HOT COUGAR ACTION: Less Links, More Thoughts

Apparently its “Lead”-worthy to say that Locker will be out vs. Oregon. Supposed 1st rounder or not, how is the QB of a 3-5 team missing a game headline news?

Aside from my hopes for the Cougs, I also had two desires as far as the Dawgs:

a) They repeat the ’08 season and lose every game (always my hope), or
b) They have a mediocre season and their bowl hopes hinge on the Apple Cup.

Now, I would not be disappointed in the slightest if they were to lose out for the rest of the season. But if it all comes down to the Snow Bowl and we get our revenge for last year, I’ll be a happy camper.

P.S. Beating Kansas State and Gonzaga would be the icing on the cake and I would probably spontaneously combust if that were to happen.

We keep getting all these supposedly “great” recruits, but the more I think about the more I think we are still in trouble. Right now we can recruit LBs, RBs and WRs like no ones business, but these guys will be in trouble because our line play is so bad. We got spanked by ASU because of our line play. I don’t care how good a QB, RB or WR are if we can’t make holes, protect or zone block. If our LBs don’t have gaps to shoot then what good is it? I feel like Wulff recruits slow LBs with size and TEs with size in hopes that we will able to feed them a bunch a food and turn them into lineman. Kind of what happened to Tyson Pencer and Jake Rodgers.

This is my thinking, there is usually 5 OL on the field, which is almost 50% of the offensive players on the field, so we should be at least 50% of our offensive recruitment to the OL. Also, a lot of players don’t stay with the program, develop or end up being good. I think this needs some focus, especially with Wulff being a former OL. It seems like a blue collared school should be able to recruit and produce some lineman. Isn’t there any big, cornbread fed, farming boys from the Eastern WA that want to come play some Line at WSU? Are they extinct? Doesn’t Derting have some big relatives?

The defensive line only plays 4 at a time, but this seems like another area we don’t recruit well. I know that big men don’t grow on trees, but we need to put some focus on this. Remember when we had OL and DL like Garman, Sanderson, Patterson, Bender, Boose, Holmes, Doyle, Eaton, Sasa, McEndoo, Winthrow, etc.

Out of our current 19 commits 6 are lineman, I hope we get the number up. Last year 7 our of our 26 recruits were OL and DL. I don’t count Jake Rodgers because he was recruited as a TE, 2 OL were JC transfers and DT Lapuaho didn’t even make it to WSU. So, that is technically 4 freshman OL and D-lineman. That is bad, this should be our emphasis to rebuilding, getting big kids in here to develop them. This area needs some serious ramping up.

Is it my computer? The Wal-Mart thread was going so good.

adding a Bass Pro Shop would make the city complete.

in a russian accent.

I want him to know that a lot of us are in solidarity with him (hence the rec’s) and feel very similarly. There is no shame in reaching a breaking point with the team this year. Many people have shared comments the last few weeks about wives / gf’s wondering aloud why we put ourselves through this misery. I have no good answer, and often feel like Jeff must have felt when he wrote that post.

The biggest problem with false hope is that it is almost impossible to differentiate it from real hope. Real hope can sustain through disappointment, but false hope crushes the soul. I still feel a little bit of real hope despite the ASU game, but I understand the hesitancy to rally around the team this time.

Sorry to get all philosophical there. Do what you need to do, Nuss, and we’ll be there with you all the way.

it’s was especially evident on the radio…

There were callers suggesting that Locker isn’t smart enough to comprehend what the defense is throwing at him and to make the adjustments. It doesn’t matter if you have God himself as your quarterback, if you O-line is garbage your done.

How the staff handles the loss and gets the team ready to play in front of a home crowd against a reeling team will say a lot. Bill Moos will make whatever decision he feels is best for the program at the end of the season, but I get the feeling this game will have a lot to do with it.

Completely agree. I brought up the WSU FB Blog post in the previous thread and they basically said the same thing: Paul Wulff needs a win this weekend. We’ve made it through the competitive perfomances stage, and now is the time to finally break through. And if they can’t, it might be the final nail in CPW’s coffin. The reason I say this weekend is because I don’t feel that a win over the Huskies would really count in the long run of his career. This isn’t a knock on UW at all, but the Apple Cup presented by Boeing is almost as much about who wants it more as it is about who’s the better team.

And I also just want to say that I really want CPW to succeed; I really do. He seems like a great guy, and its a cool story (him coaching at his alma mater).