The Washington State Cougars are a Horrible, Horrible Football Team

I get no pleasure from writing that headline.

I generally like Washington State.  They have great fans.  I've always felt a certain kinship with them as Husky haters.  And I feel horrible for them.  My neighbor is a WSU alum, nicest guy in the world, and was just too embarassed to talk about the game much, just a bunch of stuff about how Doba ruined the program to the point of being maybe the worst Pac-10 team of all time.  And its hard for me to argue, because I've sat at Autzen for games against the like of Portland State, Montana, Idaho, Utah State, and Nevada and I can't recall any of them being anywhere near the same ballpark as this level of terrible.

Their lines fell over like a stack of cards.  Their running back was slow.  Their linebackers can't tackle.  And Marshall Lobbestael.............those were two of the worst interceptions I have ever seen.  I could have come down from my seat in row 81 and picked them off they were up in the air so long.  Only their punter was a Pac-10 level player, which is good as he gets more touches than anyone else on the team.

So, in playing a team with such an incredible level of suckitude, its tough to take a lot of meaningful thoughts from this game.  Here are a few things I can think of that have some meaning besides "we looked good because the other team sucked."

• Masoli was again efficient, 14-18.  And again, most of them were easy plays that set him up for success.  He only went deep twice.  One was a good pass, just slightly high, that Dickson made a great play on for a touchdown.  The other was identical to the one he missed against Cal.  I believe it was Embry had the guy beat on the right sideline toward the endzone, and Masoli just overthrew him.  It will be interesting to see how Masoli responds when he plays a defense good enough to take away the short passing game.
• LaMichael James continues to impress me with his reads and ability to change direction on a dime.  He's going to be so much fun over the next 3 1/2 years.
• I loved Chip Kelly's attitude of challenging the WSU touchdown, even with a 45 point lead.  It was stupid that they were in that position to begin with, as there was no excuse for muffing that punt.  Two great plays by the defense to keep them out of the end zone.  It looked on Duck Vision like they made a third, and the referees never signaled touchdown on the Lobbestael sneak, and it wasn't until about a minute after that they made the decison that it was a TD.  This wasn't about trying to rub it in, it was about sticking up for the defense and trying to get them a shutout because they deserved it.  They've sported two shutouts in a row, if not for special teams miscues.

That's about it.  There is nothing else meaningful to get out of this.  Just put it past us, and get ready for a bigger challenge in UCLA.  We're clicking right now, lets see if we can do it on the road.

Also, quick question for everyone.  Jared and I have discussed doing an ATQ podcast.  Is this something that people would be interested in and would actually listen to.  Let us know in the comments.