Let’s forecast WSU’s chances to win their remaining games

Good morning. Well, that was quite a night in the ol’ Pac-12, eh? The Stanford Cardinal backups rise from the dead and dominate the OKGs, Oregon struggles mightily to beat Cal’s backup quarterback at home, and Khalil Tate finally does Khalil Tate things. Oh, and there’s the little matter of the Oregon State Beavers going to Pasadena and hammering the UCLA Bruins, showing yet again how truly embarrassing WSU’s faceplant really was.

The Washington State Cougars may have been idle, but we all are aware by now that they carved out their own little piece of the news cycle when Tracy Claeys departed the fix for other pastures. Now here we are, nearly half way through the 2019 season that has seen all kinds of tumult, both within the program and throughout the conference.

So where do the Cougars go from here? Will the downward trend continue, or can they cobble together at least a modicum of defense, fix the glaring problem at left tackle and win a few games? That’s what we will try and figure out today.

One major caveat: As always, and as we saw yet again this Saturday, football is a week-to-week sport. This is equal parts fun and infuriating.

Saturday, 12 October: WSU at Arizona State Sun Devils - Prior to 2016, WSU and Tempe were a really bad mix for the guys in crimson. In 2016, WSU was incredibly fortunate that Manny Wilkins went down, which greatly aided a Cougar win. Also WSU still can’t tackle and somebody named Eno Benjamin will be running the ball.

Chances of a WSU win: 30%

Saturday, 19 October: Colorado Buffaloes at WSU - Colorado has been another Jekyll and Hyde team this season. Wins over Nebraska and ASU gave indications that they may be pretty good. Home losses to Air Force and Arizona would seem to refute that.

Chances of a WSU win: 70%

Saturday, 26 October: WSU at Oregon Ducks - The only real hope here is the Cougs catching Oregon in a letdown/look-ahead sandwich. The Ducks travel to Washington the week prior and go back on the road to face the USC Trojans the week after. Other than that, there’s not much reason to be confident in WSU’s odds.

Chances of a WSU win: 19%

Saturday, 9 November: WSU at California Golden Bears - After an idle week, the Cougs head to their recent house of horrors (non-Seattle edition) to face a Cal team that will likely be without Chase Garbers. Will it even matter, since Cal has a a couple solid running backs and an elite defense? Probably not. Still, I like WSU’s chances here more than at Oregon. The only bummer is that Cal will also be idle the week prior.

Chances of a WSU win: 32%

Saturday, 16 November: Stanford Cardinal at WSU - This was looking like one of the better shots WSU had at a win this year. It looks somewhat less so now that Stanford’s backups rose up and beat Washington, but the Cardinal’s resumé has much more bad than good on it so far.

Chances of a WSU win: 61%

Saturday, 23 November: Oregon State Beavers at WSU - It seemed pretty clear that OSU was going to jump up and bite at least one team this season. For WSU’s sake, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again. But there’s one thing we know, the Beavers can move the ball and score.

Chances of a WSU win: 74%

Friday, 29 November: WSU at Washington Huskies - Once again, Washington isn’t as good as we were led to believe. Once again, it won’t matter one bit.

Chances of a WSU win: lolololmfaorofl

Football

Q&A: Washington State coach Mike Leach ‘surprised’ by departure of defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys | The Spokesman-Review
WSU coach Mike Leach told The Spokesman-Review by phone Saturday afternoon that Claeys’ decision “caught us all by surprise”

Ten stats – five positive and five negative – that explain the first five weeks of Washington State’s football season | The Spokesman-Review
Washington State players and coaches may be idle this week, but that doesn’t mean their minds are.

‘I think he’s the guy that can (throw) 10 touchdowns.’ Why Hawaii’s renowned QB guru is bullish on Washington State commit Jayden de Laura | The Spokesman-Review
There’s a certain level of immortality reserved for quarterbacks who win a state championship at Saint Louis.

This Week in Parenting

As I write this, I’m having to deal with a near mutiny because it’s raining outside for like the 59th consecutive day and, as a result, the boys have been ordered to either do voluntary homework or correct mistakes they made in some mandatory homework. The amount of whining and faux outrage is something to behold.

It hasn’t been all work around here, luckily for them. Saturday was another set of flag football games, and the seven year-old’s preferred outfit, to include the foxes on the socks, is trending toward the right of the (Cam) Newtonian scale.

Later on, it was time for grown-up fun. As you’re certainly aware, the Germans are fond of beer. Most of it may not be very good, but they consume a lot of it nonetheless. The locals even like to make you work for it, as we took the family on a beer hike in a village near our house. We began on the low ground near a lake, and hit a series of checkpoints along a roughly two-mile trail, consuming a beer at each one. The final checkpoint was at a castle that overlooks the town. The boys didn’t complain much as we trudged along, so they were justly rewarded.

Now before you go clutching those pearls and condemning us for being awful parents because we let our kids get all liquored up, I want to assure you that we aren’t as terrible as it seems. We only let one of them drive home.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: While the beer hike through the woods was a fun event, the beer was mostly so-so. Despite that, sometimes it’s about more than the taste of the beer, and this Hacker-Pschorr Kellerbier was decent. Turns out the Hacker portion of Hacker-Pschorr was founded in 1417 (!!!).

At GABF 2019, the craft beer industry is embracing its flagship beers once again
A confluence of market forces is leading craft brewers to chase new trends and take risks that diminish the focus on quality and consistency that helped build the industry’s collective brand embodied by the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Non-Sports

Front Royal economic development scandal: The sheriff is dead, and $21 million is missing - The Washington Post
Economic development scandal in Front Royal, Va., has led to multiple arrests and civil lawsuits.