That's my one concern for this year. When you look at our five losses, we played well enough to win except against UW, but we looked very mediocre at times in those losses. It's impossible to know if it's talent, enthusiasm, or what at times. Minnesota made us look particularly bad but bowl games are always hard to judge. The last two seasons suggest that Leach (or Falk?) has gotten us over the mental hump where we subconsciously expect to lose. Overall, the team has shown that they have some fire in their belly and do just enough to win more often than not. At the same time, this team has shown a tendency to let up and not stay focused and that has cost us several games. So, yes, I agree that WSU might be as much of a paper tiger as Stanford. Letting Colorado hang around because of dropped TD's and than letting the game get completely out of hand in the fourth quarter has me concerned in particular.
The good news is that at some point, undeniable trends occur and it's obvious that Stanford is one of those teams that is probably going to win 10+ games every year and that the relatively rare down year for them is 8-5 (2014). For us, we look like a team that is going to win 8+ games every year. I'm betting that Stanford is due for an 8-5 type year and I won't be surprised if we don't end up with just another boring old, run of the mill, 8-4 regular season again.