Washington State Will Go 6-6 in 2014 According to Prediction Machine, Will They Go Bowling?
By Josh Davis
The Washington State Cougars have had their fate decided for them thanks to the college football prediction machine, apparently going 6-6 (5.7-6.3) during the 2014 season.
More from Washington State Football
- Washington State Cougars: An Apple Cup Preview
- Washington State Football: Best Bets for Rivalry Weekend
- Washington State Football: Week 12 Bowl Projections
- Washington State Football: Daiyan Henley named Finalist for Butkus Award
- Washington State Football: A Trip South, and why it’s “personal”
According to the machine, this would leave the Cougs in the ninth spot in-conference. Of course that once again leaves us with the question; do the Cougs make their second straight bowl? Here’s how the prediction machine shakes it out.
"Washington State Cougars Power Rank: 49 Offensive Rank: 33 Defensive Rank: 62 Projected Regular Season Record: 5.7 – 6.3 Conference Standing: 9 Projected Bowl: Hawaii Biggest Strength: Connor Halliday and Experienced Passing Game Greatest Weakness: Offensive Line Breakout Candidate: Xavier Coooper, DT/DE"
The answer to that previous question, as you can see, is yes, the Cougars would make the Hawaii Bowl if this prediction came true.
It’s very interesting looking at the national offensive rank, however. I really thought the Cougs would be higher, probably because I had an inflated view of their overall offense or something.
The prediction says that the Cougs will end up 33rd in total offense and 62nd in total defense. It’s interesting because according to CFBstats.com, WSU was 54th and 103nd in those respective categories last season. How can a team make that kind of a jump and still end up with the same record they had last season?
Well, the Cougars just may have one of the toughest schedules in the nation, again. While they don’t face a power team like Auburn out of conference last season, Rutgers is a team coming off of a bowl season and Nevada is better than Idaho on the scale. Then of course the Pac-12 Conference is a death-trap of highly ranked teams.
Hopefully Washington State can do better this season than the machine predicts. There’s certainly a lot of reasons to believe they will. For more on that stay tuned in to All Coug’d Up as we roll toward the season.