Would love to be the team that f#cks that up for them like 18 years ago!
Whoregon up to #4
- Thread starter SDCoug
- Start date
Oregon doesn't get me worked up like they used to. Bags of cash too distant in the rear view, and not a lot of subsequent accomplishments.
With that said, it's hard to tell who is actually good this year. This feels like a once-in-a-century Twilight Zone kind of year where it's hard to (a) say who's good and (b) whether it matters, given the ongoing weirdness related to COVID. Here's a list of upsets and near-upsets already through 2 WEEKS, in no particular order:
Still, through 2 weeks, I can't remember this much mayhem. The bottom and middle of conferences are getting turned to mulch, and blue chips are already racking up losses. Even the "signature win" teams like Oregon are squeaking by Fresno State at home just before beating Ohio State in the Horseshoe?!
My theory is that COVID has completely upended normalcy in CFB recruiting, player development, team chemistry and game planning, and that we are enjoying - if you can call it that - a brief period of parity in CFB that we haven't seen in a very long time because of it.
With that said, it's hard to tell who is actually good this year. This feels like a once-in-a-century Twilight Zone kind of year where it's hard to (a) say who's good and (b) whether it matters, given the ongoing weirdness related to COVID. Here's a list of upsets and near-upsets already through 2 WEEKS, in no particular order:
- Oklahoma squeaks by Tulane at home by 5 points
- Iowa State squeaks by Northern Iowa at home by 6
- Oregon squeaks by Fresno State at home by 7
- UCLA beats LSU
- Montana upsets UW
- Utah State upsets WSU at home
- #10 UNC drops to "unranked" VT
- NIU beats Georgia Tech
- UTSA beats Illinois
- East Tenn State clobbers Vandy
- Nevada beats Cal
- Coastal Carolinas beats KU
- OK State squeaks by Tulsa
- Minnesota squeaks by Miami Ohio
- Oregon beats Ohio State in the Horseshoe
- Pitt tops Tennessee
- South Carolina squeaks by East Carolina
- Miami squeaks by App State at home by 2
- Arkansas clobbers Texas
- Texas Tech squeaks by SF Austin by 6
- Jacksonville State beats Florida State on the road
- SDSU beats Arizona in Tucson
- #21 Utah goes down to "unranked" BYU
- Very bad-looking Furd bashes #14 USC
Still, through 2 weeks, I can't remember this much mayhem. The bottom and middle of conferences are getting turned to mulch, and blue chips are already racking up losses. Even the "signature win" teams like Oregon are squeaking by Fresno State at home just before beating Ohio State in the Horseshoe?!
My theory is that COVID has completely upended normalcy in CFB recruiting, player development, team chemistry and game planning, and that we are enjoying - if you can call it that - a brief period of parity in CFB that we haven't seen in a very long time because of it.
First, Coastal Carolina was favored to beat KU so that game shouldn't be on the list. KU is just that bad. For all the talk about Wulff and how bad he was, it's impossible for WSU fans to fully comprehend the level of suffering that KU fans have endured over the last 11+ years. 17% winning percentage with six seasons of 2 wins or less including two "0 fer" seasons. The Jayhawks will not be favored to win any of their remaining games this season. Jayhawk fans need to be thankful that South Dakota was willing to play them. Who knows, they might have a puncher's chance against Duke.
As far as the rest of your post....yeah, this is a crazy year already. I think the biggest factor is all of the 6th year seniors out there. Programs that normally have depth issues likely have players around that make a difference. Also, the transfer portal is having an impact for smaller schools. A lot of dudes are playing at smaller schools because they weren't getting playing time for the big boys. It may be a way for WSU to compete in the future if we can get some of those guys without losing too many of our own.
I’m with you it’s hard to say week to week what we are going to see. Coaching ability is trumping talent big time RN I think. That’s where maybe I think that USU loss isn’t as bad as initially feared. They have a damn good coach. Also within our conference, Chip Kelly to me is hands down the best/most proven coach and they are firing on all cylinders.
I think it's pretty common that the first couple weeks of the season have games that look like surprises, but as the season goes on we find out that in the preseason some teams were overrated and others were underrated. I think there's more of that this year because 2020 was such a messy, mixed bag across the country, and the various rule changes and transfers have shifted things around more than we've been able to get a solid read on. Some teams are going to look a lot better than they were in 2019, and others are going to be a lot worse...but for the most part we're still looking at them based on 2019.
A lot was made of the buckeye's frosh qb due to his bona fides and performance the previous week, but he looked like a frosh qb last saturday. He missed throws all day, despite Oregon not having a pass rush for 3.5 quarters. The stage was simply too big for him on that day.
Cal Poly under run game coordinator Paul Wulff and future WSU head coach Beau Baldwin had their RBs rushing for 38 yards in 19 attempts in a 63-10 loss.
If only WSU hadn't lost its innocence....
The stat sheet you found is better than the one I saw. Their website shows 53 yards on 35 attempts.
Looking for positives in their stat line....looks like their punter is decent. 10 kicks for a 41-yard average, and 5 inside the 20.
After that, and without looking at the play by play, it looks to me like Fresno State was probably bleeding the clock late, trying not to run it up too much. Seems like I've seen that happen somewhere else before.
Deleted their QB rushes in case it included sacks or near sacks. CFB stats apparently keep QB sacks in rushing total unlike the NFL stats.
They beat USD a decent FCS team despite being coached by a 77 year old who was a player at Kentucky during a time when his teammates were paid to have sex with Rock Hudson (ahhh Wikipedia)
