Continuing on with the final few Pac-10 Roundtable discussions, today’s focus is Washington State!

TwistNHook: Does anybody know anything about Washington State?  Anybody?

YellowFever: I’m really not sure what to say about Washington State.  Their coach is Bill Doba, I know that much.  They’re not very good, I know that much too.  But I don’t know a single starter, how they did last year, and whether they have anyone significant coming in.  I’m sure I could look, but I feel like the fact that I have no idea about this team at all is probably a decent sign not to expect much from them.  And I don’t.

TwistNHook: I’ll take that as a No!  I guess if Doba gets fat (or is he already fat, I dunno), he could be called Doba The Hut.  That’s all I got.

I remember last year I went to go see them play Cal in the Stadium on the big screen.  Nate was ill and Cal won 21-3.  D was staunch.  So, that’s cool.  The year before, they scored like 40+ on us, but Ayoob miraculously led us to victory.

I mean this is a team that has to wear the shame of having Ayoob lead his team to a last minute, exciting victory against them.  Shouldn’t they get NCAA penalties for that?  Southern Methodist style?

HydroTech: I know that Washington St. is near the Washington/Idaho border! 

And now that they no longer have wide receiver, Jason Hill, they might have some offensive problems.  Remember Jason Hill?  In 2005 that dude burned us for like 3 touchdowns.  WSU QB Alex Brink was just throwing up deep bombs to Hill like this was EA Sport’s NCAA Football on the Playstation.  It’s unstoppable in the game and was unstoppable in real life - at least when we played them in 2005.  I also remember that Jason Hill got away with an offensive pass interference call on Tim Mixon.  Mixon was about to catch a poorly thrown deep ball along the left sideline when Hill blatantly pushed Mixon in the back as Mixon jumped into the air.  Mixon was only able to deflect the pass and then Hill caught it on the bobble for a touchdown.  I don’t like Jason Hill and now he plays on the 49ers which makes me even more mad. 

TwistNHook: Damnit, Hydro, stop knowing stuff about Wazzu!  You are making the rest of us look bad.

HydroTech: Did you know that in 2005, that WSU started off the season 3-0 by destroying the powerhouse out of conference opponents of Idaho, Nevada, and Grambling St.?  Then they proceeded to lose 7 straight games afterwards. 

Just a random fact that I know. 

Alright, I’m really looking forward to Washington St. @ Wisconsin this season.  I actually think WSU is going to put on a pretty good show.  I’m not completely sold on Wisconsin and I think WSU is a little underrated although somewhat inconsistent.  I thinking the Cougs might give the Badger fans a little bit more of a game then they really bargained for. 

YellowFever: Well, like I’ve said before, I’ve got conference pride.  So I’m going to be pulling for the Cougars to put up a good show against the Badgers.  I don’t have much faith in them actually winning (though I have a hard time understanding why everyone thinks Wisconsin will be so good, P.J. Hill aside), but I’m all for anything that makes the Pac-10, and Cal by extension, look good. 

But I don’t see them doing much at all.  They’ll beat Stanford, and they might put up a fight against Washington in their rivalry game, but are they a factor in the Pac-10?  No.

HydroTech: I really don’t see Washington State being that much of a factor in the Pac-10 race this season too.  I think they’re good enough to knock off a few middle of the road teams, but also bad enough to lose to all the good teams.  I have them slated in at #6. 

Here’s a fun fact: WSU’s starting quarterback Alex Brink is from Eugene, Oregon. 

And on a completely unrelated note, ESPN’s College Football Live says that although Oregon State wide receiver Sammie Straughter returned to practice with the team, head coach Mike Riley does not expect Straughter to play in ANY games this upcoming season.  What the heck is that about? 

The Ballots

In the order of: HydroTech, Ragnarok, TwistNHook, Yellow Fever
1.
2.
3.  OSU,  UCLA, OSU, UO
4.  UCLA, OSU, WSU, UCLA
5.  OU,  ASU, UCLA, ASU
6.  WSU, OU,  OU, UW
7.  ASU, UA,  UA, OSU
8.  AU,  WSU, ASU, AU
9.  UW,  UW, UW, WSU
10.  SU, SU,  SU, SU