8-4 I think is about right for this season.
There are a lot of variables that I think can shift things + or minus. I will go through each of the games.
@ Wyoming - Season opener can be tricky on the road. The altitude is also quite high. I am putting this as a toss up. We could come out the game hot, or we could be still working through a lot of the transition and run into a decent defensive team early on at high altitude that plays ball control and we stumble out the gate. We also could just edge them out talent wise but not look that pretty.
San Jose State - Win. Back in Pullman continuing our home winning streak no matter what happens game one we regain our footing and are look at lot better against San Jose.
Eastern Washington - Win - Once again our home win streak stretches to 9 games and we look to be ready for a conference play.
2-1 or 3-0 more than Likely through the first 25% of the season.
@USC - Although Coach Leach has already led us into the Coliseum with a victory I think we get a dose of payback from a very angry Trojan team that takes advantage of a green/young WSU team entering conference play. If we were to win this game watch for the "Fire Helton drums to pick up in Los Angeles". Losing at Home to WSU did in Kiffin, and losing twice to WSU will make the Trojans pissed. I am leaning to we lose this game, but hey it wouldn't surprise me if we win either.
Utah - Back at home the cougs continue to cruise extending the home win streak to 10 games. A hungry to prove themselves Utah team gets a rude awakening in Pullman and continues our win streak both at home and against Utah.
@Oregon State - The beavers are in the process of a transition (again) and are no match for our young and hungry team to get its first Pac-12 road win. We slay the beavers easily.
5-1 or 4-2 more than Likely through the first 50% of the season.
Oregon - Angry at losing the past 3 years to WSU Oregon walks into Martin stadium thinking they are back and hungry to show everyone that they are the best Pac NW team only to lose for the 4th straight year as a freshly bye week rested Cougs absolutely cause them fits on defense and methodically grind them up extending the home win streak to 11 games at Martin Stadium.
@Stanford - Stanford wants a win, but somehow some way WSU is the talk of the Pac-12 North after facing tragedy, coaching rebuilds, and hype is very high off the Oregon win and WSU rolls in beating Stanford again making people wonder how high the ceiling is going to be for WSU this year as they show people gaining bowl eligibility.
Cal Bears - Perhaps a little too overconfident a young team doesn't think much of the resurgent Cal Bears and much like last year shock WSU by winning in Pullman. snapping the win streak and dashing the growing hype around the program.
7-2 or 6-3 through the 75% mark of the Season.
@ Colorado - Ready to rebound from the surprise loss to Cal..(Sigh again) WSU goes to work and takes care of business against Colorado in a surprisingly tough game. Prepared better from the Wyoming altitude they fair much better and dispatch the buffs, but they also could suffer from altitude problems again and lose this one. It's a toss up.
Arizona Wildcasts - Back at home and ready to keep the home streak alive WSU is ready to pounce on Sumlin as he returns to Pullman from his GA days. Wanting to get revenge for last year the WSU team tries too hard and falters offensively and opens the door for Sumlin to steal a much needed road win in his inaugural season.
@UW - The talk is nothing but about is "This the year that the streak is broken" and all that but a senior led Jake Browning proves too much to the Cougs who put up a good first half, but get rounced in the second leading to the usual hissy fit of "Why can't we beat the huskies!, wah wah wah!" and a lot of people disappointed about a team that started hot but cooled off towards the end of the season. Some people whine Leach is only an 8 win coach or some other stupid crap, instead of seeing what a very young team accomplished in a very tumultuous transition year.
8-4 or 6-6 at the end of the season earning the Cougs a 4th bowl game in a row and the 5th in 7 seasons for Leach. (Something never done in WSU history)
Kyle Sweet and Easop Winston have really solid years.
Dezmon Patton is the surprise breakout star on offense.
Williams brings consistency, Harrington brings excitement, but everyone is really pumped about what Borghi brings to the table as he gets spot duty in the rotation and really shows his upside.
Tay Martin draws a lot of attention early, but once he is doubled Patmon emerges as the real threat.
Bell, Calvin, and others contribute great flashes at key moments.
Rodrick Fisher also makes some appearances showing that he will be the Outside Receiver of the future to compliment Borghi, Patmon, and Martin in 2019.
Oguayo proves to be THE defensive breakout player causing havoc from the Defensive End position, Pelleur has a great Senior Season with Jihad Woods, and Marcus Strong and Hunter Dale lead the secondary. Taylor Comfort and Nick Begg suprise people with their contributions on D-Line, and other interesting players emerge like Tristan Brock and Mason Vinyard.
A Tinsley/Minshew led team surprises a lot of people in their ability to lead WSU to another successful passing season, but it is very clear that Cam Cooper is the heir apparent and with a young team hungry to do more in 2019 the cries from El C and others to put him in will grow very loudly.
The 2018 Season finds the Cougs at the Las Vegas or Foster Farms bowl playing a mediocre opponent, but unlike the Holiday bowl drought the cougs secure a postseason victory and bring a lot of optimism to the 2019 season. (Despite the usually crying about the Huskies, crying how the team ran out of gas at the end of the season, etc. etc.)
6-6 to 8-4 with a mediocre bowl victory adding 1 to the end.
