Which WSU QB returning for his senior year or could have returned...
- Thread starter YakiCoug
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Ryp returning with the RPMs was the most anticipated. Then they pee'd down their leg in the opener vs. Oregon and it was over before it started.
Kind of tough to answer. Of these, only Bledsoe and Leaf were a real threat to leave as juniors, and both did. Neither was a surprise. Bledsoe had the hype, and was going to go #1. Leaf had hype, would be top 2, and the team wasn't returning much the next season. Considering the losses to graduation from '97, even with Leaf back I'm not sure the '98 team would have made a bowl.
With Brink, there wasn't much doubt he'd be back, and there wasn't much buzz around the team though, I don't think we had very high expectations. We could have been a solid team, but there were a lot of questions still.
I don't recall being that excited about Rosenbach. The team was bad enough in '88 that I don't think there was a lot of expectation that his return mattered.
There was definitely excitement about Rypien, although again I don't remember there being much question. And, they very quickly squelched any excitement once they took the field.
I'd say I was probably most excited about Gesser. We had a good team in 2001, with a lot of them returning in '02. With him at the controls, it was pretty certain we were going to be strong. At the same time, I don't really think he was a significant threat to leave, so his return wasn't surrounded by a lot of buzz.
Falk is in a similar place to Gesser, although there are probably more question marks - we should be able to keep Falk on his feet, but who's going to catch the ball, and who's going to play D? We had answers for those questions in 2002. We don't in 2017.
Looking back, I should have been more disappointed by Bledsoe's departure. We clearly had a decent team coming back in 1993, and Mike Pattinson had them at 5-2 before he was injured. Those two losses were blowouts at Michigan and at USC, and I don't think Bledsoe would have turned those games around (although they probably would have been closer). Problem was that DeGrenier and Deeds couldn't manage a single win in the last 4 games (although I will always believe that Price was too quick to pull both of them, and never allowed either to develop any kind of flow), so 5-2 ended up 5-6. I'm pretty sure that with Bledsoe as a senior, we start no worse than 5-2, and probably no worse than 3-1 in our last 4. Even if Bledsoe goes down against Cal, Pattinson probably gets us a split in the last 4. Either way, we go to a bowl in 1993 if Bledsoe stays. '94 becomes our 3rd straight bowl, and who knows what that does for recruiting and continuity for the rest of the decade.
Rosie the Drew....both had so many returning starters their return would have me really great things. Leaf would have been 6-5. The other two would have been 9 plus wins.
Say what? The team in 1988 was 9-3, upset no 1 UCLA, went to a bowl game and if I recall correctly was ranked 17 at season end.
Not having Rosenbach come back the following year in 1989 made a HUGE difference for Mike Price's first year. People may have differing opinions about Rosie as a coach, but he was a very talented QB. That 6-5 team had some talent but squandered several opportunities in very close games. With Rosie at the helm, the gut wrenching final drive by USC may not even have been relevant because Rosie would have led WSU to more than 17 points. The very close games against AZ, CAL, and ASU could have been much different. Really the only game the Cougs got semi-soundly beaten was in the Apple Cup (20-9). By then we were demoralized.
I'm calling it that if Rosie had come back, the Cougs are a minimum of 9-2 in season and going to a decent bowl. Instead with 4 losses in a row they sat at home. Imagine what a boon to recruiting it would have been to have this in Prices first year. Instead it took several years to get things going. So I think this is one of the MOST influential non-returns in Coug history.
I do agree with 95coug about Bledsoe being important. The 93 team would have been bowling.
Leaf wasn't going to make much of a difference for the 98 team. It might have helped Leaf himself if he had come back though. Extra experience and a little humility from a difficult season might have led to a different outcome for Leaf's future as a pro.
I agree. Rosenbach had a tough sophomore season in the first year of a new offense and new coaching staff. He rebounded to lead the team to that 9-3 record you mentioned. He lead the nation in passing that year. He left school and the Cardinals used their first round pick on him. Yes, he was that good and would have made a difference.
Brad Gossen took over for Rosenbach the next season. He started great, but was injured in the third game and missed several games. Aaron Garcia took over and did well for a freshman. But, neither of them were in Rosenbach's league.
Should have said the 87 team was bad. My memory of those seasons is a little fuzzy, I didn't even recall rosenbach left as a junior
Rosie had virtually no chance of being academically eligible for another year. Keep in mind that half of Erickson's last WSU recruiting class failed to qualify. Yes, half. That aside, Rosie threw 24 picks in '87, so '88 was a vast improvement. Had he returned in '89, I'm guessing it would have been a very good year, at least better than the 6-5 record that occurred.
WSU was NOT soundly beaten in the '89 AC. Gossen was more or less forced back into action in the latter part of the season. Rosie's running ability was the thing missing in that game for the WSU offense.
Off topic but... earlier this year while walking the halls of Hellgate High in Missoula I noticed a familiar face on their athletic wall of fame. It was Rosie. He was the Montana Class AA state champion in javelin as a freshman.
Well I did say only "semi-soundly"
What I mean is that I never really felt like we were "in" that game with a chance. I'm usually a pretty optimistic Coug fan ( except during the Wulff years), but I remember thinking in the first half "This does not feel like the other games this year". We were inept on offense. We had 9 yards passing the entire first half. Gossen was sacked like 8 times (yeah, Rosie's legs would have helped). There was a pick 6 . Did we even make it past midfield the first half? It was 13-0 at half, and it could have been 27-0 (the fuskies turned it over a couple times in the red zone). I do remember we started heating up in the last 20 minutes or so of the game but there were a couple dropped passes in the endzone that hurt us.Anyway, my point was, If we had come into that game with Rosie, at 9-1 or possibly even undefeated, there would have been a different energy. Momentum is an important thing for young men.
Well I did say only "semi-soundly"
Anyway, my point was, If we had come into that game with Rosie, at 9-1 or possibly even undefeated, there would have been a different energy. Momentum is an important thing for young men.
Gossen was sacked eight times, but his best receiver (Stallworth) was still gimpy because of a knee injury in the Oregon game. Steve Broussard had a heckuva game that day, however.
