Your Projections through End of Season?

[chipdouglas]

We have a very favorable schedule to open the season, and a much tougher one to end it. At 2-0, here's what we have left and where I see us:

• OSU: W. I expect more of a fight from OSU than many do, but I think we pull it out handily in the end. 3-0.
• Nevada: W. Same as OSU. 4-0.
• USC: L. I see us overwhelmed in the trenches and burned in the secondary. 4-1.
• @Oregon: W. This one's close, but I'm counting on Oregon to struggle a bit like last year. Could get shaky rest of season if we lose. 5-1.
• @Cal: W. Not a lot of thoughts on this one but Cal has a long way to go. 6-1.
• CU: L. Like Oregon, could go either way, but CU blasted a team that had its way w/ OSU and has given up 6 points through 2 games. 6-2.
• @Zona: W. By 1-2 scores. 7-2.
• Furd: L. Similar to USC. 7-3.
• @Utah: L. See above. 7-4.
• @UW: L. Sorry fellas, hate to say it but the last few years have given me no reason to believe otherwise, and I don't know what's changed this year. 7-5.

This means 7-5, which wouldn't be a terrific bowl - unless you're a Cougar fan and it's only the 2nd time you've gone to 3 straight bowls.

 

[CougPatrol]

I predicted 8-4 at the beginning of the season, so I'll stick with that. I see a lot of possibilities though. We could beat Oregon...We could lose to Cal...We could lose to Colorado..We could beat Stanford..We could lose to Utah.

OSU W
Nevada W
USC L
@ Oregon L
@ Cal W
Colorado W
@ Ariz W
Stanford L
@ Utah W
UW L

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I predicted 8-4 at the beginning of the season, so I'll stick with that. I see a lot of possibilities though. We could beat Oregon...We could lose to Cal...We could lose to Colorado..We could beat Stanford..We could lose to Utah.

OSU W
Nevada W
USC L
@ Oregon L
@ Cal W
Colorado W
@ Ariz W
Stanford L
@ Utah W
UW L

I like the 8-4 prediction and it is the most likely scenario. That said, I really, really like the fact that we won a game that we should have lost given the score with 8 minutes to go in the game. My prediction (with projected rankings:

OSU W (#20)
Nevada W (#19)
#4 USC L (#25)
@ #23 Oregon W (#21)
@ Cal W (#19)
# 15 Colorado W (#15)
@ Arizona W (#14)
#20 Stanford W (#10)
@ #21 Utah W (#8)
@ #5 UW L (#13)

10-2 (7-2) #13 in the AP poll.

For the second straight year, WSU and UW will be playing for a spot in the Pac-12 championship game and until we've seen otherwise, I can't say that I reasonably see us beating the mutts. We'll know a lot more about Stanford in the next two weeks, but I'm not drinking the Cardinal kool-aid. They've lost three straight games to Top 25 caliber opponents (four if you include the thumping we gave them) and their bowl win was against a UNC team that was falling apart at the end of the season.

I'm assuming that Oregon's defense gets exposed by us but they end up being an 8-4 type team. I'm assuming that Cal is decent but more of a 5-7 team. CU will be 6-1 and ranked #15 before losing 3 of their last 5 games to finish 8-4. I think Utah beats Stanford and that puts Stanford at 6-2 when we play them. Utah is going to start the season strong but they play us, UW and CU to finish the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go 0-3 to finish 7-5 overall. If not for the play of the team over the past two seasons, I'd look at our schedule and guess us to finish 6-6. Lots of pretty solid teams with only a few relatively easy games sprinkled in. If we play like we did against BSU through three quarters, that 6-6 record becomes a lot more likely.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

I like the 8-4 prediction and it is the most likely scenario. That said, I really, really like the fact that we won a game that we should have lost given the score with 8 minutes to go in the game. My prediction (with projected rankings:

OSU W (#20)
Nevada W (#19)
#4 USC L (#25)
@ #23 Oregon W (#21)
@ Cal W (#19)
# 15 Colorado W (#15)
@ Arizona W (#14)
#20 Stanford W (#10)
@ #21 Utah W (#8)
@ #5 UW L (#13)

10-2 (7-2) #13 in the AP poll.

For the second straight year, WSU and UW will be playing for a spot in the Pac-12 championship game and until we've seen otherwise, I can't say that I reasonably see us beating the mutts. We'll know a lot more about Stanford in the next two weeks, but I'm not drinking the Cardinal kool-aid. They've lost three straight games to Top 25 caliber opponents (four if you include the thumping we gave them) and their bowl win was against a UNC team that was falling apart at the end of the season.

I'm assuming that Oregon's defense gets exposed by us but they end up being an 8-4 type team. I'm assuming that Cal is decent but more of a 5-7 team. CU will be 6-1 and ranked #15 before losing 3 of their last 5 games to finish 8-4. I think Utah beats Stanford and that puts Stanford at 6-2 when we play them. Utah is going to start the season strong but they play us, UW and CU to finish the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go 0-3 to finish 7-5 overall. If not for the play of the team over the past two seasons, I'd look at our schedule and guess us to finish 6-6. Lots of pretty solid teams with only a few relatively easy games sprinkled in. If we play like we did against BSU through three quarters, that 6-6 record becomes a lot more likely.

I could see something like 10-2. Easily 8-4 as well.

One thing fans learned about the Boise State game - the team isn't going to lay down and quit like in days of past.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Interesting that everyone appears to be fully on-board with conceding a loss to UW now.

Not that I disagree with them. Petersen is a very good coach and their talent level is very high.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Interesting that everyone appears to be fully on-board with conceding a loss to UW now.

Not that I disagree with them. Petersen is a very good coach and their talent level is very high.

I think it can go either way. As any rivalry game can. UW is good, but they're not unbeatable.

 

[CougInSpain]

I think it can go either way. As any rivalry game can. UW is good, but they're not unbeatable.

I think the way Rutgers played them was a recipe for success. Put constant pressure on Browning to force him to make errant throws. We did NOT do that to Browning last year and he scorched our secondary. If not for Rutgers inept offense, I believe we would've witnessed an upset.

 

[Coug90]

I think the way Rutgers played them was a recipe for success. Put constant pressure on Browning to force him to make errant throws. We did NOT do that to Browning last year and he scorched our secondary. If not for Rutgers inept offense, I believe we would've witnessed an upset.

Plus all he had to do was hit John Ross in the numbers on a WR screen or chuck it up the field as far as he could and he was damn near guaranteed a positive play. I think he's going to look a lot more like the 2015 Jake Browning than the 2016 Jake Browning not having Ross. His other receivers are good, especially Pettis, but that kind of speed just takes so much pressure off of a QB.

I'm in the same boat about UW...I'm not hopeful until I see us actually compete with them, but they lost some irreplaceable pieces last year and are not going to be the same team this year.