Hellllloooooo Coug Fans. Yep, another year, ready for take-off. And another Football Friday (only on Thursday). We did our best last year to keep up the collective Crimson Chins of all of you as the season wore on, death march-style. No, it wasn't easy, for any of us. But hey, we survived. It's a new day, and everyone's unbeaten (at least until later tonight)! We're all still alive! So let's get going on week I of XII, Football Friday on Thursday, where you'll get the thoughts on this week's game from the WSU Football Blog roster.
The Harbaugh's come to town, and it's what we've been waiting for all year long. Finally, the chance of chances to wash that horrific taste out of the collective mouths of Cougar Nation. So many bitter pills swallowed last fall, week after week, and now, finally, a chance to turn it all around. But all that big-picture philosophical stuff, that's for another day. Today, we look at Stanford Cardinal....
To me, there's three key things for this week's game, and here they are: (but first, a side-note. You'll likely find these so-called "keys to the game" pretty much EVERYWHERE else on these here world wide webs. We aren't reinventing the wheel. Most of this is pretty obvious what WSU has to do to try and win this game??)
1) DOG PILE ON GERHART Any chance in this thing begins and ends with super-stud #7, maybe when it's all said and done one of the best #7's to ever don the Cardinal jersey (yes, John Elway included).
While Stanford has a strong offensive line, and it's probable that a lot of backs could have had success in their run-first/pass-later offense last season, there may not be a better combination of power and speed in the entire country than the guy WSU will see on Saturday. His numbers were impressive last year - 1136 rushing yards, 5.4 yards per carry, and 15 TD's - and we all remember that he hardly broke a sweat on his way to rushing for four first-half TD's against a less-than-enthused Cougar defense in last year's 58-0 crushing in Palo Alto. How bad was it?
Anyway, Gerhart is much, much more than stuffing the stat sheet. He's not just a bull in a china shop either, but he's got incredibly deceptive wheels to boot. The tape don't lie:
See the moves and great feet, but also the wheels? Check out the run just 30 seconds into the tape. He gets out of trouble at the line of scrimmage, gets to the sideline and then he runs right up the rail and past the defensive secondary who thought they had the angle on him. And that's Oregon State's defense, one of the better squads in the conference on a yearly basis and always full of good, athletic, speedy defenders. So the defense not only has to dog pile on Gerhart, they better be ready to tackle as well to prevent the huge play!
And last year for the most part, so goes Gerhart, so goes Stanford. In their five wins, Gerhart averaged 111.4 rushing yards per game, while scoring eight TD's in those W's. And one of those wins, vs. UW, he left the game after only two carries for 14 yards due to an injury. Had he played even at a mediocre level for him vs. UW's poor rushing D, the average could have been considerably higher. In losses? Try 82.7 rushing yards per game, nearly 30 yards less than in their five wins.
So DOG PILE ON GERHART. Send the kitchen sink, the toilet, fridge, the whole house. Whatever it takes, but BRING IT.
2) WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE Now this actually has a lot to do with the offense more than anything else. For last year no team was more generous in playing hot potato with the pigskin than our beloved Cougs, leading the country in giveaways and ending up at MINUS-25 in turnover ratio. It was a miserable season in turnovers, one that must be flushed down the toilet as soon as possible and run far, far away from it, never to be spoken of again. A great way to start is oh, I don't know, DON'T GIVE THE DAMN THING AWAY!? Now, while it sounds simple enough, this is actually kind of tricky. You don't want the offense to be overly cautious. You still want them to go out and make plays, right? And your offense is designed (in theory anyway) to attack and spread people out, going quickly with the no-huddle. So you want the players to be fast and loose and confident, not petrified of throwing an ill-advised INT, dropping the hand-off or a punt, or fumbling away the ball after making a catch. It's Phil Steele's biggest feature every year, Turnovers = Turnaround, and he lays it all out there that historically, the teams that improve the most from year to year coincide with what happens in turnover ratio. Clean up the turnovers, and things will change in a hurry.
3) DON'T GET BURIED EARLY! Last, but not least, and maybe one of the most important things of all in the ever-important intangible department - DON'T GET DOWN EARLY. One can only imagine the murmurs that will roll through Martin Stadium if Stanford gets a quick 14/17/21 point early lead under a hailstorm of turnovers, missed assignments, big plays, etc, etc, etc. The "here we go again" attitude will be unavoidable, and a blowout loss at home is not something this team or heck, even the football program, can afford right now. If there is one way to kill any feel-good emotions after what has been regarded as a very productive off-season for coach Wulff, it's to fall behind early in front of the home folks as well as a regional TV audience.
They need to give us all something to believe in, that better days are ahead. Not that a season is decided in one single game, especially the opener (think how Oregon State felt after the start of '08, then look at how they finished). But perhaps more than any team in the PAC-10, let alone the country, nobody needs a good start to '09 more than the Cougs.
Do these things, and we have one hell of an interesting ball game. Will they do these things? Yes....and no.
They will slow down Gerhart, at least I believe they will early in the game. And they will get the frosh QB Andrew Luck into some predictable passing situations on second or third and long. And offensively, they WILL have some success in terms of not making gigantic mistakes with turnovers. But I foresee a game very similar to Okie State last year, although not because of the offense. I think the defense just doesn't have enough gas in the tank to stop Stanford's run game for four quarters. And while the offense will do their best to show that they are improved from a year ago, and they will in fact play better than we ever saw them last year with an improved running game and a more efficient effort from both Kevin Lopina and Marshall Lobbestael at QB, it still won't be enough to overcome the kind of damage Gerhart will inflict on the Cougar D.
It will be a grinder of a game, but Stanford has enough in one they absolutely must win for an '09 bowl bid. Cardinal get it done, 29-16.
Other games: Oregon 38, Boise St 24 - revenge from last year's Boise State shocker in Eugene, the Broncos' "Rose Bowl" last season. I don't care where they play this one, but Smurf Turf or not, the Ducks are bigger/stronger/faster. Boise State hasn't seen Oregon with Jeremiah Masoli at the controls full-time, but they will see it big-time tonight.
Cal 45, Maryland 20 - Cal is pretty good at doing the whole "we're pissed we lost to you on the road last year, now we'll beat you at our house". See Tennessee at Cal, 2007. Berkeley Bears steamroll in this one while making it loud and clear that they are THE contender to USC's PAC-10 throne for '09.
Arizona 23, Central Mich 6 - AZ's new offense sputters early, but Nic Grigsby at running back saves the day. The D brings their hard hats too, one of the best Arizona defense in years.
ASU 38, Idaho St 3 - Snoozeville in this one. ASU gets up big early then sleepwalks through the second half, as many teams playing weaker opponents are prone to do.
OSU 58, Portland State 7 - If '08 WSU can beat PSU 48-7? 48-7 might be the HALFTIME score in this one!
UCLA 26, SD State 10 - New Prince in town as UCLA's Kevin conquers the Aztecs. UCLA's D shows it will be a force to be reckoned with this year.....as long as they feel like showing up.
USC 44, San Jose ST 13 - Might be a little tight early on as Matt Barkley settles in, but USC just has far too much to even keep this one in shouting distance. It will be over by the 3rd quarter, everyone drive home safely.
LSU 40, UW 17 - Another one that could be like 10-7 early. But UW, they aren't nearly in LSU's class right now. LSU will come at them in waves with that SEC size, speed and layers of depth that will wear UW out. The exhausted, beaten Dawgs will lay down late and LSU pours it on in the end to make it a laugher at Montlake. GEAUX TIGERS!
And oh yeah....GO COUGS!
SUTRA SEZ:
Those of you who have followed this blog, know that my previous incarnate had a two and half season winning streak in picking the Cougs' fortunes. Unfortunately, that streak ended when I incorrectly picked the Cougs to beat Hawaii in the season's last game. So, I am now riding a LOSING STREAK heading into this opener with the Trees.
That all said, every body and their brother knows what we're going to do in this game, right? Stack the box with 13-15 guys, blitz, and see if we can keep Luck from getting any rhythm and see if we can stop the big G in the backfield.
In addition to knowing what we're going to do on defense, we also all know that we've improved on the other side of the ball. The question is, "how much?"
Are we "much better than last year" or are we "much better, relative to last year." IF its the former, then we win this one in a 34-31 OT shocker a la Stanford and Oregon State last year.
But, if its the former, then I think that our main goal in this game is to keep them UNDER 40 and for us to score more than 21 points.
In the end, we're halfway there: Trees 38 Cougs 17
Oregon at Boise St (Thursday night). quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, SMACK! This is one of those "its gonna be a blowout" type games. If it wasn't for BSU's upset of Oregon last year, this one would be a no brainer. But, even though I think Oregon has the revenge factor going for it, the BSU doesn't lose on the Smurf Turf when they're good. And they are. BSU 38 Oregon 28
Maryland at Cal. Slow start, but Best is still good enough. CAL 38 MD 14
Central Michigan at AZ. The Chippies just aren't very good. AZ is. AZ 48 CMU 14
Idaho State at ASU Classic scheduling, Dennis. ASU 51 ISU 17
Portland State at OSU. Riley's kinda classy, so this one stays in double digits. OSU 69 PSU 10
San Diego St at UCLA Can't pass, can't run it up too bad. UCLA 31 SDSU 13
San Jose St at USC USC 41 SJSU 10 Do you even care?
LSU at UW If I'm a Dawg fan, I don't watch this one. If Jake gets hurt another 0-12 is there for the taking. Here's to saying that the Dawgs offense is BETTER than expected and their defense much worse. This one is close until the end of the third. LSU 49 Washington 28.
Enjoy the Games!!!!!
Hooty's Take:
What I'll bewatching:
No matter what side of it the Cougs are on, I'll be watching the line of scrimmage. It's an old axiom that whichever team controls the LOS, wins the game - and I'm a believer. The shortcomings of the Cougs in 2008 are rooted right up front.
On offense, we start the year with a group of more experienced and healthy linemen than we did in '08, led by a revitalized Kenny Alfred. With the news that Steven Ayers beat out RS Freshman Tyson Pencer for the crucial Left Tackle spot, the only starting lineman without Pac-10 experience will be RS Junior, Zack Williams. As Williams sat out last year, the coaching staff teased us by saying he may very well have been the best player on the team. Now we finally get to see him in action, starting next to Ayers at Left Guard.
With the 18 combined 2008 starts of Andrew Roxas, Brian Danaher and Joe Eppelle on the bench, along with the mammoth Pencer, we appear to have more depth this year as well. (Although it now looks like Roxas is headed for a redshirt due to illness.)
The pre-season hype on Lopina and our stable of running backs has been very promising. If the O-Line can be just slightly better than average, the Cougs have a very real chance to sustain long drives and keep our smallish and inexperienced defense on the bench.
While there is legitimate reason for optimism along the offensive front, the defensive front 4 is much more of an unknown. Of the 9 players listed on the depth chart on the D-Line, there are only 10 combined starts from 2008 - 6 by End Kevin Kooyman and 4 by Tackle Toby Turpin. Kooyman gives great effort but seemed to get very little production for all his hard work. Let's hope the year of experience and added bulk lead to a more productive 2009. Turpin didn't play much early in 2008 but when he finally got on the field late, he looked very good.
Joining those two as starters are transfer Bernard Wolfgramm, who like Zack Williams, sat out 2008 despite the fact that he may have been better than the players that started; and True Freshman End, Travis Long. As unproven as this front 4 is, the depth behind them is even more raw.
In last year's embarassing 58-0 whitewashing, Stanford ran the ball 55 times for 334 yards and 7 touchdowns. Toby Gerhart was responsible for 132 of those yards and 4 scores. Care to take a stab at what their gameplan might be be this year?
If we can be stout up the middle with Wolfgramm, Turpin and Josh Luapo, Harbag will not hesitate to let freshman Andrew Luck try and take advantage of our unproven corners. If that happens, it'll be up to Kooyman, Long and backups Jesse Feagin and Casey Hamlett to put some pressure on the young QB. Frankly, that seems unlikely to me, so I'll be looking for a real grind 'em out affair on Saturday.
After all the hype in 2008 about the new Offensive system from Wulff and Sturdy, I'm really excited to see it in action in 2009. I believe we can win that battle up front against most teams - including Stanford. The lone bright spot for the Cougs in last year's game was Logwone Mitz - who had 5.6 YPC for a total of 62 rushing yards.
On Defense, I'm betting that we'll see a lot of movement from our LB's and a DB or two playing up in the box, like we saw quite a bit from Beck last year. Multiple looks may help keep Stanford on their toes and keep some pressure off the front four.
Hooty's Week 1 Pac-10 Picks:
Portland State @ Oregon State. A sloppy and unispired victory for the Beavs.
San Jose State @ USC. Trojans pound away with the running game, keeping the training wheels on Matt Barkley for a week.
San Diego State @ UCLA. zzzzzzzzzzz.
Central Michigan @ Arizona. If this were played in Mount Pleasant, I'd pick the Chippewas. Cats win a close one.
Maryland @ Cal. Slow and steady will not win this race. Jahvid Best stakes an early claim in the Heisman race.
Idaho State @ Arizona State. mmmm...cupcakes...
LSU @ uw. How long 'til they start booing sark?
Stanford @ Cougs. And you stayed home to watch it on TV. Jackass.
Pac-10 Game of the Week:
Oregon @ Boise State. I want to say the Ducks will get their revenge but until we see how they look under the new coaching staff, I just can't. I'll take the team with the most gawd-awful homefield advantage in college football.
Longball's Take:
Last year at this time I had an optimistic outlook on our upcoming season. Boy, was I ever wrong. The crazy thing is that deep down I knew things were not right, but I was ignoring the clues. First of all I was attending the Fall practices and the attitude, and physical condition of the team were conspicuously lacking. I mentioned the legions of walking wounded and privately I expressed concerns about the teams toughness. I also ignored what we were hearing from coach Wulff. You don't have to read too deep into his quotes to see that his staff and him were not impressed with the hand they'd been dealt. Again and again they mentioned the need to get tougher, more physical and more dedicated to what they were doing. He mentioned early on that they were not able to use the whole playbook of the no-huddle and never once did you hear the slightest bit of optimism or excitement from him. Turns out he wasn't pulling a Steve Spurrier and downplaying his own team to keep the competition complacent. He was being honest. We were undersized, undertalented and unprepared everywhere. When the injuries started, it was all over in a big way.
This year, things are different. The playbook is fully deployed. New faces are all over the field and even the familliar ones are in new places. Everyone is stronger, faster, tougher, more dedicated and better prepared. Everyone. This year I am going to do something I should have done last year when setting my expectations. I am going to listen to coach Wulff. What I hear from him is that we are better, but we are not where we need to be yet. I believe him and with that in mind here is what I expect to see on Saturday:
I expect to see competative football. I expect to see us have exciting moments on both sides of the ball, and I expect for some leaders and playmakers to start to emerge. I expect us to have some hope at halftime that this thing isn't out of reach. I expect to have fun again on Cougar football Saturday!
I also expect a Stanford team that is much further along in a similar rebuilding effort to have too much for our Cougs. Being a Coug fan is all about somehow getting totally fired up up for a game you cannot imagine us winning. I'm there, baby. I could run through a concrete wall thinking about this game, even though i am totally convinced there is no way we hang with Toby Geahart for 4 quarters. Still, I think we come to play and make this interesting for a while.
Trees - 35
Cougs - 21
And around the country we have...
Oregon at Boise St - Quack 42, Donkeys 28
Sorry smurfs, but I officially hate you more than I hate the Ducks and thats saying a lot. I barely want the Cougs to win more than I want to see you cry all the blue paint of your faces as your BCS dreams go up in smoke in week 1. Good riddence.
Maryland at Cal - Terps 38, Bears 37
I am hoping that this pick endears me to some of the visiting Stanford fans on Saturday, but also I am learning not to ever bet on Cal or the Beavs until conference play starts.
Central Michigan at AZ - Zona 24, Chips 10
Please, please please, don't lose this one.
Idaho State at ASU - ASU 597, ISU 0
Seriously?
Portland State at OSU - Vikes 21, Beavs 138
Zzzzzzzz
San Diego St at UCLA - UCLA 24, Aztecs 23
Is UCLA good again yet?
San Jose St at USC - Trojans 56, Spartans14
The opposite of the Trojan War, this time the Spartans are burned alive inside their horse.
LSU at UW - Bengals 35, Dawgs 17
I just have a feeling the pups are tough in this one.
BONUS PICK:
#5 Alabama vs. #7 Virginia Tech at the Georgia Dome - Tech 28, Bama 24
This will of course be decided by a blocked punt for a TD by Tech. BEAMER BALL!
Good work written by selahcoug,
September 03, 2009
I totally agree with Longball on this one:
"Oregon at Boise St - Quack 42, Donkeys 28 Sorry smurfs, but I officially hate you more than I hate the Ducks and thats saying a lot. I barely want the Cougs to win more than I want to see you cry all the blue paint of your faces as your BCS dreams go up in smoke in week 1. Good riddence."
Will be nice for them to STFU for a while and dissapear. Unfortunatly the preseason rankings will keep them ranked as they make their way through the WAC after only losing to a ranked Oregon team.
Hopefully the Cougs put on a good show and at least make the game exciting. I am rip roarin ready to go, heading out in about 9 hours for Pullman.
+1
... written by Buffet Head,
September 03, 2009
Man...I'm quite disapointed with your picks....Stanford is really not that good. They have a coach ho gives the media sweet lines, a running back that has lost some lbs from last year and also coming off a injury from baseball season. They have a questionable secondary, questionable recievers, a QB that is a red shirt frosh who looks good throwing the ball against his own team AND THEY ARE PLAYING IN PULLMAN! Am I the only one who thinks the Cougs will beat Stanford?
+0
... written by LucasCoug,
September 03, 2009
Stanford has nobody on defense, to stop our nobodies on offense. There secondary is god awful, I would love to see Gino and Jeshua do some damage. I think the key is holding Gerhart under 100 yards, as they have no skill players aside from him. If they can contain Gerhart and rattle the touted RS Frosh QB, we have a great chance in this game.
WSU 24, Stanford 13
+0
Bonus Pick written by WazzuBrian05,
September 03, 2009
Longball, I love the bonus pick! My dad and sister are both VT alums so they are SOLIDLY my #2 behind the Cougs. GO HOKIES!
I agree with everyone that we will fight and make it close for the first half, Gerhart will be too much for us in the end though.
My big worry is our run game vs their front 7... Stanford is physical and very stout against the run, while our strength offensively going into the season is clearly the run. If they can shut down our run game and force Lopina/Lobbestael to beat them it could get real ugly real quick.
+0
Buffet Head? written by Hooty M,
September 03, 2009
Buffet Head? As in Old Country Buffet? Home of the Senior Citizen Special? Kids eat free on Sundays?
I picked the Cougs to win. Just sayin'.
Heading down tomorrow AM and will update everyone on where to find us on Saturday.
I'm with you on the keys, Hawk -- the turnovers especially. Everything else flows out of that. How many times last year was this team hopelessly behind before everyone was even in their seats? If the same thing happens Saturday and the Cardinal are able to grind it out from ahead, it's going to be a long day for the defense.
But if, on the other hand, we can force some turnovers, or get a big special teams play and play from ahead a bit? Something that forces Luck to have to throw it? I like our chances.
+0
... written by Coug-A-Sutra,
September 03, 2009
Longball: LOL on the Trojan War bit. Very funny. And congrats on being the first BSU-Hater to come out on the blog. Very, very, very solid...
to all: The best thing about opening day is that it is more of a crap shoot than any other week on the schedule. As Longball and Vince (on Sportslink) noted, the consensus is that we are just not there yet. That said, in Week One, execution CAN win over talent, so not being "there" yet talent wise might not matter for game one (but it WILL as the season progresses).
So, I'm going to pay attention to Hooty and watch the lines. I am also going to be watching CLOSELY the fatigue factor for Stanford's defense and defensive line--remember the no huddle last year had an OSU team (that had been practicing in HEAT and humidity) gassed.
Keeping the game close and controlling tempo with the no huddle could make this game very, very, very interesting in the fourth quarter.
Lets hope so..
+0
Missed Key to the Game written by Coug-A-Sutra,
September 03, 2009
After watching highlights of Luck and company in the spring game and after jumping around to some other video of Tree games last year, its pretty obvious that all of us have really missed a HUGE key to the game this weekend: Our Passing Game.
While there are some throws that were nice in those videos featuring both Luck and Pritchard, what is also clear from those videos is that Stanford's secondary is absolutely AWFUL (see also Ted Miller's rankings which puts them near dead last in the conference).
So, I'm inclined now to see if we go deep early on in this game and/or pass to set up the run.....That might be a big key to see if we can spring a few on em early and make them play catch up.
+0
... written by James_WSU,
September 03, 2009
Hooray for optimism! I'm so excited for Saturday that I've been neglecting school because of it. At least it's labor day weekend so I can do a little catch up work on Monday or so. I mean imagine how close that Okie State game could've been without poor kicking and with better talent and execution? I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worse.
+0
Hard to be optimistc written by Portland Coug,
September 03, 2009
The 58-0 sledgehammer still hurts from last year. I hope new faces = new results on defense but while Furd don't have great speed they do have strong big dudes on both lines. And trying to tackle Toby ouch. After watching the Beavs struggle to stop him and he ran through us last year. I thought it was interesting that even though Furd lost out last year after our game that Toby went over 100 vs USC and Cal. He is really good. The Cougars are better this year but not that much better to stop that guy. Anyone think that Toby is what Jake at Montlake would look like as a running back? UDumb is too dumb to figure that out. Stanfurd 34 Cougars 21.
Just to defend my pick a little bit, it's not that I believe Stanford is full of superstars. They really are more of a mid-PAC-10 team right now, fighting for fourth place behind some combo of CAL, SC and Oregon. But I think they are a pretty legit contender to fourth this year. They are trending upward, from 1 to 4 to 5 wins the last three years, and I think they are a bowl team this year. But they aren't perfect, and this isn't an impossible task. I also don't think 29-16 is all that unreasonable. It is under the Vegas line of 17.5, and it's not like I think we'll get run off the field like many Saturdays last season. I think it's going to be a grinder, but at the end we'll wear out, that's all. NOBODY WANTS TO BE WRONG MORE THAN ME. I still LOVE US, I love the signs at improvement and optimism across the board, and I think we have a legit shot at coming out of these first 3 games with a winning record.
Sutra hits on a great point though, and that's Stanford's secondary. They have an outstanding safety in Bo McNally, but otherwise, who knows. It might say something that Richard Sherman converted from WR to corner and now looks like he'll play significant time there, if not start. Maybe THEY get keyed up to stop our run/short passing game in the no-huddle, cheat up a bit or get caught peeking into the backfield, and bite hard on a fake or two. Anything is possible, and they always say that first game can be a surprise in who is ready to play...and who isn't!
+0
One thing I thought of... written by James_WSU,
September 03, 2009
So, we're starting Lopina, right? He is mainly going to be throwing short to intermediate throws and we'll be doing a lot of running plays as well. By the time Lobestaell comes in, Stanford will be used to not playing for a deep ball and therefore give Lobster a chance to throw those deeper balls and score. Maybe that 2 QB lineup can work for this game after all lol it will definitely keep the trees on their toes.
+1
Condotta HATES WSU written by Coug-A-Sutra,
September 03, 2009
In his chat today, not only did my good friend Bobby C. predict that we would get blitzed on Saturday (okay, so I did too); he said that he thought UW has a better chance at beating LSU than we have of beating the Trees?!
Hmmm. Lets see, an 0-12 team from the previous year has a better chance of beating a Top 10 team from the country's best conference than a 2-11 team beating a team picked to finish in the middle of a conference ranked third or fourth?
It really is time for the games to begin...
+1
Screw Condotta written by HireTurnerGill,
September 03, 2009
Is it possible that he goes out of his way to rip WSU, trying to prove himself to his audience? He's a self-loathing dope. Screw him, and the horse he rode in on.
+0
Pin the burkenstock written by stiffmiester,
September 04, 2009
I know they aren't bafurkely but I think that someone other than sutra is gonna come out of this weekend with a Hippie shoe pinned on them. Osho you would do good to heed Hooty on the lines play. On O the time our Q's get to look at the developing coverage will determine our success. That logically means that the pressure and reduced time for the Trees (Earth first, log the other planets later) means that Lucky the Leprcon won't be able to do anything other than put the rock in the bread basket on a hand off. I will be timing our QB (both of them) on their time to release only this time it will be judged on beer bong time. I will be in lovely Omak WA on game day setting up a vertical turbine for a well. Hooty I will deliver some Buckhorn before the season is over.
+0
... written by Longball,
September 04, 2009
New mission for the Pac-10. Everybody beat Oregon. They were a complete joke tonight. I don't suspect their trolls will be bothering us any time soon.
+0
To be Blount written by Coug-A-Sutra,
September 04, 2009
Allow me to be the first to step on the soap box and say that Blount should be done for the year. Talk about a roid rage....
The final straw for me was when he went after the crowd after doing a jersey pop following his cold cock of the BSU kid. This is a real defining moment in the Kelly program. Lose Blount and you may lose the season, but you save the program. Keep Blount and the dismantling of Oregon has just begun...Wow.
RE: Pin the Burkey. Let us know what you find out with your keen timing device. And just so you know, I always heed the Hooty (as well as the Hoochie)...
+0
Best thug (Nike) money can buy. written by CougStan,
September 04, 2009
I could not agree more about the idea of banning Blount for the season. His actions were not just a black eye (or broken jaw?) on the Ducks, but the entire Pac-10. Hell, in addition to swinging at the fans I saw that idiot swing at his own teammate!
You know, we may have to take our licks rebuilding and attracting quality athletes, but with Wulff we at least know we are going to attract quality PEOPLE. Sure, I can give Blount maybe a bit of a break because as fans we put so much pressure on winning, but I have to agree it's in the best interest of the league to kick this guy out now. It only makes Boise and the WAC look better as the underdog. Plus, going after the fan was a criminal act. He's lucky the cop who helped restrain him did not put him in cuffs.
BTW, it was great fun being at a bar here in W. Seattle watching the Duck fans whimper and cry. Spoiled babies.
Damn, I'm even more excited for the Cougs--now we know ANYTHING can happen!
Stan
+0
DONE! written by Coug-A-Sutra,
September 04, 2009
Oregon just announced that Blount is done for the year.
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"Oregon at Boise St - Quack 42, Donkeys 28
Sorry smurfs, but I officially hate you more than I hate the Ducks and thats saying a lot. I barely want the Cougs to win more than I want to see you cry all the blue paint of your faces as your BCS dreams go up in smoke in week 1. Good riddence."
Will be nice for them to STFU for a while and dissapear. Unfortunatly the preseason rankings will keep them ranked as they make their way through the WAC after only losing to a ranked Oregon team.
Hopefully the Cougs put on a good show and at least make the game exciting. I am rip roarin ready to go, heading out in about 9 hours for Pullman.