Simming The Season, Week 8: BYE Is No Match For Cougars

You have no idea how close I came to making the title of this post "Cougars Are Bye Curious", but then decided it was probably in poor taste. I laughed about it for a while, though.

Anyways, I hadn't originally planned on even writing about the Bye Week because nothing happens. After thinking about it more, though, it's a good opportunity to post a bunch of things you guys have been asking for. Also, there was a pretty big upset in the Pac 12, and a handful of key players went down with injuries, including Washington QB Keith Price and TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Oregon QB Bryan Bennett and RB De'Anthony Thomas, and a few of our own players (Darren Markle and Lenard Williams). I haven't looked at the Injured Player list yet this season, so some of these injuries have been around for a while, possibly explaining why their teams tanked (looking at UW). Because if you can come back from a broken foot in 1 week, you're basically not human.

After the jump, we'll look at an updated Pac 12 standings, as well as a Top 25.

Around the Pac 12:

Arizona 49, UW 35
Utah 34, Oregon State 0
USC 31, Colorado 21
Stanford 31, Cal 6
Arizona State 27, Oregon 10

WHOA. Arizona State knocks off the previously unbeaten and #1 team in the nation. The injuries to Bennett (broken hand, out 3 weeks) and Thomas (strained back, out 7 weeks) certainly didn't help, and I kind of wish we could have played them sans those two guys. We probably would have won. Also, the absence of both Price (broken collarbone, out 4 weeks) and ASJ (stress fracture in foot, out 2 weeks) for the Huskies is almost certainly why they've just fallen apart.

Speaking of injuries, Darren Markle is out for the season with a torn ACL, and Lenard Williams will miss the next 2 weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. I was hoping Logan Mayes was on the injured player list, as a reason to explain away his complete drop off in production, but he's not hurt. He's just not getting any playing time.

Updated Pac 12 Standings:

North

1. Oregon (6-1) [3-1]
2. Wazzu (6-1) [3-1]
3. Stanford (4-3) [2-2]
4. UW (3-4) [0-4]
5. Oregon State (2-5) [0-4]
6. Cal (2-6) [0-5]

South

1. Utah (7-0) [4-0]
2. USC (6-1) [4-1]
3. UCLA (6-1) [3-1]
4. Arizona (5-2) [3-1]
5. Arizona State (3-4) [2-2]
6. Colorado (2-5) [1-3]

Top 25 (Coaches Poll):

1. Kansas State (7-0)
2. Texas (7-0)
3. TCU (7-0)
4. Utah (7-0)
5. Alabama (6-1)
6. USC (6-1)
7. Virginia Tech (7-1)
8. Arkansas (5-2)
9. Oklahoma (4-2)
10. Iowa (7-0)
11. LSU (6-2)
12. Auburn (6-1)
13. Wisconsin (7-1)
14. Notre Dame (6-1)
15. Oregon (6-1)
16. Georgia (5-2)
17. Florida State (6-2)
18. Michigan (5-2)
19. Nevada (8-0)
20. NC State (6-1)
21. Florida (5-2)
22. Clemson (4-3)
23. UCLA (6-1)
24. Nebraska (5-2)
25. Mississippi State (6-1)

Also Receiving Votes:
Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Tulsa, Tennessee, Ohio State, Arizona, Stanford

Other Interesting Tidbits:

• WSU is currently ranked 38th. It certainly doesn't help that BYU, Oregon State, and Cal have all completely fallen on their faces.
• With the week off, Jeff Tuel drops to 5th in the Heisman race.
• Speaking of Tuel, he needs 4 TDs to surpass Ryan Leaf for the most passing TDs in a single season at WSU. He'll need just over 1,000 yards (1,083) to surpass Leaf's passing yardage mark, which sounds like a lot. Then you realize we have at least 5 games left, and Tuel has been averaging 400 yards per game, and suddenly it seems pretty likely Leaf's record won't hold up.
• WSU is #1 in the nation in total yards (4,847), passing yards (3,288), and passing TDs (31), as well as #2 in offensive yards (3,878) and #4 in points per game (43.8). They come in at #122 (out of 123) in rushing yards (590), and tied for #114 in rushing TDs (4). East Carolina comes in at #121 in rushing yards with 591.
• Our defense is a different story, though. We come in #6 in the Pac 12 in offensive yards allowed, 9th in passing yards allowed, 6th in rushing yards allowed, 8th in points allowed, 2nd in sacks, and tied for 12th in interceptions.
• Here comes the fun: we get penalized a lot. WSU is currently worst in the Pac 12 in penalties, and tied for 26th in most times penalized in the nation. We're tied for 10th in the Pac 12 in turnover differential (-3) and 11th in takeaways (9). We're also 1st in interceptions thrown (10) but have only lost 2 fumbles, good for best in the Pac 12.
• Even though the Cougars didn't play this week, Tyree Toomer still missed a tackle.

This:

On one hand, this Taco Bell commercial is absolutely awful. On the other hand, I would eat a burrito made of nachos.

— Grady (@Grady509) June 8, 2012

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Remember, if you want rosters, go here. For a detailed explanation of what this is, go here. See you Monday. Go Cougs!