WSU Cougars News and Notes 6/10: WSU Trivia, Polls Inconclusive on Early Starts, and More

They are saying eighty days until Cougar Football.  Jules Verne allocated that duration to Phileas Fogg for global  circumnavigation.  So gather at Rico’s this afternoon, set your wager, and get to Seattle by 7 pm Pacific on August 28 for the kickoff against Rutgers.  Good luck, bon voyage, and we’ll see you in the SoDo.

WSU Trivia: 

Yesterday’s answer: Isaac Fontaine was the last player to account for any NBA statistics who played at WSU under anyone not named Bennett.  He had in MLB parlance, a cup of coffee career for the newly relocated Memphis Grizzlies;  six games, seventy-five minutes, and fourteen points.

Today’s Question: In reference to our tweet of the day, how many players from the 2002 Rose Bowl team can you name that played at least a snap in the NFL?

Links:

Yesterday we mentioned that 11 am games will be introduced this coming season in the Pac-12.  ESPN has given us a poll, and it appears that we in the PNW like the idea overall, where the southwestern portion of the conference is not as keen.  Pullman may never see an 11 am start, but the likelihood of an early game derailing tailgating efforts by Wazzu faithful is dubious.  Heck, the idea that the celebration or lamentation could end before sunset may prove a pragmatic move by Bill Moos.

We know that the O-Line is the foundation of an offense, right?  Agreed?  Is the experience of an offensive line conducive to predicting success?  Let’s hope not.  WSU has the second least experience in terms of starts in the Pac-12 North. Is Stanford rebuilding?  Is Washington going to dominate? Probably not, but it does give one pause.

So Deone Bucannon’s NFL career is starting off with pain. Hopefully nothing to worry about, but we figured you might want to know.

Coaches use ghost writers, even noted non-reader Les Miles “wrote” a book. Coach Leach is too vain (and articulate) to limit himself to that route.  Luckily he found someone as eccentric as himself with a comparable interest for indigenous culture with whom to collaborate.  I took two things from reading about Buddy Levy:  I wish I had found room in my graduate schedule to take a class from this character, and my reading list this summer just saw Crockett, Montezuma, Orellana, and the chukar partridge added this morning.

Tweets:

Yup, as you all remember, it has been 11 years since WSU appeared in the Rose Bowl.  If that makes you wince, eight teams have more call for gnashing of teeth.  Pac-12 teams that have not appeared in the Rose Bowl since the Cougs last trip: Utah and Colorado (sure, they have had limited opportunity), Arizona (never been, not once, stop talking about your football tradition, Wildcat fans), Arizona State (1997), UCLA (1999), Cal (1959!), Oregon State (1965), and Washington (2001).  (The Big Ten has sent every team but 2 in the past 17 years . . . I sense a trivia question)

Hopefully we get to see this picture posted during Coug games in a decade or so.