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Written by Sean Hawkins
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Thursday, 05 November 2009 02:00 |
Good morning Cougs. Hey, did you see we're going to be on TV AGAIN!? Looks like the UCLA game has been picked up, per Grippi. Very, very good news indeed, the more TV the better. Although it's on one of those Fox Sports "things" that you may or may not have in your cable package. Like the Arizona game, the UCLA game will also be replayed later in the evening. That said, you wonder what putting a November 14th home game vs. a not-good UCLA team will do to the attendance, although the team has been away from Pullman FOREVER and a day. They could play against air and probably still draw some RV's for the tailgate (come for the party, stay for the game as our good friend Hooty tells it). Good video from the show last night, with the usual sideline stuff as well as plays blended in with the Bob-n-Jim radio calls. You have to love what FSN can do though. The Cougs get dominated, basically, but you watch the highlights from the broadcast and you would swear that they won the game! It's great though, to get a glimpse of the sideline where you normally don't get to see the action. They do seem more intense and into things this year compared to last year? Here's the video, after the read more. It's just under 10 minutes long, per Youtube's 10-minute rule. Also, if you make it to the end, see if you can catch Jen Mueller's flub while talking about the WSU - Arizona game from the 2000 season. Some of the details are right, but there is one thing that is VERY WRONG with what she says.
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Written by Sean Hawkins
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:17 |
So since the Cougs are heading to Tucson this Saturday, it got us thinking about some of the wildest games between WSU and Arizona over the years. There have been some classics, really. 2000, when Jason Gesser set a school record with 6 TD passes in a 53-47 OT loss. The 1994 classic, where Arizona's Desert Swarm topped WSU's Palouse Posse, 10-7, in one of the most intense, physical games I've ever seen in Martin Stadium. But what about the 1997, Arizona @ WSU game where the Cougs won a crazy 35-34 see-saw battle in overtime? The game itself was nuts, as AZ bolted to a fast 14-0 lead, then tried to hold on. The Cougs tied it up in the 4th quarter at 28 apiece, the game went to OT, and WSU scored first for a 35-28 lead. Arizona would score on an Ortege Jenkins TD pass on 4th down, making it 35-34. AZ goes for two the win on the road, and tries the QB bootleg with Jenkins. But WSU's D stayed home, and Jenkins flips the ball over his shoulder as he goes down. Refs rule it an illegal forward fumble, incomplete pass or something, game over. I really don't remember, as a friend of mine was screaming "HE CAN'T F'ING DO THAT! NO F'ING WAY!" WSU goes to 7-0 at the time, on their way to the 1998 Rose Bowl. One thing lost from that game, that you don't ever hear much about? Did you know WSU was nearly penalized for EXCESSIVE CROWD NOISE in that game?? It's true. In a game where the paid attendance was 31,137, yes, the Pac-10 refs almost threw a flag against the WSU home crowd for making too much noise. One time, they bailed out Arizona with the play clock down to zero on a 4th down. Who knew!? But enough of the blabbering on. You want to see the goods, right? Believe it or not, the NCAA crowd noise rule had been in place for some time, but obviously, it was rarely called. Thankfully it was eliminated in 2006. However, this time around, Ortege Jenkins, well, he kept asking the ref for help because of that annoying crowd noise! There are actually two videos after the read more - one the WSU - Arizona game, the other, a game from Michigan - Notre Dame from 1988, where Lou Holtz was pleading with the home crowd to pipe down. Amazing. Anyway, check it out. The first time, Jenkins asks for the game to be stopped, but the ref tells him to play on. The second time, around the 3:40 mark, is when the refs do stop the game, and then for a THIRD time at the 6:06 mark:
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Written by Sean Hawkins
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 10:00 |
 Welcome to week nine of the Paul Wulff radio show. A good listen last night too, as Wulff has maintained his positive banter for most of 2009. Still upbeat and enthusiastic of where this thing is headed, even after another tough setback. Anyway, here we go with the things to take from last night's show: 1) Bud Nameck asked about injuries. Wulff said that other than Chima Nwachukwu's ankle injury, that was really it in terms of players who were hurt during the Notre Dame game and are considered doubtful for this week. Wulff said "Chima is definitely doubtful for this week", so, looks like another setback to a starter in the secondary. They didn't discuss who would replace Chima as the starter at strong safety, but glancing at this week's depth chart, it appears Kyle McCartney is the primary backup. But according to Grippi, it sounds like Jay Matthews would move over there from his normal backup free safety spot. I guess we'll see on Saturday.
2) Nameck brought up the offensive line struggles vs. Notre Dame. Wulff said that "they were rusty" and that "Tyson Pencer, BJ Guerra and Zach Williams were all a little off" and "overall, the offensive line just didn't play well. We need to do a much better job of protecting the quarterback. We ARE CAPABLE in playing so much better, and we will play better on the offensive line."
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Written by Sean Hawkins
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Tuesday, 03 November 2009 09:08 |
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.
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Written by Sean Hawkins
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Monday, 02 November 2009 09:18 |
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Happy Monday Cougs. Big thanks to our friend Lucas, who made the trip down to San Antonio to check this Halloween game out vs. the Irish. Lucas was cool enough to provide the following recap to the blog! Note....check out the picture above. Look at the very lop-left, to the last seat in the whole place. It's hard to tell from this picture, but yep, it's a Coug in a #17 jersey, sleeping one off. I'm sure none of you have EVER been there before??
Here you go. Enjoy the recap, and GO COUGS!
Good Morning Cougar Nation,
SeanHawk reached out to me yesterday to get a first hand experience of the weekend. So it started with a 10am flight from Seattle to Austin on Thursday morning, and the flight was full of Cougar Fans. If you ever make the trip to San Antonio and hate to take connecting flights, it was well worth my parent's extra couple hundred dollars to fly to Austin and make the hour drive; I was planning to go regardless, but when the Old Man decided to make the trip, it made things way more flexible on the old bank account.
So the whole River Walk experience was unbelievable. Think Bourbon Street, but 2 million times cleaner. Think Mill Ave in Tempe minus the oodles of bleach blonde jail bait. And whatever you do, don't think of University Ave on Muttlake! Tons of cool little bars and restaurants, set about 50 feet below street level, with cool man made river that goes between it. Things got a little crazy after a few Hurricanes at the World Famous Pat O'Brien's! Then we wandered to Dick's Last Resort where apparently after I went home for the night, The Old Ball Coach Jim Walden stood up on a table and lead a bunch of drunk Cougs in singing the fight song.
Saturday started with some Bloody Mary's and some more River Walking; oh, and did I mention there is no Open Container Law on the Walk?
Moving on, we finally made our way to the Alumni Association Pre Funk at Sunset Station. For a measly $45 each you could wait in 30 minute lines to get the 2 beer limit. Good thing it was all you can drink and the "bartenders" could be bought. Butch, President Floyd, the cheerleaders and Jim Sterk all made cameos. There was also a guy rocking Tom Tuttle jersey. I must say, it was pretty fricking sweet to see 5000 Cougs doing what we do best, getting down!
The Alamo Dome itself is huuuuuge, think Kingdome, but way bigger; oh and there were no ceiling tiles that fell. So as the game started and we got to our seats, I bet I was asked by at least 10 different UND "fans" why so many people traveled to watch a crappy football team. Man I got sick of that question, but I just told them that is what we do. It was fun to point out which idiots didn't actually go to Notre Dame.
Read on...
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