Cougar Football 2019: a week-by-week preview

Good morning from the 2nd-best sports viewing time zone on earth, which also happens to be the worst sportswriting time zone on earth if your deadline is early-ish in the morning. Seeing as how that PDT-induced deadline is taking place in July, the goal is little more than putting something coherent together. That in and of itself is a very high bar for yours truly.

As we still linger at low tide on the Cougar sports calendar, we look for any and all signs that the waves of fall sports activities are not far off. This week brought another small indication that we’re creeping closer, as the fine folks over at College Football News took a shot at predicting game-by-game results of every Pac-12 team. The final result was largely what many folks expect, with the Cougs checking in at 8-4. This particular journey to that record is, uh, well let’s just say there is one pretty jarring plot twist.

A 4-0 start to the season is certainly something we all desire, and CFN see the first month playing out that way as well. With the sudden departure of Jalen Thompson, that date with the Houston Cougars does get slightly more daunting, as Dana Holgorsen will be calling the plays and standout quarterback D’Eriq King will be slinging passes around the yard.

After that 4-0 start comes the first mini-slump, as the Cougs lose to the Utah Utes, and also fall to the Arizona State Sun Devils after a bye. Winning at Utah will be a very tall order this season, but I won’t be surprised if WSU leaves Tempe with a win. I also won’t be surprised if they lose by 53 because Tempe.

A win over Colorado is the only forecast victory between 28 September and a 9 November, as the Cougs sit at 5-4 after a loss at Cal. Wait a minute, you say, if these guys predict WSU to finish 8-4, and they’re 5-4 after losing to Cal, that means...

Yep, these brave (and apparently amnesia-suffering!) pundits have the Cougs beating the Stanford Cardinal, Oregon State Beavers and Washington Huskies. Well bless their little hearts. I’d sign up for 8-4 right now, as my Cougar football fandom tends to be a “behind every silver lining is a dark cloud” situation. But 8-4 with a win in Husky Stadium sounds pretty darn good. The latter part of that sentence also sounds insane, so insane that it just might work! Or not.

Now if you’ll excuse me, these bad boys have a date with dad’s Weber Smokey Mountain. Fingers crossed!

Football

Pac-12 Schedules, Team-By-Team Predictions For Every Game
Unlike the Pac-12 Preseason Team Rankings – based on how good the teams are – these are all about trying to predict where everyone will finish.

Pac-12 Preseason Head Coach Rankings: Preview 2019
He might not have anything big to show for it other than a piece of a division title, but his Cougar program has gotten a whole lot better.

College Football's Top 60 Running Backs for 2019
Borghi is set to have a breakout year as Washington State’s No. 1 running back.

This Week in Parenting

Team Kendall loaded up the Family Truckster (known to most people as American Airlines) and matriculated from Indianapolis to Spokane this week. This trip has been pretty tough on the kids so far. Their hardship tour in Indiana consisted largely of pool time, unlimited desserts and playing with the dog. Now that we’re in Spokane, they’ve encountered more pool time, more unlimited desserts and playing time with their cousins.

If that weren’t bad enough, they were force-fed tater tots and cheeseburgers from Zip’s on Saturday night. I know, they may not survive this Bataan-like journey (but seriously Zip’s is so damn good). More obstacles await. Soon they must navigate the perilous waters of a downtown hotel which will feature more pool time and playing in the park.

I’ll report back from the front lines as more information becomes available.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: I’ve spent the better part of a week trying to wade through all of these barrel-aged beers that were waiting for my U.S. arrival. The problem is that warm summer days aren’t exactly the best time to break out the darkest beers imaginable. I have found some others to mix in, and picked out a four-pack of Taxman Raspberry Ginger Tripel for the annual 4th of July get-together in my wife’s old neighborhood. For an 8.5% ABV beer, it was very drinkable and refreshing.

From Brady's Nightmare to Dallas Sucks, the best NFL-themed beers
Breweries have been crafting beers to honor NFL and players and teams (or troll them) for years. Here are our favorites, plus five we want to see next.

Non-Sports

The Hiding Place: Inside the World's First Long-Term Storage Facility for Highly Radioactive Nuclear Waste - Pacific Standard
"People think nuclear waste is harmful for eternity," says Pasi. "It isn't! After 500 years, you could take spent uranium into your home."