Happy post-Super Bowl Hangover Monday Cougs.  Here's hoping, as always, that all is well with you and yours.  And the biggest question I have for you today, is, uh, WHY isn't the Monday after the Super Bowl not a national holiday!?!?  Couldn't they roll back MLK day a few weeks and align it with the day after the big game??  (Note - there is some sarcasm in that question, so, please don't feel the need to educate the masses in comments about the details of the MLK holiday.)

So quite a game yesterday, hmmm?  Like many of you, we celebrated SB Sunday by having a little get-together with some friends.  The overriding theme yesterday was 1) how tough both teams were hitting the crap out of each other, as well as how damn chippy the whole thing was, and 2) how it totally felt like two completely different football games, before and after the power outage/surge/whatever!  It was really remarkable to see how different things were before and after that strange moment, when we were treated to Steve Tasker and Solomon Wilcots attempting to keep the broadcast upright and moving along with limited information.  It was really, uh, strange, I guess (and maybe some Sean Payton revenge on the NFL??)

Bwwwaaaahahahaahahaha!

During the outage, a friend of mine and I were debating on who this helps most.  Obviously looking back at it you can see that it got the 49ers back on track, I mean it was 28-6 and Kaepernick was looking pretty "wobbly", ala the 42-13 beatdown suffered at the hands of the mighty Seahawks back in December!  I even heard either Shannon Sharpe or Bill Cowher mention it during the downtime, that this was basically the worst Kaepernick had looked since that blowout loss in Seattle.  Anyway, we both felt like this was nothing but a good thing for the 49ers, and a way to give them a chance to feel like they could mentally "reboot" and approach the rest of the game as a new opportunity.  That downtime just seemed to reel it all in for San Fran, and somehow they scraped themselves off the mat and put on a hell of a show for the rest of the way.

Anyway, quite a show when it was all said and done.  So what will YOU take away from this year's game?  The arrival of Joe Flacco as a true elite NFL QB, now 9-4 in the playoffs in his career and a SB ring, and 11 TD's to 0 INT's in the postseason, best since Joe Montana?  Kaepernick leading the team back to what looked like could have been the biggest comeback in SB history?  The intense physical hitting, some of the most physical hitting I can remember in a SB?  The end (thank GOD) of Ray Lewis and his playing career in the NFL?  The holding/non-holding call that wasn't on the 4th down fade to Michael Crabtree?  The Harbaugh bowl and the postgame handshake?  Beyonce and the Destiny's Child reunion?  Alicia Keys on the piano with the anthem, with NO lip-synch?  Bar Refaeli and the nerd kissing commercial?  The power outage?? 

One thing I think we all can safely say in looking back at the NFL Saturday night award show and then the game yesterday - there are some damn good young QB's in the league right now, and as RGIII said in his acceptance speech of the NFL ROY, the NFL is in good hands at QB going forward.  RGIII (with a healthy knee), Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Kaepernick, I mean the list just grows with a new era of players and leaders at the most important position in the NFL.  I don't know about you, but I can't WAIT for the NFL to get it fired up again next season and watch these guys continue to grow!

Moving on, there are some Coug-related items out there to check out, so let's get going.....

The professor is back. Your insomnia is cured.

Last week we talked about how college football may be outgrowing its demand. Larger stadiums, more bowls, more teams and more and more games on TV are all adding up to lower ratings and less attendance. We were framing this expansion as a kind of bubble that could pose a threat to the game we love and while we argued over whether there was really anything to worry about commenter Robert K. chimed in with something else we should be concerned about. Robert noted “The effect of concussions and severe injuries.”

Certainly one of the most notable differences in the game recently has been the emphasis on preventing injuries, particularly brain injuries. All of us have found ourselves at some point cursing the refs for flagging a hit we feel was legal, by the rule book, and proven to be on super slow-mo replay. Just a few weeks ago the Seahawks Kam Chancellor delivered just such a hit to the 49ers Vernon Davis.

He was flagged immediately, but as Chris Collinsworth noted after watching the replay, “If that's not legal I don't know what is. I think that is outstanding defensive football.” As Collinsworth and others dissected every minutiae of the play on super slow mo showing how Chancellor led with his shoulder and struck Davis in the chest, everyone concluded it was an allowable hit under the rules, but something important went unmentioned. Vernon Davis suffered a concussion on the play, the very injury the rule the refs were enforcing was meant to prevent. The reason this play caused the injury to Davis despite no helmet to helmet contact is simply because big hits cause concussions, not just hits to the head. As this New York Times article explains:

“Contrary to popular belief, a concussion is not a bruise to the brain caused by hitting a hard surface. Indeed, no physical swelling or bleeding is usually seen on radiological scans. The injury generally occurs when the head either accelerates rapidly and then is stopped, or is spun rapidly.”

The bottom line here is that despite the rule changes that have fans, players, coaches and commenters up in arms, the current rules probably don’t protect players enough. Whether we want to hear it, or not, the danger to players is very real. The costs the sport is facing due to these injuries are very real. Basically, this is a serious problem and we need to do something about it to protect the players and the game that we love.

Unfortunately, football being the macho enterprise that it is, these kinds of rational concerns are usually met with a chorus of enlightening retorts such as, “This a MAN’s sport you wuss!”, “If you can’t handle it go watch figure skating!” and other witty comments about “big boy pants” and “orange slices at halftime” and so on. If history has taught us one thing, its that sometimes the sissy-pants among us have to rise up and take a principled stand to keep us from destroying the things we love with our own stubbornness. In fact, the game of football has been threatened before due to safety concerns. Powerhouse teams across the land were on the verge of dropping the sport altogether, but thankfully a milquetoast wuss took charge of the situation and changed the rules to save the game. Lets meet this namby pamby tinkerbell after the jump...

Today Sean passed this article by Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports to us blog fathers and it is a very interesting reading. Dodd examines some of the signs, namely declining TV ratings and attendance, that College Football may have peaked in its popularity. Meanwhile athletic directors and conference commissioners are tasked with continuing to expand a product that may have no more room for growth. The article asks questions, like, Is TV cutting into game day attendance? Is a new generation with new technology less interested in these games? I’m not sure these are the right questions. I’ll tell you what concerns me more, after the jump...

Happy Monday Cougs, and welcome to another Morning Drip.  And a big happy MLK Jr day to you and yours, and of course we hope you are basking in the glow of a 3-day weekend!  No luck for me unfortunately, as I will be back to the grind on a typical Monday.  Oh to be a banker or government worker on a morning like this.  Back in the day I did work briefly for the now-defunct WAMU, and while they paid peanuts, well, at least we got every friggin' holiday off under the sun.  So there you go.

Anyway, lots of stuff to get to today to kinda/sorta round up your weekend.  Jeff Tuel played in a postseason All-Star game, it was an important weekend for recruiting, etc.  And oh yeah, the 2013 Pac-12 HELMET SCHEDULE IS HERE!  Hooray Helmet Schedule!  Check it out.....

Good morning and happy Friday, Cougs! We're just a couple weeks away from National Signing Day and Mike Leach and his crew are working on the finishing touches for the recruiting class of 2013. Wazzu has received a couple more commitments since my last look at the class. I was hoping there would be several more on board before the next time I fired up the Bridgeport Pumped-O-Meter, but I've got an itchy trigger finger and had to rate the latest unofficial future Cougs. According to the good folks at Cougfan, this weekend will be a busy one for official visits on the Palouse so maybe there will be some new players to rate early next week. In the meantime, let's take a look at Paulo Lepua and Isaac Dotson. 

Paulo Lepua - DE - Harbor City, CA

Bridgeport Pumped-O-Meter Score: 10

A surefire way for a recruit to get a 10 for the POM is for news of his commitment to cause me to fist pump. A teenager tells a middle-aged man he'd like to play football on his team and I react as though I, personally, had just accomplished something athletically...yeah, I'm pretty pumped. Also, I've misplaced my priorities in life, but we already knew that. As for why I was so excited for Lepua, he's a big, bad dude who looks like a perfect fit in the Breske defense (short hair notwithstanding). He appears to be Xavier Cooper-esque in that he'll probably be able to rotate either inside or outside. He comes from a big time program in California and reportedly had multiple other Pac 12 offers. Besides all that, he had me at Lepua. He had me at Lepua.

Isaac Dotson - ATH - Bellevue, WA

Bridgeport Pumped-O-Meter Score: 9

I'm a sucker for narrative and I enjoy Dotson's recruiting narrative. Wanting to play quarterback in college, he originally commited to Nevada to have that chance. A coaching change in Reno and a visit to Pullman later, My Main Man Ike decided the chance to fulfill a dream of playing in the Pac-12 for the Cougs was too good a chance to pass up, position be damned. I'd like to see him at least get a look at quarterback somewhere along the line, but he appears to be in "whatever position gets me on the field" mode which is pretty awesome, especially for an athlete of his caliber. All of that said, his lack of position confused the Pumped-O-Meter so he had to be docked a punt. And yes, by confused the Pumped-O-Meter, I mean confused me.

There is much more work to be done the next couple weeks to lock down old commitments and hopefully pick up some new ones. We'll be watching closely at WSUFBB headquarters as we gear up for our Signing Day lack of productiviy extravaganza. For an otherwise slow time of year, this gives us something to obsess over for a little while and that's always fun. Go Cougs.

"My name is Mike Ladd and last night, I was on fi-ah!!"

Here's a fun fact about blogging: It's hard to work on a game recap when you are under the weather and a little sleep deprived and you fall asleep during a portion of the game you intend to recap. My need to nap does not say much for me as a functioning member of society. The fact that I actually good nap during a sporting event does not say much for the states of the Washington State and Utah basketball programs. That said, an opportunity to write about a win should be cherished so here's some quick thoughts on the game (at least what I could gather while I was awake):

I enjoy the Mike Ladd experience. He was on fire last night and even better, he knew it. It's always a fun thing to watch when a basketball player starts raining three's and he knows they're going in as soon as the ball leaves his hand. This was Ladd last night. Also, his baby girl got lots of air time. From all of us at the WSU Football Blog, congratulations! For a dude who probably isn't sleeping much these days, you're doing pretty well.

The Cougs won on a night that Brock Motum struggled mightily. Granted, Utah doesn't look like they'll threaten anybody in the Pac-12, but for a team that looked like it would have no chance without Brock leading the way, it was nice to see the supporting cast step up. 

Larry Krystokvowewokdaiifkdak clearly didn't go to the Lorenzo Romar school of inspirational technical fouls. When the Utes were putting a serious dent in a Cougar 16 point lead, The Other Coach K picked up a technical that led to a 5 point possession for Wazzu. Utah never seriously threatened after that.

Royce Woolridge had what I thought was his best game in a Cougar uniform. He was able to cause problems all night off the dribble. We've seen some glimpses of his talent lately and there are signs of encouragement if he can find some consistency. His jumper is what it is with a funky looking stroke, but if he can use his athletecism to get in the paint and make plays, it'll add another dimension.

I'm happy the Pac-12 Network exists so that we can watch the games, but hoo boy the commentary is a mess. When your expert analyst says that Will DiIorio is brought on for ball handling purposes, you're doing it wrong.

Plenty of good seats available at Beasley last night, or as I put it on Twitter last night (hit me up @Huddlestron), a lot of Manti Te'o's girlfriends were in attendance. They don't exist, so the seat's still empty. Get it? Topical! Anyhow, I'm not sure if you knew this, but Bill Moos does not like it when the fan base is showing signs of apathy. With the team now standing at a ho-hum 10-7 record and buts only in seats for "big games", the basketball program is need of a serious jolt. I'm not saying, I'm just sayin'.

It's always good to get a win and it's even better to win comfortably in conference. Last night, the home team managed both so credit to all. Go Cougs.

After a will they or won't they that would make Ross and Rachel tell them to just get on with it already, the Philadelphia Eagles have hired soon-to-be former Oregon coach Chip Kelly as their new head coach (according to every website on the internet). While we get to take a little enjoyment at the expense of Oregon, I suspect it'll revolve mostly around Chip's back and forth daliances. At this point, all signs point toward current Duck offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich assuming the role. I tend to think that the Oregon juggernaut will be able to roll along pretty well, even without Chip there. Uncle Phil is still around and hiring from within should help from a continuity standpoint. Besides, they still have the jazzy uniforms and fancy facilities and whatnot. What say you, Coug Nation? Does Chip's departure mean we might see a turning of the tide in the Pac-12 North or will this be Bellotti to Kelly part 2? At the very least, we're not currently in last place according to the conference fanbase angst-o-meter. Go Cougs.

These days the word “doldrums” is a metaphor used to describe conditions that lead to boredom, but in the old timey days doldrums was more than just a figurative term. Literally, “the Doldrums” are large swaths of ocean around the equator that are notable for the complete absence of wind for long periods of time. This was pretty significant if you happened to be on a ship powered by sails. Just imagine a bunch of smelly guys packed onto a cramped and creaky wooden ship under a blazing hot sun, with limited supplies of quickly rotting food, stagnating water and fast disappearing rum. With no signs of anything on the horizon in any direction and your vessel unable to move at all, its like the perfect formula for an outbreak of complete and utter madness. As someone not shy about hyperbole, I like to compare the time between the end of the NCAA Basketball tournament and the beginning of College football as the sports equivalent of the doldrums; a stretch of uninterrupted nothingness that seems to go on interminably, ultimately driving me mad with a touch of scurvy.

This year I have this terrible feeling that the sports doldrums have arrived early. Sure the college basketball season is still young and the Super Bowl still looms large on the horizon, but with the Seahawks heartbreaking loss and the Cougs recent ineptitude on the hardwood, I’m having a hard time finding much interest in either. If you are feeling the same, read on and together we will try to come up with ways to mitigate our current sports malaise...

Good morning Cougs, and a happy Monday to you and yours.  

As for yours truly?  Well, I'm bummed.  After the craziness of yesterday's Seahawks playoff loss, it stings.  After falling so far behind, looking so dreadful for long stretches, only to come all the way back like that....and then let them get that last second field goal?  Brutal, and a tremendous heartbreaker with the finality in all of it.

I still am in disbelief as to how it all came down though.  They looked so bad early, where they just couldn't get out of their own way and once again got off to a lousy, WTF is going on start to it all.  An early fumble by Marshawn Lynch, going for it on 4th and inches in easy field goal range, not getting points right before the half, and falling behind even further in the 3rd?  I sure thought it was over and was tweeting that I hope ATL plays like this next week vs. the hated Harbaugh's and San Fran!  But what a fourth quarter, what a comeback, what a disappointment, and finally, what a QB the Hawks have right now.

I am still amazed at how far, how fast, Russell Wilson has come on in the NFL.  Early in the season I was just not buying him, I just didn't see it.  He just didn't look good enough early on, looked a little too uneasy in the pocket and the accuracy wasn't there yet, things were not clicking.  After they lost vs. St Louis early on when Wilson threw an INT on the last possession, I was ready for Matt Flynn.  But they stuck with the kid QB, took the growing pains and all that, all the while knowing what they had.  And then he played huge in the comeback vs. New England, and things just sort of took off from there.  And wow, here we are!  And it's not just me being a D-Bag HOMER on Wilson either.  Check out some of this stuff on Wilson from Mike Sando at ESPN.com.  Pretty impressive, even in defeat!

Anyway, it's tough.  Today I can sit here and say "Hey, this is one of the youngest teams in the NFL, they have their franchise QB now and a young, hungry defense.  THEY'LL BE BACK!"  But will they?  There is no guarantee of anything going forward.  And a lot of very good/great QB's have broken through early in their careers, only to never get back when things looked so promising early on.  Dan Marino went to a Super Bowl in his second season, but never got a taste again.  Brett Favre went to a couple of Super Bowls in his first five seasons, but despite getting really close after that and many deep playoff runs, he never made it back either.  It's just so damn tough to get to the promised land, and you never know what the future will hold.  It's hard to be disappointed with an 11-win season and a road playoff win with a rookie QB who tied Peyton Manning's rookie TD pass record.  But at the same time they were THIS CLOSE to playing in the NFC championship game!  So today is truly a "mixed bag" of emotions.  Sad and disappointed that it's over, yet hopeful (cautiously) for what lies ahead.  

Anyway, on to the morning links......

Happy Friday Cougs, and as always we hope all is well for you and yours as we wrap up the week.  Things are pretty chilly around the great NW this morning, as this pic from Martin Stadium shows that the cold-n-snow-n-such has settled in typical January fashion.  I don't know about you, but this week was a flippin' BLUR to yours truly.  Work is work is work and all that, and that always makes time fly based on the size of the pile that you need to get through.  But it was a busy week around the Coug universe too, as well as other "interests" we all seem to have around here.  So let's take a look at what's up out there, shall we?