Washington State Cougars Way Too Early Preview

Fans hope to see Rickey Galvin and the rest of the Cougars in the end zone more this season
(Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

The last several years have been tough for the Washington State Cougars. They haven't been in a bowl game since a 2003 win against Texas and have had several coaching changes in that time. Paul Wulff seemed to give the Coug believers reason to hope but was never really able to get the team over the hump. The newest coach of Washington State however, looks to turn that all around. Mike Leach is bringing his air raid offense to the already pass heavy Pac-12 and looks to make use of the most under rated quarterback and wide receiver tandem in the conference.

In Wulff's last season as coach, WSU mad another step forward, doubling their win total from the year before. Even still at 4-8, it wasn't enough for Wulff to maintain his job. They started off with a lot of promise winning 3 of their first 4 games and played UCLA close on the road. That loss against UCLA started the downward spiral though for Wazzu as they dropped the next 5 games in a row before surprising Arizona State on a frigid night in Pullman. They would close the season with an overtime loss to conference newcomer Utah and then in state rival Washington. Hope springs eternal though, a new regime and a new season could turn around a program that was once a fixture near the top of the Pac.

If you don't know who Jeff Tuel and Marquess Wilson are, you'd better ask somebody. Jeff Tuel is on the Davey O'Brien watch list to start the season and Marquess Wilson is a deep threat who found the end zone 12 times last season. Last season Tuel was hampered by injuries and could never really follow up his promising Froshman season in which he threw for nearly 2800 yards. With Leach's proclivity to throw the ball and throw it quickly, it should chop down on some of those 48 sacks Tuel took his first season and accent the passing numbers. One of the top priorities for the Wide Receivers will be to replace Jared Karstetter, an anchor out wide who kept defenses honest and off of Marquess Wilson. That one loss in the WR corps could change the outlook of both Wilson and Tuel's season. Accompanying Tuel in the back field is the tandem of Rickey Galvin and Carl Winston, last season the pair combined for over 1000 yards rushing and 9 touch downs on the ground. Their touches also may increase swinging out of the back field and giving Tuel more targets to throw too. 

Where Leach may find his largest struggle though is picking up on the defensive side of the ball. Last season, the defense allowed over 400 yards per game and nearly 32 points to go with those yards. That is simply not going to cut it going up against the Pac again this next season. Fortunately for the Cougars, they miss USC and QB Matt Barkley this season and get the Ducks at home, so that may prove advantageous for the defense to step up to a level they haven't for quite some time. That defense though, is not inexperienced. They return 4 of the 5 leading tacklers from a season ago, their sole loss among those being line backer Alex Hoffman-Ellis. Among those returning are Damante Horton and Deone Bucannon who patrolled the defensive back field to the tune of 4 and 3 interceptions respectively. Considering those two were also among the most prolific tacklers on the team, they are a bright spot moving forward on an otherwise dismal defense.

So the question looms, can Mike Leach lead the Cougars to a bowl game? If everything goes according to plan for the Cougars, they could see themselves at a 7-5 record, especially if they catch BYU off guard in the first week of the season. However, if players don't buy in to the system or simply can't put it together then they could find themselves stuck with a 3-9 record and having to deal with another season of waiting. It's not unreasonable for the Cougs to make it to a bowl. Things are going to have to fall in line for them though. 

Washington State Vs. #7 Oregon: Preview

LaMichael James can hurt the Cougars if he gets the chance.

Last year's trip to Pullman is one a lot of Oregon fans would rather forget. Oregon ended up winning that game by a score of 43-23 but they paid a price to get that win. On a kickoff, Kenjon Barner fielded the ball just inside his own end zone and started bringing it out. A WSU defender coming off of a block, was propelled forward and laid a scary hit on Barner that forced a fumble and Kenjon Barner out of the game. Barner missed several weeks with a concussion but made a full recovery. That injury really seemed to put a damper on the Oregon offense which had a hard time getting into their rhythm. Then, Darron Thomas went down with a shoulder injury and would not return for the remainder of the game.

The Cougars put up more of a fight than most expected, keeping the game reasonably close throughout and took a 14-8 lead late in the first quarter against the eventual Pac-10 champions. Quarter back Jeff Tuel threw for 245 yards and a score in the loss and the defense forced three Oregon turnovers. Oregon's QB tandem of Darron Thomas and Nate Costa were just too much to handle though. They combined for over 300 yards through the air and between them only threw 5 total incompletions.

This year, the Cougars come into town reeling from back to back blowout losses. In the last two games, Washington state has been outscored 88-35, the most recent defeat coming in Seattle against North rival Oregon State. Senior Marshall Lobbestael will get the start under center as Jeff Tuel re injured his shoulder last week against the Beavers. The Cougars have a prolific passing offense which ranks in the top 10 nationally and that is due in part to Lobbestael's efforts, he has thrown for 1739 yards already this season. It's also thanks to the receivers he has at his disposal. Marquess Wilson is probably the best wide receiver in the Pac-12 that you haven't heard about. Only a sophomore, Wilson has 41 receptions for 763 yards and 6 touchdowns to this point in the year. He is complimented by a pair of senior wide outs Isiah Barton and Jared Karstetter. Last season against the Ducks Karstetter went for over 100 yards on 10 receptions and looks to do the same again this year.

Washington State can pile up the yards through the air in a hurry, as they have shown throughout the year. However, to beat a talented squad like Oregon, they need to have balance to keep the speedy secondary honest. To this point in the season, no rusher for the Cougars has eclipsed the 100 yard mark in a game. A lot of that is due to the potency of the passing game, but they will need to show that the run is a threat to keep Nick Alioti from deploying his speedy DB's to stay back in pass coverage. The rushing attack is lead by Freshman Rickey Galvin who is averaging 6.4 yards a carry. He just hasn't had as many opportunities to carry the ball as someone like LaMichael James.

Early in the week, coach Chip Kelly was still evasive about players injuries, specifically LaMichael James and Darron Thomas. It's speculated but not unreasonably so that Thomas and James will be a full go as it appeared he was capable to start last week, but ceded to Bryan Bennett who lead the Ducks to a 45-2 victory over Colorado. James was suited also for the Colorado and was able to play according to him but did not see action as the Ducks had put that game away early. Both Bennett and running back Kenjon Barner proved to be more than capable to pick up where James and Thomas left off as they have headed wins over Arizona State and Colorado.

Washington State has had it's secondary be exposed by it's last few opponents. It was to be expected that Andrew Luck was going to throw the ball all over the yard, but last week, Oregon State's Sean Mannion threw for nearly 400 yards against them in an offense that has otherwise not looked impressive. The vertical threat will be there with Josh Huff starting to get back into the action and dynamic freshman DeAnthony Thomas lining up all over the field. If WSU losses track of DeAnthony, it could spell trouble for them throughout the day as Thomas to Thomas has started to gain momentum. This is the last game for the Ducks before they start to face a more challenging schedule, starting with a road trip up to Seattle, to face the Huskies, then down to Palo Alto for the conference game of the year against Stanford.

Oregon Will Win If:                           WSU Will Win If:
Thomas spreads the ball around            Lobbestael shreds Oregon's DBs
Oregon gets a big lead early                 Control the ball
Minimize penalties                               Force multiple turnovers