Washington State Gameday Huddle: Oregon State Beavers

It’s here again ya’ll, gameday on the Palouse (except our game is actually stationed in Corvallis, of course). Idaho is having their homecoming today so driving through the morning traffic to get to my 2 hour employee meeting today was fun. It actually wasn’t a big deal except all of the cautious drivers for some reason even when there wasn’t anybody around.

September 29, 2012; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats safety Patrick Onwuasor (4) tackles Oregon State Beavers running back Storm Woods (24) in the second quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

Anyways, let’s get on with it! I might be the only person here who thinks this today and I especially know OSU fans aren’t going to want to hear this, but I really believe our boys are going to put up a stunning W in Beaver Nation today. Just remembering back to the last time we were there, it has the same type of feel. They are supposed to be a much better team than we are (on paper), they have a running game with this kid Storm Woods (one of the best football names in America, for my money) and they have a big play passing attack behind Sean Mannion, Marcus Wheaton and Brandin Cooks. Remember Quiz and the gang from the 2010 season? They were much the same team personnel-wise, maybe a little less explosive, but they were supposed to BLOW US OUT.

Didn’t happen, in fact the Cougs came in wounded behind Jeff Tuel and handed the Beavers a crushing defeat. I remember going into the game thinking “we’re getting better and we have a great chance to shock everybody today”, much like I do right now. Much like Oregon/Washington has done, Oregon State/Washington State has turned into one of those games that you could almost create a trophy for.

Sep 14, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday (12) throws a pass in the first quarter against the UNLV Rebels at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

This is a rivalry that has become very heated and the team that is supposed to lose (and in particular the road team) always seems to come out with something to prove, ala the last 2 seasons. A sold out Reeser Stadium will be a great atmosphere today and is the perfect stage for the Cougs to make their first real statement of 2012.

It’s important that the Wazzu offense really gets rolling today if we want to make a Bowl push over the second half of the season. It’s also very important that the defense get off the field on third down today. WSU has one of the worst percentages in that area in the country and it simply isn’t going to win ball games. But most importantly, we absolutely CANNOT give up any plays of 20 yards or more on the ground. We cannot do it. It’s been the achilles heal of this team and it must be fixed today. You expect Wheaton and Cooks to get maybe 2 or 3 big plays downfield but Woods cannot be allowed to rip one off. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try the stretch option today against us because it’s gone for touchdowns the past two weeks, so containment by our ends is key!

If we don’t win it today everything becomes a must win from here on out, so basically it’s the most important game of the season. In fact I’ve been saying all along that this would be the make or break game for this Cougar team. No pressure, let’s do this!

Go Cougs!