Yesterday, over at ESPN's Pac-12 blog, Kevin Gemmell took at look at WSU's schedule and picked the BYU game as the most important for the Cougars.
He makes a few very good points, highlighting why the game is important for WSU. Gemmell sites the national TV exposure and possible momentum the BYU game could provide. If you took the Apple Cup out of consideration, I think a lot of Cougar fans would agree with him and call the BYU game the most important of the season.
For me, beyond the Apple Cup ,I think the most important game for WSU is the UCLA game. Even though it comes late in the season, I think that game is going to be a very important proving ground game for WSU. You could make a very strong argument WSU was better than UCLA the last two seasons when they played, but the Cougars couldn't finish either game. If WSU is going to pull itself out of the bottom of the Pac-12 they are going to start by beating teams like UCLA.
If you asked Mike Leach, he'd probably say the most important game is the next one on the schedule and they're just trying to win one game a week. That's all well and good, but for the purposes of this post it's not a very interesting answer. So, stepping away from the cliche answers, what game do you think is the most important for WSU next season?
Football
Pac-12 football: Ranking the non-conference schedules | Berry Tramel's Blog
9. Washington State: at Brigham Young, Eastern Washington, at Nevada-Las Vegas. Sudden thought. Why hasn’t UNLV ever gotten better in football?
Athletics: WSU's Leach is ready to bag some UCLA and Cal bears | Mid-Columbia | Tri-City Herald
If Mike Leach was looking for a way to start his legacy as Washington State’s 32nd head football coach off with a bang, the 52-year-old offensive guru certainly found it.
Most important game: Washington State - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN
We're going through the Pac-12 and picking out one game that seems most important -- or potentially most revealing -- for each team from our vantage point today. We're going in alphabetical order. Washington State
Basketball
Scout.com: Royce Woolridge Profile
Washington State guard Royce Woolridge's father, former NBA and Notre Dame standout Orlando Woolridge, died Thursday while at his parents' home in Louisiana of apparent heart failure, The Shreveport Times reported. Desoto Parish Chief Deputy Coroner Billy Locke told the newspaper that the elder Woolridge, 52, had been under hospice care for a chronic heart condition.