Some pregame thoughts from WSU
COUGARS
Well it's time for the pregame post. We have something to say. Nothing big. Kinda boring. Heck, read on only if you're bored.
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• What can we say about today? After watching the Wisconsin win over Oregon State this morning – at least the first half – I'm pretty sure UNLV isn't very good. Because I'm certain Oregon State is going to struggle this year and Wisconsin didn't put a beating on them – more of a wear-down. And the Badgers knocked the snot out of UNLV last week. So I'll go out on a limb here and say this: If Washington State takes care of the ball today, doesn't give the Rebels a bunch of extra chances, the Cougars will win handily today. Turn it over a bunch of times and all bets are off. ... That being said, the loss of Jeff Tuel is going to mean a lot. Nothing against Marshall Lobbestael, but imagine if Stanford lost Andrew Luck or Oregon Darron Thomas. Everyone would understand if the offense at those places sputtered a bit (think back to when Washington lost Jake Locker and then lost every game; a quarterback of Tuel's abilities is hard to replace). The thing that interests me today is learning how much Tuel's loss will mean If the offensive line dominates up front, if the receivers hold their edges and give a good area for the pass to fall into, if the running backs can make something special happen, the loss is minimized. And that doesn't even take into account Lobbestael or Connor Halliday's performance. If the other 10 guys do their jobs, the 11th guy doesn't have to try to do more than he's capable of. And that folks is a win for WSU. ... And that folks is the most interesting aspect of this game.
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• That's all for now. We'll be back later this evening with our postgame post. Until then follow us on Twitter (vinceg55) ...
