Spokane7
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October 26, 2010 in Sports
First Look: WSU at Arizona State
Time: 4 p.m. Saturday, Sun Devils Stadium, Tempe, Ariz.
TV: None
Records: WSU (1-7, 0-7 in Pac-10); Arizona State (3-4, 1-3)
Last week: Washington State lost at Stanford, 38-28; Arizona State lost at Cal, 50-17
Last time: Arizona State defeated WSU, 27-14, in Pullman in 2009
The line: Arizona State by 21
What it means for WSU: Another road trip, another homecoming guest. For the second consecutive week the Cougars will play the role of sacrificial lamb for homecoming activities. But this year, the strategy can backfire. WSU played well enough against Stanford to make the alumni restless and the Cougars could do the same thing in Tempe. This has the feel of a game WSU can compete in and, for the first time in a few weeks, actually has a chance to win. With that in mind, the Cougars need to play well. A poor effort could cost them the momentum they’ve built the past three weeks.
What it means for ASU: After getting blown out at Cal on Saturday, coach Dennis Erickson and his team have come under fire. The Sun Devils have played some excellent games – a near-miss at Wisconsin and a win in Seattle – but have also struggled, losing four of their last five. With two wins over FCS foes, ASU needs seven wins to be bowl-eligible. As it has yet to play some of the Pac-10’s best, that number could be impossible to reach without a win over WSU.
Key matchup: Sun Devis cornerback Omar Bolden vs. Cougars wide receiver Marquess Wilson.
Bolden, a preseason All-Pac-10 selection by one publication, has been ASU’s most productive defensive back, with two interceptions and two pass breakups to go along with 28 tackles. But he was burned so often last week he apologized to ASU fans via his Twitter feed. The junior is fast – a 97-yard kickoff return vs. Wisconsin attests to that – but is also 5-foot-10. He, and opposite corner, 5-11 redshirt freshman Osahon Irabor, will have their hands full with Wilson’s combination of size (6-3) and speed. The freshman receiver has pulled in 41 passes for 796 yards (19.4 yards per catch) in the Cougars’ eight games. His 99.5 receiving yards per game is tops in the Pac-10, seventh in the nation and best among freshmen.
Vince Grippi
Teams play odds 
dickkenn on October 26 at 12:17 p.m.
Game score 34 - 24 Cougs get there first Pac- ten win this year. I feel our offense more then match up with there defense. With the speed and height advantage we have at W.R. along with the best Q.B.Tuel on the field sat. A good passing attack early will open up some great running lanes. I also like our defensive backs will have a very big day with some picks. Our defensive front seven has improved this yr. enough to get enough three and outs, for our defense to give our offense to score the 34 pts. needed. The big plus in this game is our special teams play . I would not call this score an upset. GO COUGS
Moravecglobal on October 30 at 1:45 p.m.
$ did not curtail sports at UC Berkeley. UC Berkeley’s Leadership Crisis
UC Berkeley’s recent elimination of popular sports programs highlighted endemic problems in the university’s management. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s eight-year fiscal track record is dismal indeed. He would like to blame the politicians in Sacramento, since they stopped giving him every dollar he has asked for, and the state legislators do share some responsibility for the financial crisis. But not in the sense he means.
A competent chancellor would have been on top of identifying inefficiencies in the system and then crafting a plan to fix them. Competent oversight by the Board of Regents and the legislature would have required him to provide data on problems and on what steps he was taking to solve them. Instead, every year Birgeneau would request a budget increase, the regents would agree to it, and the legislature would provide. The hard questions were avoided by all concerned, and the problems just piled up to $150 million of inefficiencies….until there was no money left.
It’s not that Birgeneau was unaware that there were, in fact, waste and inefficiencies in the system. Faculty and staff have raised issues with senior management, but when they failed to see relevant action taken, they stopped. Finally, Birgeneau engaged some expensive ($3 million) consultants, Bain & Company, to tell him what he should have been able to find out from the bright, engaged people in his own organization.
From time to time, a whistleblower would bring some glaring problem to light, but the chancellor’s response was to dig in and defend rather than listen and act. Since UC has been exempted from most whistleblower lawsuits, there are ultimately no negative consequences for maintaining inefficiencies.
In short, there is plenty of blame to go around. But you never want a serious crisis to go to waste. An opportunity now exists for the UC president, Board of Regents, and California legislators to jolt UC Berkeley back to life, applying some simple check-and-balance management principles. Increasing the budget is not enough; transforming senior management is necessary. The faculty, Academic Senate, Cal. Alumni, financial donators, benefactors and await the transformation.
The author, who has 35 years’ consulting experience, has taught at University of California Berkeley, where he was able to observe the culture and the way the senior management operates.