FanSided FanSpeak: How Bad Are the Cougars, Really? Pt 1

Starting a new section called FanSided FanSpeak, taking fans’ comments and making you the center of attention. It’s always good to get objectivity and multiple opinions, and we’re bringing it to you. These posts will be mostly from blogs and web conversations, so they are raw, unadulterated opinions by you! It’s going to be subject to any topics of interest, so these will not always revolve around WSU athletics, but I think you will all find that a conversation could be fun, no matter what the topic of choice.

Aug 30, 2012; Provo, UT, USA; Washington State Cougars safety Deone Bucannon (20) walks off the field after losing to the Brigham Young Cougars 30-6 at Lavell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

This is a post by Gowazzucougs from a blog in an Online NCAA FOOTBALL 13 league that I’m in. We talk about real college football a lot in this blog and I thought this was insightful on what we’ve seen so far on the football field at Washington State. In the conversation he refers to Jayrah, and that’s me, just for reference purposes. It’s a little lengthy, so I’ve broken it up into 3 parts. Here’s his 1st post:

"I have thought about this game a lot, driving 4 hours back to my parents’ house, and another 3 1/2 the next morning. After the BYU trouncing, I knew every game that I possibly could have circled as a W at the start of the season was now in play as a loss. I think if Paul Wulff was coaching on Saturday they win that game, however he is no longer the coach, and we now have a new coach and system. With the new system if you have to take all the cons with all the pros. A con with this offense is that we will pass the ball with four minutes to go with a lead, and if the ball is incomplete it will stop the clock, in addition there will be no waiting to the play clock hits one to snap the ball. Thus, blame can be placed with the coaches because they wouldn’t just run the clock out.Listening to Leach, who is sometimes very cryptic in his media appearances, is clearly putting this loss on the players. And after watching the endings of EWU, UNLV, and Colorado a conclusion that I have about what is happening is that he doesn’t care if we win the game (this is not the only answer, but in watching these games if you have to wonder). If we seriously cannot beat D1-AA team, a really bad Mountain West team, and probably the worst BCS team in the country we have no business going to a bowl game. Leach is not getting fired at the end of the season, nor the next one, or the one after that. I think he is challenging the players, and weeding out the mentally weak ones, and there are probably a lot of them. After the BYU loss there was a “Oh whoa is me attitude” with players with their head down, players pouting, just a general bad vibe, of new coach same team. Over the past year or two, I would say the AD has been making a push to change the culture in the athletic department, and specifically the football team. He introduce new uniforms, got the fanbase excited with the hiring of Leach, made our stadium a 21st century stadium with a new press box and luxury seats. However, what he can’t change are the players.Jayrah and I have hyped this team up a lot the past two years, because the school has hyped the team up. My attitude with this team was I needed to see them play at the start of the season, i believed if they had beaten BYU 8 wins was a reasonable expectation, however after four games my honest opinion is that the team overall is just not very good. The offensive line needs serious improvement. They commit too many critical penalties. Leach signed a significant number O-lineman after he was hired, because he probably knew this team needed them.On the defensive side of the ball, where to begin. . . My general thought process is that ea sports has the the WSU defensive rating too high at a C. From what i have seen it is a D, I would grade the secondary as a F. I honestly don’t think the D-Line and the linebackers are that bad, they are not great by any stretch of the imagination, but they are what they are. The secondary is god awful. At times I believe one particular cornerback couldn’t cover me. If Leach doesn’t make a concerted effort to sign a significant number of defensive players especially defensive backs this offseason, I will wonder about the direction of the program."

We will continue this thought by Gowazzucougs soon, so stay tuned and be sure to comment. After all, these articles are by you, the fan.