| 14 November 2011
Happy Football Friday Cougar Nation!
As the image suggests, this season ain't over yet. Our Cougs still have a fighter's chance at bowl eligibility, so there is some buzz heading into this weekend's game. While we all know this weekend is Senior Day, I am glad to see the staff made the correct call in starting Connor Halliday. How on Earth could you defend yourself by not giving the nod to a kid who just tossed the ball for 494 yards against a salty ASU defense? It's not like the season and jobs are on the line here.
Let's take a quick glance at our Pick Em Leagues before we jump into this week's action. Over in League One, The General is in 1st with 246 points, followed by St Pete Cougs at 241, as well as WSUCougar05 and crimsonkoolAID at 235 points. Over in League Two, Hawain Hentai leads the way at 47-24, followed by How We Do at 46-25 and Softy Makes Me Puke at 45-26.
Keep up the good work people.
Lucas Likes:
UW 35 - OSU 21:The Dawgs are coming off two consecutive blow-outs, albeit at the hands of the two best teams, in my opinion, in the league. Last time they went on the road and faced a one dimensional offense, in Utah's ground game, they dominated. This week, they hit Corvallis to face an OSU offense that cannot run, but can throw. The Dawg defense stops Mannion & Co. and build a bit of confidence heading into next week's Apple Cup.
UCLA 31 - Colorado 7:The Buffs got of the schneid last week with an upset win over Arizona. The Bruins stay alive in the Pac 12 South race, in this schnooze fest.
USC 38 - Oregon 35 (OT):USC travels north to face an Oregon squad that has BCS Championship Game aspirations, who is coming off an impressive win last weekend in Palo Alto. Call me crazy, but I am sticking by my gunsfrom last week and am taking the Trojans on the road. Monte Kiffin's defense is fun to watch.
ASU 35 - Arizona 31:The suddenly reeling Sun Devils return home to face a struggling Wildcats squad in this year's Territorial Cup. Last year it was ASU playing spoiler to the Wildcats, so Zona will definitely be looking for some payback. At the end of the day, Arizona is just flat outmanned, and I see the Big O having a monster day. Sun Devil fans will be hoping for a Colorado upset.
Stanford 42 - Cal 21:Eventhough it is The Big Game, I just don't see the Cardinal dropping two straight at home.
WSU 38 - Utah 31: Some of you are probably wondering why there is a picture of a goofy looking cat, in place of my booyish good charm. Well folks, that other handsome beast is my cat, Johnny Sacrimone. Last week he donned his WSU Bandana for the first time and the Cougs came out winners. I am sticking with the hot hand, and you can be sure that Johnny will be sporting said bandana come 2:00 Saturday!
Moving on to the game, I have blasted the coaching staff of late, but have to give them major props for starting Connor Halliday against the Utes. Secondly, I have a question/thought for you to consider.
The two Pac 12 North Divison teams they missed this season are the two best offensive teams in the league. THEY HAVEN'T PLAYED OREGON OR STANFORD. How much worse off would their "vaunted" defense be if they played those two teams? In addition, they got USC in Week Two, when the Trojans really had not established themselves as a legitimate offensive power, as we've seen the Trojans drop 40 + in four of the last six and 30+ in six straight.
Our front seven was very stout in holding the Devils to only 60 yards on the ground last weekend. The Utes are very one dimensional on offense and rank something like 107th in the country in passing yards. Stop the run, and score 30 points, and this should be a win for the Cougs. Our bowl hopes are still alive heading into next week's Apple Cup showdown at the CLink. Wow!!
Longball's Locks
OSU 33 – UW 30:Why not, right? The Beavs will shock the Dawgs who come in expecting a cake walk after a gauntlet the last couple weeks that included the best teams the conference has to offer. This all but assures they will enter the Apple Cup hungry. Grrrrrrrrrreat.
UCLA 28 - Colorado 17:UCLA gets back on track for an improbable Pac-12 South Championship.
Oregon 42 – USC 33:USC will be a sexy upset pick this week, but the Ducks are now officially on a mission. With Darren Thomas and LaMichael James back, the Quack attack was at full speed against Stanford and now they get some home cooking.
Arizona 44 - ASU 38: Denny’s goose get cooked as the late season meltdown is complete in the desert.
Stanford 35 - Cal 14: I can see Cal making a game of this and you have to wonder where Stanford’s heads are after their dream season was derailed. I say they settle back into their winning ways just fine.
And how bout the Cougs? Lookout, the beehive state is invading the Palouse! This weekend the Aggies of Utah State take their fragile bowl hopes into the Thunderdo… er, uh Kibbie Dome, while the Utes make their first visit to Martin Stadium as a conference foe. I’ll be heading to the Palouse as well and I would actually go to both these games without hesitation if they weren’t being played at the same time. Oh well, easy choice… gotta go with the Pac-12 action. Utah brings a very similar formula as Cal into Martin Stadium this weekend and we all saw how that worked out for us on our trip to the Bay. Of course now we have the latest global phenomenon at the helm of our offense in Doc Halliday. One thing I’ve learned in all my years watching college kids play football is that 400+ yard performances are rarely repeated and 400+ yard performances from freshman QBs are never repeated. I expect a tough Utah D to have some very effective packages to throw at our young gun, and I am not looking forward to watching John White vs. our defense. I've been donning the unicorn horn a lot this season and Connor Halliday's performance has to inspire hope, right? Sorry, but this week...
Utah 30 – WSU 24
Tim's Takes:
Washington 27 - Oregon State 21 It's looking more and more like Keith Price will be a no-go this week so I expect a whole lot of Chris Polk left, Chris Polk right, Chris Polk middle. I'll call it the Holky Polky. We pretty much know the drill at this point. The Huskies are the tallest midget in the Pac-12. They beat the mediocre to bad teams and lose to the good ones. The Beavs clearly are in the mediocre to bad group.
UCLA 28 - Colorado 17Can we ditch the Pac-12 South yet? This game might be borderline unwatchable. Unlike most people, though, I just won't watch it instead of watching something bad then talking a whole bunch about how bad it is.
Oregon 49 - USC 28Stop me if you've heard this one. This game will be close in the first half, then Oregon will explode in the third quarter and USC won't come back. More importantly, can we all just agree to let USC represent the South in the Pac-12 title game? In light of recent events, was the whole Reggie Bush thing really a big deal?
Arizona State 31 - Arizona 24Let's just stop giving the Sun Devils any pre-season credit from now on, OK? We've read the book a handful of times and it always ends the same way. They should bounce back for a win this week, but that's only because Arizona seemingly lacks the ability to win this season.
Stanford 38 - Cal 14 I feel for Stanford. They've clearly been one of the best teams in the country the past two seasons, but they unfortunately shared a conference with another of the best teams in the country against whom they match up terribly. Hopefully the Cardinal will still catch a BCS pull and put a hurting on another surprised opponent from the East Coast.
Could there possibly be a more exciting scenario of heading into the Apple Cup with bowl eligibility on the line? The correct answer is actually yes. I tricked you! It would be much more exciting to be playing for a conference championship or BCS bowl or something, but given the circumstances, heading into the Apple Cup with bowl eligibility on the line would be by far the most exciting scenario possible. In the pre-season, I projected that's exactly what would happen, but I thought we would already have the first five wins in the bag already. I also thought that we'd lose to Utah. Of course, three quarterbacks for us, two for Utah and an absolute roller coaster ride have occurred since then. Utah looks to be peaking, especially defensively, as they roll into town on a three game win streak. It seems pretty clear that the Cougs play better in the friendly confines of Martin Stadium, but I'm afraid it's going to be a very empty place on Saturday, as students skip town for Thanksgiving break. I think it's fairly delusional to expect Connor Halliday to repeat last week's performance so they defense and special teams will have to play well. I believe in the defense now, but not in the special teams. I think Utah wins 27-21 and our bowl game is the Apple Cup. Do with this information what you will, Football Gods.
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