Never in doubt!
Greetings! I was trying to think of a good clip that encapsulated my feelings after the Washington State Cougars game ended Saturday morning, and this came to mind quickly. But instead of my boss, Chevy Chase’s rant would be directed at whomever turned me on to fandom, because on Friday night, on multiple occasions, I was once again questioning why I give a damn about sports.
But then…we won? At 1:30 in the morning? Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol (PM)??!!
But seriously, I really needed some sleep aids after that stress ball of a game. Found one!
So that was how the night (morning?) ended. Let’s talk through he we got there. Full disclosure – I tend to take notes throughout as a memory jogger, but Friday night’s stenography ceased right around the time San Jose State scored it’s 38th touchdown of the third quarter.
How wild were the proceedings? Let’s take a look at a handful of plays.
- Mateer to Josh Meredith for a 36-yard touchdown
- Kyle Thornton interception
- Mateer to Meredith again for 30, Dylan Paine scores on the next play
- Emmett Brown 20-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and 10
- Mateer to Kyle Williams for 32 yards
- Janikowski drills a 52-yard field goal
- Ethan O’Connor intercepts Brown
- DJ Harvey intercepts Mateer
- Paine scores from seven yards
- Mateer dives for the pylon on the 2-point try, ruled out of bounds
- Replay overturns the call, 2-point try successful
- Brown to Nick Nash for a touchdown
- Quinn Roff strip-sacks Brown
Wow. That’s quite the game! Oh, I didn’t mention that NONE OF THOSE PLAYS HAPPENED IN THE FIRST 53+ MINUTES??!!
To sample from Cosmo Kramer’s line about El Paso, “Martin Stadium, huh? I spent a month there one night.”
In fairness to the Cougs, we all saw this Admiral Ackbar special coming a mile away, what with a hugely emotional win over Washington the week before, and a date with Boise to follow. To add to that, San Jose State is pretty darn good. We all knew they were trouble when they walked in, and they damn near walked out with a win. Thankfully, they did not. Away we go.
The Good
- The NASCAR race was over on time! Great way to start!
- Love love love the helmets. Really sharp.
- Give me that hoodie Dickert was wearing. For real I’d buy like five of them.
- Texas Tech handled Arizona State, making that WSU win look even better.
- Two straight 4-0 starts for the first time in more than a century. Let’s make sure this season’s last eight games go better than 2023!
- The resilience of this team is something else, man. Stood tall when Washington was six feet from a win last week. Overcame a disastrous third quarter this week, scoring 19 straight points to erase a 14-point 4th quarter deficit, then made the plays they absolutely had to make in order to get a win.
- Probably not the place I’d thought the game portion would begin, but credit where it’s due. Dean, many people wanted you off the team after that botched extra point, but damn kid, that 52-yarder was as clutch a kick as we will ever see. Incredible.
- Wouldn’t have had the opportunity without that 32-yard pass from Mateer to Williams, both of whom were pretty good! One would think San Jose would try to defend Williams a bit better in that situation, but I’m glad the Spartans didn’t!
- To wit: Mateer had 501 yards of total offense, and Williams caught eight passes for 138 and a TD that got WSU back in the game. More of that going forward, please!
- Paine and Parker combined to rush for 114 yards and three touchdowns, but what impressed me more was the way they finished their runs, often gaining an extra yard or two after contact, and moving defenders backward.
- Parker has such great bounce. The 20-yard run he had featured a nifty jump cut that caused two defenders to collide.
- Cooper Mathers: Two targets, two catches, two touchdowns. Pretty efficient and pretty effective!
- That first Mathers TD was vintage Mateer, making something out of what seemed like a doomed play. The second was also really impressive, as Mateer stood in against the blitz and delivered a strike as he was getting drilled.
- While Williams and Meredith were both really impressive, it was great to see Tre Shackleford get a few grabs for the first time. WSU’s receiver depth is more impressive than I thought, and this is all without Carlos Hernandez.
- Not sure if he’s Peyton Pelluer’s equivalent in terms of production, but damn is Kyle Thornton emerging as the defense’s leader. He may not have scored on that INT like Pelluer did against Boise in 2017, but his diving interception provided true hope for those of us watching.
- Andrew Edson is also causing problems, getting another 1.5 TFLs and forcing a fumble.
- Typically, the other team scoring on fourth down to take the lead in the final minute would not be in the “Good” category. But I encourage you to watch it again (which won’t be painful since we won!) to see David Gusta absolutely nuke a poor running back who tried to block him. Gusta came with extreme violence.
- Maybe San Jose State had the best defensive line WSU will face all season, but the best part about the coaches saying that is that it’s a pretty great troll of Washington.
- Folks like me, of a certain age, grew up watching the game of college football with half the players wearing white tape over the outside of black shoes. It is an extreme rarity these days, which is why it was so cool to see Kyle Williams sporting that look on Friday. I’m not saying correlation equaled causation in terms of his great game or anyth…wait yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying!
- For the most part, sideline reporters in any sport are useless. But I loved the sideline feature on Minshew and the Cougar Collective.
- The Cougs converted 9/15 third downs, while allowing only 5/13 on defense. The latter figure surprised me given SJSU’s points and yards production.
- His kicking may induce atrial fibrillation, but Janikowski has been more than serviceable as a punter. Three punts averaged nearly 45 yards.
- 237 rushing yards for the good guys would usually portend a fairly painless day on the gridiron. Usually. Still, that’s impressive as hell, especially if Dickert is right about the Spartan defensive line.
- I don’t normally include opponents in this category, but man, Emmett Brown and Nick Nash, especially Nash, were really good Friday. Nash will almost certainly be playing on Sundays sooner than later.
- How insane is it that WSU had John Mateer, Emmett Brown and Cam Ward at QB last season?
- The Cougs are 4-0. Not sure if you heard!
The Bad
- The penalties. My god, the penalties. Eight flags for 72 yards in the first half, and 12/109 for the game. Meanwhile, SJSU had two. Two. While there isn’t a high correlation with penalties and losses – in fact, it’s often the opposite – a team like WSU cannot afford to play in such an undisciplined manner. The flags greatly contributed to a near loss, and they can’t continue if WSU wants to have a special season.
- Hey Hilborn, wtf are you doing, diving head-first at a player on the ground? It’s very fortunate for WSU that the officials ruled it after the play. They very easily could have negated a touchdown because of that stupid act.
- Clear example of unprofessionalism on behalf of the CW, airing a Coug game while having the announcers, including Coug alum Michael Bumpus (!) wearing half zips that are Oregon State colors. HOW DARE YOU!?
- I know there’s some shuffling going on, but the offensive line was far, far too leaky in that game.
- Four games, two successful opponent onside kicks. Inexcusable.
- I know I’ve said it before, but as many plays as Mateer makes, he would make a lot more if he wouldn’t be so sloppy with his footwork. That, combined with a really bad decision, led to the overtime interception on a possession where WSU should have ended the game.
- Speaking of that, it’s a shame that Ethan O’Connor’s huge interception will mostly be lost to history.
- Michael Mothershed is still hilariously inept at his new job, though the Targeting call that was overturned should not have been. Pretty clear shot to a defenseless player’s head, but what else should we expect?
- If you have 4th-and-11, who do you trust more to get a first down? Mateer and Co. or the kicker running around the left side? Yeah, I favor the former as well. Completely stupid call, coaches.
- Seemed rather awkward to have Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould in the booth talking about the new expansion schools as one of the schools they didn’t pick shredded WSU in the third quarter.
- The defensive line came through when it absolutely had to (thanks again, Quinn!) but for the most part, the front four didn’t even breathe on Emmett Brown.
- Related: Maybe allowing a running back to burst through the line and run 66 yards untouched isn’t the best way to play defense, fellas.
- The play ended with a Paine touchdown, but the mesh handoff between he and Mateer n overtime was terrifyingly close to being botched.
- Kind of dumb Quinn Roff doesn’t get credit for a sack and forced fumble on the game’s final play. Not like it was important or anything.
The Ugly
- WSU, leading 21-10, recovered a fumble on a kickoff and had 1st-and-10 at the SJSU 28. 20 game minutes later, SJSU led 38-24. Completely absurd.
- Dean, while we praise your onions-filled kick to keep WSU alive, it probably shouldn’t have come to that except for the fact that you completely shanked a PAT. Brutal.
- Cougs needed one first down to seal up the game in the final 3:32. So of course WSU gained six yards on three plays and punted.
- The third quarter. Bury it with a shovel, then bury the shovel and never speak of it again.
- The game ended at nearly two in the gall darn morning for yours truly, who was up like 5.5 hours later because I’m incapable of sleeping in. U-G-L-Y
Highlights!
Notice the missing quarter!
Interviews!
Rankings!
The Cougs just missed the AP and Coaches Top 25. But who cares? THEY’RE IN THE TOP 10 HERE!
Yahoo Top 10: Tennessee’s road win at Oklahoma boosts Vols to No. 1 while USC falls out of rankings – Yahoo Sports
This college football season is still devoid of major upsets, but some teams have played tougher schedules than others.
This Week in Parenting
The Mighty Dolphins are on the struggle bus. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. More like they’ve fallen off the struggle bus, which then backed over them and once or three times. After a stirring comeback win in the opener, we lost two straight by a combined score of 96-0. Friday was closer, and could have been a win, but things didn’t fall our way enroute to a flag-filled 16-6 defeat. That’s right, refs. All the parents are here to watch you screw up calls and throw flag after flag. Never forget that you’re the center of attention.
The biggest bummer is that attrition (both due to coaching turnover and injuries) has gutted the team to the point that they can’t even play JV games anymore, which is a bummer because my kiddo gets the bulk of his game snaps in those games. Next week they get a break, playing some team that’s /checks notes…one of the best in the state? Gulp
This turmoil has also apparently given parents self-license to complain about playing time on the Team Snap chat that coaches, players and parents all monitor. Yes, mom and dad, complaining about your kid’s playing time in front of like 150 people will definitely help things. The funniest part is the chief complainer’s kid has played a few snaps on varsity, and a few snaps on JV, and has been flagged twice for personal fouls. I will not comment further.
Before all the drama, the teenager asked earlier in the week what it was like when I played high school football “A lot like it is today,” I responded. “Yeah, but I play in modern times.” It’s like I was wearing a leather helmet and busting the flying wedge or something.
Question for you parents of teens and tweens out there – Does your kid constantly take goofy pictures of their face and send them to friends? If I were to look on his phone, I’m willing to bet that I’d see roughly eleventy selfies of his goofy face. I will never understand.
Later on, we were talking about internet memes for some reason, and the 12 year-old told everyone that, “Dad doesn’t know what memes are. Except for the hawk tuah girl.” Well then.
The 12 year-old also informed me that his class is taking a field trip to the Navy Flight Museum next week. The museum is like a quarter mile from my flying squadron. However, he was adamant that they DO NOT NEED CHAPERONES! So when the permission slip came, I saw a choice for parents to go along with the class for the visit. I brought it up, and again was chastised for even suggesting such a thing. “You have to work anyway.” I WORK A 5-MINUTE WALK FROM THERE!” (Also I’ll be on leave). I asked why he was so against me tagging along. “Did you want your parents around on field trips?” Um yes! You know why? When your parent is with you, they buy you stuff! Any time mom tagged along with my class to the Spokane Interstate Fair, she bought me stuff! But whatever, I don’t really want to go anyway (for real).
Finally, while I was watching football Saturday, the 12-year old was more interested in his own college football game on XBox. His player, Prince King – that’s the name, don’t wear it out – is a tight end for Michigan. Well, I should say he was a tight end for Michigan. Unfortunately, the kid was not satisfied with his team’s success. After a bowl win, “I’m hitting the transfer portal because Michigan stinks.” Prince King is now the starting tight end for your Texas Longhorns. Probably a matter of time until he informs Mrs. Kendall and me that he’s entering the household transfer portal.