No problem at all. Just signaling that I understood what you were saying.
And I agree with you on the rest, as well!
Single most important factor to win the Apple Cup...
- Thread starter cr8zyncalif
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And I agree with you on the rest, as well!
Unless the AC is drilled into their heads as a freshman as the bitter, bitter rivalry it is, it will never be anything to these kids b/c they mostly come from somewhere other than WA and couldn't give two shits about the Mutts, their stupid purple and piss, their obnoxious fight song, and their silver spoon Tyee fck faces.
The world is so much bigger, these traditional rivalries aren't anything but a pimple on a mosquito's ass for most programs now. Figure out how to make these kids care and I honestly believe you be halfway there.
The world is so much bigger, these traditional rivalries aren't anything but a pimple on a mosquito's ass for most programs now. Figure out how to make these kids care and I honestly believe you be halfway there.
Spot on. Growing up in central Washington, you were either a mutt fan or a Coug and it usually was divided by economic status. And as you said, the world is a bigger place these days.
Off topic a bit but I don’t expect much at all from Jimmy Lake. I’m laughing at the UW peeps in my circle who think he’s going to be better than Peterson. Ain’t happening and the pressure cooker having to follow Peterson + his arrogance is going to make for a glorious fall. They will be nothing better than mediocre with him at the helm and I’m anticipating either some Neuheisel-like shenanigans or trouble with the NCAA.
Some interesting thoughts, etown. I don't think that the kids themselves under Peterson cared more, but it is hard to argue that the staff under Peterson put a higher priority on the rivalry games (for UW, that is both UO and WSU) than Leach's staff did.
Jimmy Lake is no dummy, but neither does he display wisdom across the board. From a Coug perspective, he is probably the ideal UW coach. He recruits well, so that will help him stay in his job. His coaching skills are mixed. His maturity and personnel management appear to be relatively weak for a P5 HC. In short, he will have a winning record and a small bowl every year. Might have the occasional very good season. But it appears that he will create the same self-perpetuating mediocrity that Stanford has suffered from for several years. I welcome that from UW, as opposed to a really good (Peterson) coach.
Finally, the idea that the R&S will be pretty banged up by the end of the season. I don't see it the same way. Our QB will be a little more exposed in the R&S...I can see that, so the idea that we need 2 quality QB's is easy to understand....but beyond that, the heavier run emphasis would IMHO seem to mean fewer receiver injuries. Running offenses as a whole don't seem to have a ton more RB injuries...at least that I've noticed...and O lines that run block more don't seem to have a lot more injuries, either. I suspect the banged up aspect has more to do with conditioning and number of plays per game than anything else. If our O has more plays per game, I'll accept that injury risk as a welcome trade-off for the success that suggests we would be having in moving the ball and grinding down the other team's defense.
Not sure why anyone says Peterson put more emphasis on that game and it cost him others. They simply brought out the same game plans every year . Defensively rush three, don’t worry about the run, keep everything short and in front of them and hammer the receivers when they do catch the ball. They dropped right into the depth of the zone the receivers like to drag through. Wash rinse repeat.
Offensively they simply used WSU’s stemming up front against us. They would let them stem , wash them down the line and cut back everything . Same game plans year in and year out .
We always have excuses in the Apple Cup, and that drives me nuts. I caught my passion for WSU in the 80s, when the talent, facility, depth, and steroid/training issues were never more divergent between UW and WSU. The Huskies were an elite National program, but in just about every AC in that decade, we always gave them a battle.
Fast forward to today when scholarship limits and TV revenue have leveled the playing field quite a bit, and we have more excuses as to why we can't keep up in the AC. It's complete BS. We fight tooth and nail with Oregon every season of late, Oregon beats UW most of the time, and we can't even hang with UW for a half.
I loved coach Leach. I was sad to see him leave Pullman, and I will be forever grateful to him for resurrecting our program following the Paul Wulff dumpster fire. With that said, it's pretty clear that Leach and his system were completely figured out by UW. We were outcoached, plain and simple. It wasn't because UW "cared a lot more." It was because they had elite, NFL talent in their back 7, and our repeating offensive formations didn't trick them in the least bit.
Sorry, but other than playing some games with our #2 QB (which was obviously crushing), there's no excuse other than that we were outcoached on offense and defense.
Fast forward to today when scholarship limits and TV revenue have leveled the playing field quite a bit, and we have more excuses as to why we can't keep up in the AC. It's complete BS. We fight tooth and nail with Oregon every season of late, Oregon beats UW most of the time, and we can't even hang with UW for a half.
I loved coach Leach. I was sad to see him leave Pullman, and I will be forever grateful to him for resurrecting our program following the Paul Wulff dumpster fire. With that said, it's pretty clear that Leach and his system were completely figured out by UW. We were outcoached, plain and simple. It wasn't because UW "cared a lot more." It was because they had elite, NFL talent in their back 7, and our repeating offensive formations didn't trick them in the least bit.
Sorry, but other than playing some games with our #2 QB (which was obviously crushing), there's no excuse other than that we were outcoached on offense and defense.
Exactly, and the impact was particularly hard felt given that UW's back 7 talent was as good as any program in the Nation apart from Bama, LSU, and Clemson. In some of the AC's, we had the likes of Peyton Bender under center, and we still insisted on throwing the ball 65 times.
Recruiting grounds locally (because of emigration from the South for Federal projects in WA in 1930s 1940s 1950s and their kids being college ready) were never better for a school located in Eastern Washington.
Three men's coaches at WSU were successful in that environment: Raveling, Brayton, and Chaplin.
The 4th men's coach got his NFL QB concussed in the spring game. And has the worst WL record in college football of any head coach ever at WSU.
I hate stemming. F$cking stupid. Especially on the goal line.
And why rush 3 when you can rush 2???
That used to be an easy fix. We used to recruit California heavily and would get kids with a chip on their shoulder because the LA schools and the Huskies wanted nothing to do with them.
I agree with this whole post except the part about UW not wanting it more. The thing that drove me nuts in this game under Leach was one of his principles was To Be the Most Excited to Play.
We were never the most excited to play.. Like I said before, it was almost like everyone was in Spicoli's van before the game.
If Peterson put a higher emphasis on rivalry games, how come he repeatedly got his ass handed to him by Oregon?
It makes no sense to suggest that Peterson cared more. Better talent? Sure. Outcoached us? Absolutely.
It makes no sense to suggest that Peterson cared more. Better talent? Sure. Outcoached us? Absolutely.
Mike Leach is that you? Keep pretending that Apple Cups don't really matter if it makes you feel better. You were the worst Apple Cup coach in history, hands down. Sadly, you were Apple Cup success away from being in at least two Pac-12 championship games as I recall, real history. Instead, Chris Petersen completely owned you and the teams you coached. For the Cougs, football success, you know the stuff that makes the history books, starts with beating the UW. How often do we get to go on to bigger and better things after getting beat by the Dawgs? Only once in 125 years!
I've been to the promised land, twice. Don't kid yourself, second and third rung bowl games are complete Mickey Mouse in comparison. The only people impressed with appearances in Holiday and Cheez-it Bowls etc. are those too young to remember the 1997 and 2002 championship seasons.
Please read the article below where Chris, in a nice way, says the Oregon games were big, but they aren't a rival anymore than Stanford was. Only one team and one game, were his players completely off limits to media.
Chris Petersen downplays significance of Washington-Oregon rivalry
A former Oregon assistant, Petersen is 2-2 vs. the Ducks as UW's coach.
www.seattletimes.com
Leon Bender is smiling down from heaven at your comments 😁
You say your Cougar passion came into focus in the 80’s. Mine started some twenty years before that, when I was in grade school, jr high, and started high school in the 60’s.
My years at WSU were 71-75 but I was a diehard much earlier than that.
I’ve seen a lot of Apple Cups during that time, almost all of them in person.
I will guaran-fricken-tee that Peterson cared more about the Apple Cup game than his opposing head coach did.
I suspect he's going to be mediocre but I also thing he'll continue the tradition of practicing against our offense and defensive schemes all year in practice. They shut down Hawaii on one weeks game prep when he was DC, don't see why we'd be in such better shape when he has a bullseye on our backs all year.
I'm speaking to the lack of depth the offense develops and the consistency between receiver and QB necessary to make the split second reads. When you run the same 4 receivers out for 80%+ of your plays, you are highly vulnerable to an injury forcing someone onto the field that isn't able to mesh with the QB.
No Wulff reference at all.
Jim Walden has the worst W-L record as a head college football coach of any person to coach WSU's football team. And Rypien got concussed in the spring game.
The real test for Jimmy Lake is to see if he will take a stand on the removal of the Jim Owens statue just outside the gates of Husky Stadium.
Abiding a monument to a militant white supremecist who required black players to take "loyalty oaths" is something a former assistant from the 0-16 Detroit Lions would do.
Fnulnu…. Actually first and last name known . Yaki you can come out of the closet no one will post the John Clayton lookalike photo of you .
Walden …. Had the school playing for the rose bowl for first time in 50 years after he took over a program where he was the fourth coach in four years. And three years removed from a recruiting class that had nine players picked in the draft.
Not only that he played that Apple Cup winner to the Rose Bowl game within 13 points . It would have been nice to see any of the last Apple Cups where we are not blown out by 30 to the Dawgs.
it would have been nice if the Cougs had money back in the day, say 83 where they play Idaho State at home vs Michigan on the road. Or in 84 sub Portland State and Eastern for Ohio State and Tennessee on the road . 6 wins turns to 8 quickly, seven wins turns into 8 or 9
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Before Leach they historically won two out of every three apple cups. 67-32 or something like that. Based on the historic differences in talent I thought that was actually pretty good! Need to get back to that ratio and I’d be happy.
after reading the Ray Jackson piece I can't help but think that WSU's remoteness plays into the lack of culture as well. Metro cities are easier for players to return to and visit campus and instill the rivalry in the new players; our culture of players returning SUCKS. We have the same handful of luminaries that show up for everything, God bless them, but a 70 year old JT might not have the same appeal to an 18 year old as a 30 year old... whoever- someone they might have seen on TV once at least.
Please read the article below where Chris, in a nice way, says the Oregon games were big, but they aren't a rival anymore than Stanford was. Only one team and one game, were his players completely off limits to media.
Chris Petersen downplays significance of Washington-Oregon rivalry
A former Oregon assistant, Petersen is 2-2 vs. the Ducks as UW's coach.
He said that because they were losing all of them. Ask any UW alumnus if Oregon is a rivalry game.
Peterson ended Oregon's streak and managed to be competitive during the Oregon game. But he didn't spend time all year game planning for Oregon the way he did for us.
2 things. If Jimmy is spending that much time worrying about us, let him. UW will start sucking worse than even I expected. Hawaii didn’t have Borghi or really anything on defense. If you’ve never been to the Hawaii campus, it’s a dump for being in Hawaii. My guess is the athletic facilities aren’t much better. While the system and QBs were well coached I can’t imagine they had much else aside from a handful of islanders who wanted to stay home. Over the long haul Rolo should be able to get much better talent at WSU than he could at UH and undoubtedly has much more talent to start with. If he can’t, then that’s a whole other problem.
LOL, you think he game planned all year for us? Why? We ran the same offense for 8 straight years.
Ask him. They talked about how they had a practice session devoted to the air raid every week all year. It paid off for them.
I would think they might have a small session for it. Because USC ran it, Cal ran it, and concepts of the air raid are through out college football. He also said same game plan for WU game in and game out, no adjustments. I believe the term used was vanilla.
Jimmy Lake always talked trash. Petersen didn't. And Jimmy Lake never talked trash pregame.
When I see a DC run his mouth and the HC doesnt reprimand him…. it makes me feel like the HC thinks the same thing, even says the same thing behind closed doors, but no way will he come out and say it publicly. He will let the DC do that.
What was Lake going to say ahead of the game . He knew he would be able to talk trash afterwards .
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