So we're finally in the home stretch of 2009.  The finishing kick to a one-win season, one that has seen some improvements here and there, yet still, so much ground to cover.  There's some debate out there right now about the improvement this year, or lack of, that has a columnist who covers the team on a daily basis openly questioning just how long this thing is going to take. 

I can't help but agree with much of what Howie Stalwick has to say.  After all, he's got first-hand access to everything that's going on, the "source material" if you will.  He has witnessed more than any of us in the blogosphere care to see, all the fall camp practices and such, and so he has some weight behind his assessment of where things are right now.  While Stalwick harps on the usual can't-win-without-talent argument, one that I wholeheartedly agree with, well, the coaches don't exactly come off completely clean here either:

Do Wulff and his assistants get a free pass for the disastrous results of the past two years? Of course not. Last year, they tried to force-feed too much too soon on confused and frustrated players. This season, they refused to play Jeff Tuel — the best quarterback on the team, without question, from the first day of fall camp to the last — until the fourth game.

Yeah, yeah, we know — they wanted to redshirt Tuel, a true freshman. Well, they stayed with that plan for two whole games (although Tuel did not play for another week after that).

Sorry, but Tuel did not magically improve while carrying a clipboard the first two games. Nor did early starters Kevin Lopina and Marshall Lobbestael suddenly take drastic steps backward.

See, there's blame to go around, above and beyond just the lack of talent.  Wulff has admitted earlier this summer that perhaps they tried to throw too much, too soon at players who just weren't ready for it in 2008.  But I seem to recall they threw out the no-huddle completely by the end of the first month of the season, so I guess they did at least try to "dumb things down" a bit? 

Anyway, just how much can be laid at the feet of the coaches is obviously debatable.  A great coach doesn't make a player suddenly run faster or jump higher or even lift more weight, although all reports are that the current strength program is absolutely fantastic in terms of packing on the beef.  But anyone can look at the collection of talent Pete Carroll has managed to amass in his time at SC and realize that talent matters a helluva lot!  Or you can go look at the programs that have been putting players in the NFL draft the last several years. 

Think it's any coincidence USC has had SIXTY players drafted into the NFL the last 10 years, tops in the conference?  Or how about our 0-fer friends in Montlake, with ZERO draftees the last two years?  Think that lack of talent that can play on Sundays had anything to do with 0-12 last year?  For what it's worth, UW is 9th in the conference with just 19 players picked the last 10 years.....but can you guess who's last?  This one's a layup.  Yep, WSU.  17 players the last 10 years taken in the draft, just six taken on the first day. And the only first round pick?  Marcus Trufant, 2003.  That's it folks. 



As a fan and blogger, I am hopeful that this thing will turn around.  I mean why would I want for anything else?  Would we at this blog even be here, right now, if we didn't care beyond belief that things will turn around with this crew?  We all want the same thing, and that is a return to respectability and hey, have some fun watching our team get better.  A football program that not only has high-character student athletes who make great decisions on and off the field, but one that competes like crazy every Saturday and factors into the bowl conversation.  We care about the team because, well, it's a part of us, a small extension of who we are.  Most likely, you follow the team and read this kind of stuff because of your association with the Cougs, in one form or another.  WSU is not your standard t-shirt school, I think we can all agree on that.  Beyond the flag-waving on ESPN Gameday, well, they don't exactly move the needle on a national level.  But whatever.  Maybe you are a grad/alum, maybe you just went to school there for a few years, maybe you are a parent of a player or have a sibling that played at WSU.  Or maybe you grew up in Pullman and knew the fight song since birth.  Whatever your reason(s), you feel a sense of ownership in your college team, because you have poured yourself into something WSU-related.  Whether you admit it or not, it is part of who you are.  So there. 

I hope this final month sees some surprises.  I hope we sneak up on some team who clearly doesn't care to play us right now.  I hope, as Ted Miller suggested last month, that "WSU punches some unsuspecting team in the mouth."  I hope...... 


Moving on, much has been made about the lack of quality Pac-10 athletes in the upperclassmen division of the roster, blah blah blah.  Once again, it's crystal clear when you look at the depth chart this week.  Youth, youth, everywhere it's youth.  And with this week's release, some startling numbers in regards to the kids. Did you know:

• Through the first eight games, 19 Cougars have made their first career starts, six on offense and 13 on defense. In 2008 26 players registered their first start for WSU, 17 on offense and nine on defense.
• Through the first eight games of the 2009 season, the Cougars have been hit hard by the injury bug, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines. So far this season WSU has missed 64 player games due to injury or illness. On the offensive line five players who have started this season have 17 missed games due to injury, while the defensive line has missed a total of 14 games from five players.
• 10 freshman have started games this year.  The last time 10 frosh started in a season?  The year 2000.  Yep, 2000.  That was the team that went 4-7 with three OT losses, and you saw the promise.  And we all know what that group of frosh from 2000 accomplished in 2001-2003.  Perhaps that is, in fact, light at the end of the tunnel?
  

Anyway, wow.  That's not just excuse-making.  That's a young and beat up football team!

That's about it for now.  Enjoy your morning, and GO COUGS!