There are a lot of perks that come with being an author on CougCenter. We get a platinum $4.50 Buffalo Wild Winds gift card, A personalized e-card from Brian Floyd congratulating us on joining the team, a paycheck ranging up into the thousands of SBNation "Sbucks" per month (they're worth nothing now, but they assure me that they're going to be worth "more than nothing" at some point in the "near to very distant future). But beyond all of that, I think the best perk is being added to the CougCenter staff emails. We occasionally use these threads to talk about the site, but we mostly talk about other stuff mostly unrelated to the site.
Yesterday, while talking about Kliff Kingsbury's new extension with Texas Tech that, with bonuses, could net him up to $5 million dollars a year, Brian Floyd posited the idea that Texas Tech is the "WSU of the Big 12," and it makes sense. While Lubbock is a very large city of 233,000, it's relatively isolated. It makes up it's own media market, ranked at 143 in the United States (Spokane is 73rd), and is more than a 5 hour drive from Dallas, the closet major city with more than 200,000 people. For years the Red Raiders have been overshadowed by other major teams in the conference. They also recently extended their head coach amid unsubstantiated fears from paranoid individuals in the fanbase that their coach will leave.
There does seem to be a lot of similarities.
After we all thought about the similarities between Tech and WSU, the question was posed to everyone: Who is "the WSU" of the other major conferences? I came up with my list:
- Big 12: Texas Tech
- Big 10: Iowa
- ACC: Wake Forest
- SEC: Mississippi State
Choosing other teams in other conferences is hard, but hopefully we can start to use a schools similarity to WSU as a way to pick a new, outside team to root for this Saturday and beyond. Give us your list below so we can compare and contrast.
Football
Coach Mike Leach After Practice Sept. 2 - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
WSU head coach Mike Leach spoke with reporters following Tuesday's practice.
Follow the leader - Spokesman.com - Sept. 2, 2014
PULLMAN – When Washington State was at its worst during its deflating loss to Rutgers last Thursday, senior quarterback Connor Halliday was at his best. After a costly turnover in the fourth quarter, Halliday ran over to the offending receiver but did not express his frustration. Instead, he gave him a high-five and a smile. "I was just telling him that we’re going to need another score and I’m going to be coming back to you so forget about that," Halliday said. "We’re going to win this game and we’ll laugh about it later."
Cougs plan rebound after loss to Rutgers | Sports | KLEW CBS 3 - News, Weather and Sports - Lewiston, ID
After an extremely disheartening loss, the Cougars are figuring out how to turn their program around.
Pac-12 conference by the numbers: Week 2 - ESPN
QB Connor Halliday's 532 passing yards against Rutgers was the second-most in the country in Week 1. He's behind Western Kentucky's Brandon Doughty (569 yards), but ahead of Texas A&M's Kenny Hill, who threw for 511.
Pac-12 power rankings: Week two - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Sept. 2, 2014
The first weekend of games caused considerable movement in our weekly snapshot of how Pac-12 teams are performing. Our week two power rankings are after the jump, let me know what you think.
Soccer
Soccer Heads to Hawaii - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Washington State (2-0-1) begins a stretch of seven-consecutive matches away from home when it travels to Hawaii.