Should he stay or should he go now?
Bye weeks are for the three R’s: rest, recovery and recruiting. WSU coaches are on the recruiting trail as we speak, and the players are presumably resting and recovering (especially you, Lincoln Victor).
But just in time for what would ideally be a quiet week comes Jake Dickert’s name being tossed into the discussion on the Michigan State opening.
First it was The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman. Then this morning, ESPN’s Pete Thamel included Dickert’s name during a brief segment on College GameDay.
This could all be the usual “throw some names out there” situation, and we don’t know who is throwing these names out there, to be clear. Could be someone’s agent, could be a source within Michigan State, could be the media coming up with a list of coaches for the sake of content.
But with WSU’s hot start, we need to get used to this kind of thing. And why wouldn’t Michigan State look at Dickert? Coaches with success at Washington State often find themselves on these lists (athletic directors sometimes do, too). It’s always been that way. But with the Pac-12’s precarious position, that could be even more reason for Dickert’s name to pop up. Thamel cited that reason this morning and also mentioned Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith as a potential candidate.
Who knows where this will go. You can go insane trying to find reasons why Dickert should or should not bolt to Michigan State (here’s one!).
What to Watch in College Football
My favorite part of the bye week is always the lack of stress I feel, solely due to WSU’s not playing. It’s bliss. I can watch other games and my heart rate stays in that healthy range. So what are we watching this Saturday?
I’ll definitely check in with USC and Colorado, which kicks off at 10 a.m. Boulder time. Love it or hate it, the Buffs are fascinating this season. LSU and Ole Miss should be a good ranked-vs-ranked SEC matchup. Kansas is at Texas in a ranked-vs-ranked Big 12 matchup. Then there’s Notre Dame and Duke this afternoon, in which we will tune in to see if Notre Dame can get 11 guys on the field for two consecutive plays.
But the most interesting game to me this Saturday is taking place in Cheney, Wash. The Idaho Vandals, ranked no. 4 in the FCS, travel to Cheney to take on Eastern Washington. This Idaho team is fun, and Jason Eck has made the Vandals great again. The Eagles, meanwhile, are 2-2 and entered the rankings this week after knocking off UC Davis on the road. This ain’t the Eagles of 2010-2020, but this also ain’t the 3-8 Eagles of 2022.
The stadium should be packed, and it’s a shame the road team in Cheney has to sit on high school bleachers.
Go Vandals.