They played hard….

[CougEd]

Dickert will make an excellent head coach. Is WSU the right job? I will get back to that.

BYU was a bad matchup for WSU. A team big up front, committed to the run, plays a three man line and 8 people back like BYU did to leach in 12 and uw has done the last 9 years. Make the Cougs go 80 yards on 10 plays without making a mistake and being patient . They were not going to get beat by one play . Stanford OSU and Cal all played the Cougs different .JDLs short comings were on full display on Saturday . But he can’t make up for those mistakes without the ball.

BYU dline handles our line . Our shortcoming even in the leach years has been at center if playing with someone on the nose .

JDL is going to have to pull the ball out if he wants this offense more effective because the DE is crashing so hard Borghi was getting hit from the backside .

Also McIntosh was missed . There are about 6 or seven runs where Borghi bounced outside when the crease was straight up field. And two of the times he bounced it outside Liam had his man shielded where the hole was on Ryan’s right hip. Borghi cut outside and Ryan held the de. McIntosh reads his blocks better and plants and gets straight uo field which would have been helpful staying ahead of the sticks .

Dickert got his players to play hard. Byu went up twice and they fought back . They were short on coaches all week, a small crowd and a team who beat three pac 12 teams. And four plays were the difference.

Dickert will be a very good head coach. Is WSU the right job for him. Does he have the right stuff on the road . Do recruits connect to him . Is he the second coming of Doba? What does he install on offense . Can he get some size up front ? Can he find some recruiters?

Is he a better head coach at Stanford than WSU for example?

Whatever the case I am proud they played and played hard . And everything is about expectation at this point. My expectation is we will get hammered at asu. It would have been nice to beat Utah state because they would be one game with Arizona on the schedule to be bowl eligible .

 

[acgcoug]

Didn't look like it to me. It was clear that they were fired up and played hard vs Stanford, not so much this game.

I like Dickert, but losing our best offensive play caller is a huge loss.

 

[CougEd]

Didn't look like it to me. It was clear that they were fired up and played hard vs Stanford, not so much this game.

I like Dickert, but losing our best offensive play caller is a huge loss.

So they didn’t play hard against osu? Just Stanford? You thought they played hard against Utah State but not BYU?

 

[CougEd]

Didn't look like it to me. It was clear that they were fired up and played hard vs Stanford, not so much this game.

I like Dickert, but losing our best offensive play caller is a huge loss.

Let me ask … when WSU went empty against Stanford we had our most success . What was the difference as why it didn’t work against BYU ?

 

[Glad Cougar]

Didn't look like it to me. It was clear that they were fired up and played hard vs Stanford, not so much this game.

I like Dickert, but losing our best offensive play caller is a huge loss.

I'll respectfully disagree. I thought they were fired up and played hard yesterday. Just made too many mistakes. The holding calls (which were one-sided against us IMO) were devastating. The interception thrown by JDL in our second drive probably cost us at least 3 points. The extra point snap mishandle. Poor tackling on too many plays. But I can't even really fault the defense on that last drive, 3rd and 7, when everyone knew who was getting the ball. They were gassed. That second half TOP was critical. And BYU is a good team. Just a couple of weeks ago, #12 in the nation. I was disappointed in the loss because I thought WSU could win, even with all the week's adversity. But I was pleased with the effort. If they clean up the mistakes and force a turnover or two vs. ASU, they can make it a competitive game although I don't expect a win.

Glad Cougar

 

[etowncoug]

Let me ask … when WSU went empty against Stanford we had our most success . What was the difference as why it didn’t work against BYU ?

We didn't go empty against BYU except for once or twice. Smith ran the Biggs offense of feeding Borghi all game. Hard to feed Max from an empty set.

 

[CougEd]

We didn't go empty against BYU except for once or twice. Smith ran the Biggs offense of feeding Borghi all game. Hard to feed Max from an empty set.

We went empty against them for two series. Three and out . There was a reason it worked against Stanford and didn’t against byu. And it wasn’t the calls .

 

[etowncoug]

I'll respectfully disagree. I thought they were fired up and played hard yesterday. Just made too many mistakes. The holding calls (which were one-sided against us IMO) were devastating. The interception thrown by JDL in our second drive probably cost us at least 3 points. The extra point snap mishandle. Poor tackling on too many plays. But I can't even really fault the defense on that last drive, 3rd and 7, when everyone knew who was getting the ball. They were gassed. That second half TOP was critical. And BYU is a good team. Just a couple of weeks ago, #12 in the nation. I was disappointed in the loss because I thought WSU could win, even with all the week's adversity. But I was pleased with the effort. If they clean up the mistakes and force a turnover or two vs. ASU, they can make it a competitive game although I don't expect a win.

Glad Cougar

We were the more talented team. Or energy level was subpar. Team was sleepwalking for most of the game. Tried to rally late but weren't able to suck it up and make a big play or two when it counted.

 

[etowncoug]

We went empty against them for two series. Three and out . There was a reason it worked against Stanford and didn’t against byu. And it wasn’t the calls .

You are just making things up now.

 

[CougEd]

We were the more talented team. Or energy level was subpar. Team was sleepwalking for most of the game. Tried to rally late but weren't able to suck it up and make a big play or two when it counted.

We let osu run for 309 yards . This problem isn’t new. Osu just panicked at the end of the game and played into our strength and their weakness

 

[etowncoug]

We let osu run for 309 yards . This problem isn’t new. Osu just panicked at the end of the game and played into our strength and their weakness

I don't remember sloppy tackling against Oregon St. If we had the same defensive effort against OSU we would have lost by 14.

 

[CougEd]

I don't remember sloppy tackling against Oregon St. If we had the same defensive effort against OSU we would have lost by 14.

300 yards rushing .. you call that what ? Great tackling but getting blown off the ball?

 

[Wazzubrooz]

The boys put out a good effort against BYU and came up just short. They had their chances to win And didnt. The effort was there and they lost to a decent team. Now focus on ASU. No team on the schedule remaining is so dominant that they could not lose to WSU. Go Cougs!

 

[longtimecoug]

We were the more talented team. Or energy level was subpar. Team was sleepwalking for most of the game. Tried to rally late but weren't able to suck it up and make a big play or two when it counted.

disagree, they played to win plenty of energy, we are vulnerable to a hard pounding running back, we saw that against the beavers, and again yesterday.

 

[CougEd]

You are just making things up now.

Are you saying ghey didn’t go empty on six plays or that BYU played it different to get them out if the empty package . Which is made up?

 

[BiggsCoug]

We didn't go empty against BYU except for once or twice. Smith ran the Biggs offense of feeding Borghi all game. Hard to feed Max from an empty set.

Still under 20 carries. Lack of drives in the second half hurt. Bumbled snap and bad 2 point call crushed.

 

[kougkurt]

The no call on the PI was huge.

 

[billyjoecamaro]

Can anyone explain why punters always hold for PATs and field goals? An athletic receiver who is also use to catching balls might come in handy on bad snaps.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Because they can practice the entirety of the practice and hopefully get good at it since they don’t have a regular position.

 

[WASH ST A&M FAN]

Can anyone explain why punters always hold for PATs and field goals? An athletic receiver who is also use to catching balls might come in handy on bad snaps.

Limited practice time for the specialist positions. They have themselves to work with when other position groups are working within their craft. Game-Day they go out early when many position groups are still in meetings. It’s not ideal but it’s the reality.

 

[Glad Cougar]

I know backup QBs have been used in the past (Trey Tinsley comes to mind) and I think WR Colin Henderson was a holder when he was playing.

Glad Cougar

 

[Coug90]

I'll respectfully disagree. I thought they were fired up and played hard yesterday. Just made too many mistakes. The holding calls (which were one-sided against us IMO) were devastating. The interception thrown by JDL in our second drive probably cost us at least 3 points. The extra point snap mishandle. Poor tackling on too many plays. But I can't even really fault the defense on that last drive, 3rd and 7, when everyone knew who was getting the ball. They were gassed. That second half TOP was critical. And BYU is a good team. Just a couple of weeks ago, #12 in the nation. I was disappointed in the loss because I thought WSU could win, even with all the week's adversity. But I was pleased with the effort. If they clean up the mistakes and force a turnover or two vs. ASU, they can make it a competitive game although I don't expect a win.

Glad Cougar

FWIW they got zero help from the zebras for the third straight week at home. There certainly weren’t the game altering PI misfires we saw against Furd and OSU, but we had 2 drives killed with holding calls (the one on Ryan was bogus) and BYU had like 1 false start and no other penalties called on them the entire game. Everyone bitches about the refs I know, but we’ve been getting the short end of the stick for the last month.

 

[425cougfan]

At some point, maybe a coach takes a risk and just uses a 3rd-string QB as the holder. It's not great for the QB if they miss out on QB prep time, and they burn their playing time clock by just being the holder, but it's a key role. If we had Cooper holding on that play, even if he doesn't catch it, at least he would have a prayer of making something happen, and there could even be designed fakes when needed. Same thing to an extent with a QB buried further down the depth chart somewhere, although you can only suit up so many guys on the road. Even if snap issues on an extra point only come into play a couple times a year, handling those snaps better is more valuable than whatever our third- or fourth-string QB seems destined to contribute.

 

[Coug90]

Can anyone explain why punters always hold for PATs and field goals? An athletic receiver who is also use to catching balls might come in handy on bad snaps.

Punters catch a ton of balls during practice as well from the jugs machine practicing their drops, and most have fantastic hands- if I had a punter I wasn’t worried about getting hurt I would put them on the onside kick hands team.

 

[CougPatrol]

It was a good game. I thought we should have won it. BYU is 4-0 against the P12 this season, so losing a game on a missed extra point certainly doesn't diminish my opinion of our team. Really wish we would have had Deon McIntyre available for the game.

Apart from the USC game when we were without our top-2 QBs during the disastrous 2nd half, we've played tough against all of the bowl contenders on the West Coast. Utah State, Utah, BYU, Oregon State, Stanford. Going into the season, that was the ceiling for this team as far as I was concerned, and if anything, I think we've exceeded my pre-season expectations.

The next 2 games are going to be tough, and they might get ugly. As such, the board will blow up with posts about how Dickert sucks, the program is a disaster, etc. We finish the season with Arizona at home and at UW for Apple Cup. Win those, and I think we have legit chance, and we'll finish 6-6. Still a lot to play for.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Not that Dickert shouldn't be above any criticism for the rest of the season, but I sure hope fans angry with the Rolo firing don't take it out on him and attribute everything that goes wrong to the interim coach. There is absolutely no way to know if mistakes and losses would've been avoided with Rolo still at the helm. I'm watching the effort....and if the players continue to play hard for Dickert, that's the most important indicator of his coaching ability at this particular time.

Glad Cougar

 

[CougPatrol]

Not that Dickert shouldn't be above any criticism for the rest of the season, but I sure hope fans angry with the Rolo firing don't take it out on him and attribute everything that goes wrong to the interim coach. There is absolutely no way to know if mistakes and losses would've been avoided with Rolo still at the helm. I'm watching the effort....and if the players continue to play hard for Dickert, that's the most important indicator of his coaching ability at this particular time.

Glad Cougar

Exactly, and who's to say that DIckert is a Run and Shoot guy? When he interviews for the job, perhaps his vision for the offense is different than what we're running now? If he gets the nod, he'll be able to completely restructure the offense if he so chooses.

 

[79COUG]

Important to remember that these are 18-23 year olds we're talking about. Having a kid in that group I know first hand that what they're processing and what they've gone through the last couple of years is uncharted territory.
As a couple of you have said, I'm looking for effort and focus at this point.

 

[dgibbons]

Exactly, and who's to say that DIckert is a Run and Shoot guy? When he interviews for the job, perhaps his vision for the offense is different than what we're running now? If he gets the nod, he'll be able to completely restructure the offense if he so chooses.

My concern is defensive coaches wanting to "protect the defense" or any nonsense like that. We need to run some kind of system. I don't really care if it's the air raid, run and shoot or something else. We cannot run a "multiple" offense.

 

[etowncoug]

Exactly, and who's to say that DIckert is a Run and Shoot guy? When he interviews for the job, perhaps his vision for the offense is different than what we're running now? If he gets the nod, he'll be able to completely restructure the offense if he so chooses.

If Dickert changes the offense from the RNS (which is understandable since we fired pretty much the only staff in college football who understands it), the offense becomes a complete reboot. Is Dickert's defense so perfect for Pullman that you keep him around as HC?

The best argument to keep Dickert around is that he's the best person to keep the momentum from what Rolo built going. I'm open to hearing the plan to doing that but our offensive performance against BYU was not encouraging. The programs biggest weakness right now is Dickert's lack of gravitas. It's going to be difficult to recruit as an anonymous head coach. He's going to be in a position where HS coaches will be trying to sell him kids rather than selling their best prospects on his program.

I do think Dickert is going to be a successful HC some day. I'm not convinced he has built the connections necessary to succeed at this level. With a few more years of experience under his belt, he'd be ready.

Norvell from Nevada might be a good hire, but I like Anderson from Utah St. His team plays hard, he runs an uptempo offense. Has recruiting connections in the south plus he's building them in Utah and the west coast. He's proven he can use the portal and he's won at multiple stops.

 

[CougPatrol]

My concern is defensive coaches wanting to "protect the defense" or any nonsense like that. We need to run some kind of system. I don't really care if it's the air raid, run and shoot or something else. We cannot run a "multiple" offense.

My concern, even though I'm rooting for Dickert to earn the job, is that he'll employ the South Dakota St / Wyoming offense.

 

[Glad Cougar]

My concern, even though I'm rooting for Dickert to earn the job, is that he'll employ the South Dakota St / Wyoming offense.

That's okay with me if he can land a Josh Allen, Trey Lance, or Carson Wentz to play QB at WSU!

Glad Cougar

 

[Coug90]

My concern, even though I'm rooting for Dickert to earn the job, is that he'll employ the South Dakota St / Wyoming offense.

I don’t think so. I think he’s smart enough to understand the talent strategy here and will leave the offense mostly as is. If the time comes I’m sure he will have that conversation with Chun, and that will play into his decision on if Dickert is the right guy for the job.