Before the season, I picked Washington State to finish eighth in the Pac-10. While I love Bill Doba as a coach, I just didn’t see him having the horses this season to do it much better than that. Doba was a career assistant until Mike Price left for Alabama (and we all know how that turned out, but that’s another story). In 2003, he won the Pac-10 Coach of the Year (along with Pete Carroll) and looked to be riding high. He’s done all right on the Palouse, but this is still an average to below-average team.
Sure, they gave USC a run for their money. The Cougars still had a chance to beat the Trojans late (as it seems everyone has lately). Currently, Washington State heads into their matchup against Oregon with a 4-3 record that includes losses to three teams in the Top 10 of the BCS rankings (Cal, USC and Auburn). The Cougars have beaten up on marginal teams like Stanford, and their defense shut Oregon State down in their most recent win. This team’s not a pushover, but it’s not terribly impressive.
QB Alex Brink comes in with a good deal of experience. Brink is a junior who had thrown 552 passes before this season, and looks to me to have really settled into a role as a starter. Last season, he looked nervous under center. This year, he’s calm, and for Doba, it will be a treat to have Brink back in 2007, especially under the tutelage of Timm Rosenbach. Brink has some fun weapons, too, including lanky senior WR Jason Hill (who will make a very good pro) and junior scatback Michael Bumpus, who is one heck of a tough matchup.
This Cougars team has a good defense as well, with a strong core of seniors who worked extremely hard prior to the season to ensure that this year would be memorable. While the Cougars haven’t been anything to write home about, they have exceeded my expectations for them. This is a team that is well-coached, a grinding team that is tough to put away. They don’t have the athletes to contend nationally or in the Pac-10, nor do they have the depth. It’s just not that easy to convince a kid to go to Pullman to sit for a year or two.
From an expectation standpoint, the Cougars have also exceeded them in the Pac-10. They’ve won five of their last six conference games ATS, with an ATS loss to Cal last week the lone blemish. But at home, they have played down a bit, winning just 6 of their last 21 ATS.
I see Washington State winning three of their last five games (Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington) to finish at a respectable 7-5 and qualify for a bowl game. This week, the Cougars have a tough Oregon team at home, but this Oregon squad is hard to play anywhere. It’s a tough final stretch for the Cougars in 2007!
Lenny Del Genio is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Lenny_Del_Genio.htm
