Rutgers at Washington State. WSU football took a tough loss to Rutgers thursday night in Seattle. It was a hard fought game but a few key mistakes cost the Cougars the game. I believe Jason Gesser said it perfectly. This team is on the verge, they just need that one voice that says hop on my back, I’m going to carry us to high places.
Watching the game in person last night and having to drive back all the way to Pullman that same night, trust me, I know how bad this one hurts. I’d just like to share some thoughts after reading a few comments on the concerns of our football team and then listening to all the post game interviews.
First off, this system has already been proven, Mike Leach has already been proven. The system will work in the Pac-12. Mike Leach will be one of the best coach’s in the Pac-12 when all is said and done. So everybody saying the opposite go ahead and jump off now because I promise you, the system and Leach are going nowhere and one day soon, we will all be thanking Mr. Moos for that.
Second, this offense is exactly who we thought they were. Explosive and capable of scoring from ANYWHERE. Now they took a little bit to heat up but nerves and anticipation definitely played a big roll in that, so no we don’t have a red-zone issue, because I think we can all agree that worked itself out. Like I said, they are just missing that leader who looks everyone in the eye before that last drive and says “hey guys guess what… We about to win this game.” And even more importantly, every single person on that field believing that it is true. In my opinion, that has to be Connor Halliday.
Third, our defense needs to grow up. I’m going to say it right now, I’m calling for Tracy Clarks job. I thought Daquawn was good for it being his first game this season but we need someone to step up on the opposite side and Clark just ain’t gonna cut it. What would I do you ask? Well it’s time to throw freshman Jeff Farrar into the water in a sink or swim situation. He is a very good corner but just recently joined the Cougs in a miracle and just might save this whole thing if he can rise to collegiate speed in record time.
Now… that is one thing, but our front 7… Seriously? I don’t want to take away from what Rutgers made happen but honestly they had about 3-4 running plays and we couldn’t stop them all night. I look to next week and know that Connor could throw for over 600 and 7 TD’s and it still might not be enough to stop win with an explosive Nevada run game if our defense looks anything similar to what it did against Rutgers. Now THAT folks is what won’t cut it in the Pac-12.
So Mike Leach and Connor Halliday… What a combo. You’ve gotta love the post game interview answers. Leach doesn’t shy away from blaming himself. Having the ability to take responsibility for the things he did speaks volumes about his honesty and accountability. It also makes it a lot easier to fix the problem at a much faster rate.
Connor Halliday shared a thought that really helps support my theory in the beginning of this article when I said we need a leader and it has to be him. For those of you that missed it I’ll paraphrase. He said that he believes that WSU practices harder than any team in the nation with what Leach puts them through. Then he goes on to say well it’s all good and fine that you work hard but when it comes winning time (in reference to that last offensive drive) you have to have what it takes mentally to go win that game. I couldn’t agree more. Check out that full interview at wsucougars.com if you still have questions about him being the one to step up this year and lead this team.
So my closing thoughts are this. Keep calm Cougs. We have two very Winnable games coming up and if we can take those into the Pac-12 slate I’m feeling very good about what this Offense will do in the conference.
Go Cougs