Cougars Will Win Today… Won’t They?

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After last week’s game, who knows? We’re playing Eastern Washington today in our home opener, and I’d like to think that we’ll win by three touchdowns.

Eastern is a team that should not be able to match up with us, but then again…

Here’s the thing, after losing to BYU 30-6, I’m not going to be pessimistic about our chances today; I’m just not going to get my hopes up. My hopes were sky-high last week, and look what happened.

So I’m going to sit here and watch the game with my kids and hope for the best, obviously. We’re favored by 12 points and even though I put a small wager on the Cougs, I just want us to win, even if we don’t cover the spread.

Even though I got two season tickets this year, I’m not in Pullman today, and I’ve got some lame reasons while I’ll be watching the game from the Renton Highlands instead of Martin Stadium. I won’t bore you with those lame reasons.

Eastern Washington worries me because Beau Baldwin’s team beat Idaho 20-3 last week at the Kibbie Dome. I don’t care if Idaho’s down, the Vandals still should have been good enough to beat the Eagles at home, or at least score more than three points at home. I admit to feeling bad for Idaho offensive coordinator Jason Gesser, whose teams were never limited to three points when he played for the Cougs.

Eastern is also the same team that came within an eyelash of beating the Huskies last year at Husky Stadium. Desmond Trufant saved the Dawgs with a last-minute interception. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell would have been in the Go 2 Guy Hall of Fame if he pulled that sucker off.

Kyle Padron replaces Mitchell, and just like Bo Levi, he came to Cheney from SMU. While he was at SMU, Padron threw four touchdown passes against the Cougs two years ago. So, yep, that guy worries me the most. And then I heard that Eastern has some tall receivers, who will be tough to deal with for our smaller guys in the secondary.

Then when you thrown in how bad we looked in Provo, well, it doesn’t exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence in the Cougs. But surely we’ll bounce back at home in front of a sellout crowd.

I talked to the Go 2 Girl last night, otherwise known as daughter Brooke, a senior at WSU, and she said she couldn’t believe how many people are in town. Sounds like a festive weekend, and I’m expecting the Cougs to get Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense going today.

It will be interesting to see if Jeff Tuel plays the whole game or not. When Leach was on 710 ESPN Seattle on Thursday, he intimated that maybe Connor Halliday will play too. He didn’t exactly say that, but his lukewarm comments about Tuel suggested as much.

I’m still a Tuel supporter, but I want to see more from him today, as does everyone else. It’s hard not to think about Halliday from time to time, especially after that nearly 500-yard passing effort he laid on the Sun Devils in the snow and freezing rain last year.

Here’s a shocker – I’m predicting the Cougs will prevail today in reasonably comfortable fashion…

COUGS 38, EAGLES 21

DAWGS at LSU: Our least-favorite team travels to Baton Rouge to take on the third-ranked Tigers. I’m hoping for an absolute bloodbath in which LSU wins 55-0 with Washington looking like Savannah State all night long.

I’ve worked with Steve Sandmeyer the past couple of days on the afternoon show at 710 ESPN Seattle. He’s a big Husky fan. When you’re a big Husky fan, don’t you think you can beat every opponent on the schedule?

But Sandmeyer is just hoping the Huskies limp home without any serious injuries, giving his team no shot whatsoever to beat LSU. He saw San Diego State sack Keith Price three times last week and figures LSU will be in the Dawgs’ backfield all night long.

I naturally hope he’s right, I just get a kick out of a big Husky fan poor-mouthing his own team’s chances. I like the Huskies’ chances tonight more than he does.

It’s strange to see Husky fans like this. I’m used to seeing them with their chests puffed out, all tough guy-like, thinking they’re so damn good. But now their expectations are lower than ever before.

When are they going to realize that Steve Sarkisian might not be the coach they think he is, that all of his success at USC had more to do with great players than great coaching? It could be Nick Holt all over again.

Sark is 20-19 at Washington and about to be 20-20. But ya know what? As much as I hope they get crushed tonight, I think the Dawgs are going to be competitive. If I were in Vegas, I’d put some actual cash money on Washington +24.

Look for Price and Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and an improved Husky defense to make a game of it.

TIGERS 34, DAWGS 24