Good morning Wazzu fans! I believe the saying this time of the year is "Hope springs eternal."
Usually when you hear that, it is about mid February to early March, and it revolves around the chatter that every baseball fan can dare to dream in Spring Training.
However, today that quote has brought me to our young and athletic core of Linebackers! It reminds me of the plethora of talent we have had at the position over the last decade, and hopes to give you a vision of the position moving forward. Yesterday, Sean brought you a glance at our Defensive Line, so continue reading for more on the Linebackers.
Happy Monday Cougs. Here's hoping the weekend treated you well and you are back to the grind, ready to roll for another week.
First, a moment of silence for the fading-fast Coug hoopsters. What a tailspin, and while I'm no expert, I can't even blame it on Klay Thompson's struggles anymore, as he appears to be scoring again these last few games. But for whatever reason they just can't buy a win right now, pure and simple, and it could be a quick exit on Wednesday from the Pac-10 tourney.
That said, I thought it would be fun to go in the way-back machine to, oh, I don't know, how about 2008 Mr. Peabody?
The hoops team went to the Sweet 16 not so long ago, remember?
One Shining Moment is right! That two-year run with the 2007 breakthrough year and the 2008 Sweet 16, that's just something I know I'll never forget. So many good players too - Weaver, Low, Rochestie, Baynes, Cowgill, Harmeling, the list just goes on and on. At first I wasn't sure about embedding a video like that, and what good it could do.....but then I thought it is easy to forget the good when you are struggling through the bad?!? I don't know about you, but I wanted to feel good about hoops again.....if only for a little while.
Anyway, enough hoops. Today is the day we flip to the defensive side of the football, and take a glance at the pre-spring condition of the WSU defensive line (note - our pre-spring glances can be found here for QB's, here for running backs, here for WR's and here for O-line and tight ends). Read on for more....
Well, so much for sweet revenge. The game we had circled on our calendar since the notorious officiating debacle in Pullman on New Year's Eve turned out to be one more juicy bite of the enormous sh-t sandwich that was... the 2009/10 basketball season. Last place. Oh, and in case you haven't had enough, we get to lose to the Ducks AGAIN on Wednesday.Yay. Since I can't drink as much as I want to right now and still keep my job/girlfriend/house/pants on in public, I am going to turn to the only thing left to us Coug fans in this darkest of hours... Donny Marbut's baseball team. Come on baseball team, you're all we've got left! And we desperately need something to believe in!
Time for another pre-spring glance at the Cougs. This time around we will take a look at the offensive line. There is nothing glamorous about the position, is there? You don't get your name in the paper and my guess is the majority of fans do not even know your name. But in my mind, it is the most important position in the game. Where would the 2009 New York Jets have finished if it wasn't for the hogmollies up front? My guess is they would have finished 5 - 11, and wouldn't have even sniffed a chance to knock off the Bengals and Bolts in the playoffs! Would Shaun Alexander have been as terrific as he was without Big Walt, Steve Hutchinson and Robbie Tobeck blocking for him? Absolutely not!
That being said, 2010 will be a new year for the Cougs up front. Gone are the head-scratching ways of former position Coach Harold Etheridge. Being that he is a former All-Pac-10 linemen himself, Coach Wulff knew the value of what a good offensive line can do for the rest of the offense. So, he made a splash this off-season when he replaced Etheridge with his old position coach, and Coug alum, Steve Morton. Morton is no lightweight either, coaching up five Pac-10 Morris Trophy winners, as well as several all-conference selections and multiple NFL draft choices. Morton's body of work is extremely impressive.
Conversely, the last two years in Pullman?? The Coug o-Line yielded something like 100 sacks; actually it was 53 sacks in 2009, dead-last in the conference and 22 away from ninth-place Cal, with 31 sacks (wow that's AWFUL!). Mel Hein and Turk Edwards had to be rolling over in their graves after performances like that...
Read on to take a peek at what the current o-line depth has in store, as well as a quick glance at the tight-end spot as we head into spring ball....
Well, tonight our boys lost another tough one. Once again, we clawed our way back from a significant double digit first half deficit, brought the game within one on two or three different occasions, but came up short, falling to the Beavs 59-55.
Despite countless turnovers and a few CRUCIAL offensive boards that we gave up down the stretch, the BIG KEY from tonight's game is that Klay kinda-sorta-kinda regained his scoring touch.
Indeed, tonight, our main gun tallied 18 points--16 of which came in the second half. What's more, our boys outscored the Beavs 40-26 in the second half. (reminder: we'd scored right around 50 IN OUR LAST THREE GAMES!).
The reason for all this optimism following a defeat to an 8th place team? Well, its quite simple: OUR COUGARS PORTEND TO BE THE MOST DANGEROUS 10 SEED TO EVER ENTER THE PAC-10 TOURNAMENT!!!!
Mind you, in NO WAY am I saying that we will win the darn thing next week, but here's the simple truth: Right now our road to the NCAA's looks like it will be Oregon, CAL, UCLA, and the winner of the other side of the bracket.
Now, compare that to what Oregon State or Standord will face (UW, ASU, CAL). Simply put, even with one fewer game, the other side represents a much more difficult bracket to the conference title.
Moreoever, as we've seen several times, regular season champions sputter regularly in conference tournaments--particularly when they play lower seeded foes in their first game. And, last I checked, we don't match up that badly with CAL.
So, I say, give our boys a good rest on Saturday, Mr. Bone. Lets see a healthy dose of playing time from Mr. Motum, Mr Watson, Mr. Thames, and Abe. Lets see if we get their shots going in the regular season's final tilt. Moreover, since we're probably going to see Oregon again next Wednesday night, there's no need to show them ANYTHING this time around.
Lets have some fun on Saturday and then lace em up for one week of Hell Raising in LA-LA land.
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The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 