I think I got to watch at least 20 min. of every game, switching around all afternoon.
Yeah I've seen enough of WSU to think they will be putting some points on the board this year. They won't be as futile on offense as they were. Can't say very much about their defense though. On a scale of 1-10 in the "how much have they improved" category with 10 winning the conference compared to being at the bottom last year, I'd give the WSU defense's improvement a solid "1½" The reason is simple, Stanford walked right through them almost at will instead of "at will."
But also consider that Stanford's offense is a lot better than it was last season too (holyshit what an OL!) but they only managed 3 TD's less than they did vs WSU in '08. They did encounter some resistance. There may be some reason to expect that Wulff will tweak it to play better still after opening week.
I should also add that WSU's punter sparkled. He should when he punted over 70 times last year (not even a single block.) Over 40 ypp avg will lengthen the field for every WSU opponent this year.
Hey man, at least WSU's special teams rank.
And while I'm on the subject of special teams. Did anyone catch that new PR of Stanford's, Chris Owusu? He is f*ing BLINDING fast. Warning to all Stanford opponents, do NOT go to sleep and give this kid ANY kind of space when you kick it away. Sure and shit, he's gonna burn you. Another good asset for Stanford this season. This one comes as a surprise to me.
the "good ole boys" club that is the media, and the group of fans who believe everything they read or hear on the local radio and ... in the local watering hole:
Good post.
El Taino, on the damn playing field is one place you will RARELY find an example to go by in support of their claim to "superiority" over everyone else. Vs the rest of the country on the playing field, it just ain't provable. If anything, it's the total opposite and instead, we see the SEC tank it bigtime again an again. FACTS BABY. Those are the facts. Holydamshit, what a bunch of unbridled lies and hype! I am not fully convinced that their conference schedule is so damn tough either.
Out of 5 or 6 teams that rotate amongst themselves around the top of the conference in the last decade, maybe 2 of them are what could be considered "elite" in a given year. Maybe 2 or 3 more could be considered decent but that doesn't give them special status. Out of 9 schools above .500, many of them wouldn't even have winning records had they not played 4 patsies to achieve that. (all home games)
The BCS system is broke and the SEC manipulates it to their advantage. That's not EARNING your respect on the playing field. Vs everyone else, they are a no show. And when they do show, they are beaten often.
I began to suspect this was just hype when I saw how they all got slap happy drunk over LSU's victory over OSU a few year's ago. That was the year everyone played musical chairs in the top 5 rankings. But OSU backed in with only one loss and NO DEFINING WINS! The B-10 plain stunk and I suspected OSU was nothing more than a paper "tiger" in the NC game. (unintended) To this day, it still fucks with my head that they were given a SECOND chance the following year. They were soundly beaten both times because they didn't belong in either game, not because of magical SEC superiority.
Florida deserved their NC last year but Oklahoma gave them a run for their money. That's only 1 in 3 championship's honestly earned. The others were gifted to them by a flawed BCS system.
Washington might be improved over 0-12, but they OUTPLAYED the Tigers statistically (but they blew it with errors, TO's etc.) They were literally within one fumble at the goal line and one pick from shocking the world! Head to head LSU was beaten most of the time. And I had $10 on the ML. LOL!
Elite MY ASS!!
its just classic that the the sec portrays themselves as higher learning institutions yet the fans seem so uneducated. i myself am a ucla alum and although the local radio here would have you believe that ucla can win the pac 10 this, i know better. i know a top 3 finish in the pac 10 would mark a good year for this squad. see, what i understand is that it is the radio guys job to pump up and overhype the local teams. this is what they are paid to do. if it wasnt for guys like coach, i'd be convinced that 90% of sec homers really are that pompous. where is all the logic hiding in the southeastern US? once they realize that a 6-6 vandy team would be 3-9 without cupcakes they still wont get it.
