So, are you ready for some football?  Coug football?  Tomorrow late afternoon, it's ON.  As fast and fleeting as this summer was in the pacific northwest, I have to say it's a great thing to see actual NCAA football again. 

Anyone check out the USC game last night?  Hawaii couldn't stop the Trojan O in the 49-36 loss, but wow, did SC's defense look a little, uh, unimpressive??  Ted Miller mentioned it in his instant analysis, but yeah, SC's D deserved an "F" for this one.  588 yards allowed!?  Unfathomable.  But maybe it goes to show the old rule of how there is always an adjustment period when you start over with a bunch of new starters and new coaches, especially offensive and defensive coordinators.  Yeah, it's one game, and SC has dealt with a truckload of stuff this offseason, so maybe they weren't "all in" just yet.  But still, there is no way I would have ever thought Hawaii would move the ball that well vs. the vaunted men of Troy. 

Moving on, one thing that has been asked and/or mentioned around here is who, exactly, is heading down to Stillwater?  We have heard from a few of you via email and also in comments, but here's a few details:

Tim in Oklahoma had this to say:

"The Oklahoma Coug alums, led by Cameron McCoy, will be set up, tailgate-style, alongside Eskimo Joe’s, Stillwater’s world-famous “Jumpin’ Little Juke Joint,” where they behave very much like a bunch of Cougs and then walk to the stadium two blocks away. This is gonna be fun!

B-Lot from Cougar Athletic Supporter is heading down for the game, and had this to say on how to locate their tailgate:

"We'll be tailgating in Stillwater. Look for the WSU flag and pirate flag somewhere near the stadium. The B-Lot will be well represented. "

If you are heading down there, feel free to leave a comment about where you might be and we'll pass it along.  Hey, we've all been to road games, and while it's fun to mingle with the enemy, the more Cougs that can meet up on the road the better!

Moving on...

Happy Football Friday on Thursday Cougs!  In another regular thing we like to do around here, we will continue doing our own little version of "Football Friday", where we take a look around the Pac-10 and lay down some picks -n- such, with some expanded thoughts on the Cougs.  This year we will roll with Football Friday on Thursday, however, due to the nature of Thursday night games being more and more prevelant and man, everyone in the world drops their picks on Thursdays anyway.  We might as well join in, right?  So, welcome to the 2010 season! 

And with that - I WANT TO BELIEVE seems appropriate, don't you think?  There has been so much talk, really since the later stages of last season, that WSU football was going to take a big step forward.  That the improvement was happening behind the scenes, improvement that Joe Cougfan wasn't going to see right away, but be assured that it IS happening.  The little things that go so far to fielding a competitive product on the field, such as weight training and nutrition and even improved academics, all of it was said to be going on behind the curtain.  And Paul Wulff has been leading the charge on this, repeatedly assuring that we would be pleasantly surprised by what we saw.

Never was I more sure of this, personally, than after what I heard at the Seattle WSU football dinner function back in February.  Lucas and I attended the event, and you got the sense from the beginning that things were starting to change.  Coach Wulff brought some players with him, including Jeff Tuel, Gino Simone, and Nolan Washington, and you could sense the vibe that good things were coming.  And not just in their words of assurance, about how much better it was, but in their body language.  You could see bigger, stronger players already, but the way they talked and carried themselves, there was little doubt that THEY believed in what was happening.  They hardly looked and sounded and appeared to be key components of a team that had massively struggled the last year.  And beyond any fan, alum, message board poster, blogger or even coach, aren't the players the ones who are most important in all this?  Aren't they the ones that have to "believe"? 

All the preseason publications have the Cougs last in the conference, and that's fine and completely understandable.  Why would an expert doing the mega-previews take a look at a team that was so deficient in so many areas last year and actually expect a big jump?  If I was on the other side of the country and looked at how bad WSU has been, and just glanced at some depth charts and looked at stats from the prior year, I wouldn't be too excited either.  Maybe I'd pay a little attention to them, you know, because of some good things said about the likes of Jeff Tuel or Travis Long, etc  But otherwise I guess I'd give it the obligatory shoulder-shrug and think "....they'll still be bad, but maybe not quite as bad."  And that's the honest truth.

And in all likelihood, it's usually true what they say.  Sometimes the further away you are from something, the clearer the picture.  You can get too close to a situation, and have your judgement clouded.  It's a trap many fans and even credentialed media members will fall into, and it's especially true during training camp.  Watching practices or scrimmages, it's easy to believe that maybe a situation with a specific player or position is better - or worse - than reality.  One has to always remember that every team in the country has issues, and in that sense WSU is no different than any other team in the country.  The Cougs have issues, sure, but so do the Huskies, Ducks, Beavs, and pretty much everyone else. 

But I think even though we are close to this thing, I believe that you pretty much have to be following the ins and outs of what has been going on at WSU especially to understand that it will be better in 2010.  No, probably not in the final record - I think if we get anything beyond three wins this year, it's just cause for closing down the town for a day, give Wulff a key to the city and throw a parade down main street - but the days of tough, competitive football are upon us.  I want to believe in the young talent that we will see, cut loose on the field to fly around and make plays.  I want to believe that the new offensive line coach, Steve Morton, will have these big mothers up front eating lightning and crapping thunder.  I want to believe that Jeff Tuel takes a large step forward in his development as a QB, finally able to drop back in the pocket and actually make a couple of reads as the pass protection gives him a three-Mississippi count to set up and distribute the football.  I want to believe the front seven on defense is going to be one of the most improved groupings on the team, and maybe one of the most improved in the entire Pac-10.  And I want to believe that these coaches have been leading us down this path to relevancy, and that they were RIGHT ALL ALONG when they said to have patience and hang in there!  I WANT TO BELIEVE!

Whew. 

Ok, read on for this week's picks, as each of us weigh in on week one's action.....

So it's that time again.  Yep, radio show recap-ness, all looking back on the weekly Paul Wulff radio show!  I still can't believe we're here already, although it sure sounds like the football team is ready to hit someone in an opposing uniform for the first time in 2010. 

It was a good show out of the gates for this year, with a lot of positive, optimistic (mostly) views from Paul Wulff.  Read on for the bullet-point style recap, as we hit on the best things to take from the first show of the year....

So, yeah, game week is here.  Can you feel it?  I have to admit it hasn't fully hit me yet.....I mean yeah it's been a busy August full of news and practice recaps 'n' such, and I can't flippin' WAIT until they get it on this week, but wow, GAME WEEK?  Really??  I think maybe it'll hit, ton-o-bricks style, when Gameday comes on Saturday morning and we'll see ol' Crimson (and Whitey?) proudly waving in the morning breeze.  THEN it's football season, right?

And now that the season is here, you'll see us more or less settle into some of our regular things that we like to do around here - the radio show recaps, ripped video of the weekly FSN show, a Football Friday post of some kind, etc.  And we are pleased to have LucasCoug in the fold for the 2010 season, and he'll add in a new feature or two along the way.  And of course, we'll have some fun and mix it up here and there, including our second annual WSU Football Blog tailgate party which we will announce soon.  God knows the routine can be awfully frickin' boring, know what I mean?  So stay tuned this year -  it's going to be fun, one way or another!

Read on for what's out there on this busy Monday.....