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There continues to be numerous experts speculating what the next move will be in the realignment of college football. The Pac-12 will be down to ten teams in just two short seasons. The BigTen has expanded to 16 teams. For the moment, the SEC is comprised of 14 teams. In terms of conferences, the BigTen and SEC have gotten bigger, leading to the rich getting richer. Just consider the news that Ohio State's starting quarterback issued $500 gift cards to his teammates so they could buy flamboyant clothes and look their best when they take on Notre Dame. What? Where have the days gone when student-athletes were broke?
Cougfan.com correspondent and Wazzu football great Paul Sorenson offered a ballistic assessment of USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12/10 for the BigTen. "You (Trojans and Bruins) just blew up 100 years of tradition with those idiots going to the money. And that's what it is, it's a money grab. By the way, how many games did USC win last year? Oh, that would be four. And you're gonna take them to the Big 10? Come on."
Multiple reports have both Washington and Oregon meeting with BigTen officials about the possibility of leaving the Pac-12/10 for their greener pastures. Those meetings fly in the face of commissioner George Kliavkoff's assertion that the remaining ten schools in the Pac are united. It's more likely that the most unifying force in college football is the almighty dollar.
Fans of college sports who enjoy following competition because it was a much more pure brand of athletic endeavor than professional sports have become dinosaurs. The BigTen and SEC have brought on an Ice Age that is leading to their demise. Sure, the NCAA has done its share to make college sports pageantry of the past as extinct as ABC's iconic Jim McKay.
Here's another question that makes this case. Did you watch any of the college football season-opening games last night? -
Here's a good background piece on Cam Ward's father:
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Given-dads-profession-WSU-football-QB-Cameron-Ward-atomic-arm-adds-up-192226305/ -
Here's a nice backstory turned in by Colton Clark of the Spokesman Review:
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/sep/01/its-definitely-going-to-be-emotional-washington-st/
Go Cougs!!!
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
