5 Questions and a Blog Bet with CougCenter

UPDATE: My answers to CougCenter's questions are HERE.

OBNUG: Should we be concerned about a player nicknamed "Boobie" on your roster, and for what reasons (other than this being a family-friendly blog)?

CougCenter: Let’s put it this way: If you’re going to have a nickname like Boobie, you better be awesome. And Boobie is awesome. It’s a tossup between him and Hercules Mata’afa in a contest of "best athlete on the roster"; Williams is one of the handful guys at WSU (along with Mata’afa) who would absolutely fit right in on any team in the country, including Alabama, USC, etc. He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s got great vision and balance ... and all of that means he’s a threat to get into the end zone every time he touches the ball.

Boucing Boobie?

Spinning the straps off of bros.

Of particular note: He’s really, really good at running WSU’s shovel pass screen:

It’s a play that’s particularly effective when the opponent is playing a lot of man to man, or playing a lot of deep-dropping zone coverage, because the middle of the field gets vacated and the Very Large Men get a nice running start at destroying linebackers and DBs. You can bet Boise State’s defensive coaches are trying to devise a way to limit that play.

OBNUG: I admit it, Mike Leach is growing on me. What have you liked about his tenure at Washington State so far?

CougCenter: Well, I like the fact that we’re not getting our faces kicked in by 60 points any more, and instead are the ones occasionally doing the face kicking. That’s very nice. But beyond that, WSU has a rich tradition of oddball coaches running wide-open offenses with really good quarterbacks, and Leach fits right in with that tradition — perhaps even the most extreme example. I love that we have an offense that is unique and fairly easy to understand for pretty much any fan who wants to do a little studying. It reminds me a little of when Dick and Tony Bennett were our basketball coaches, if completely opposite in style: Having an identity you can wrap your arms around is real nice for fans, and being That Program That Throws The Ball A Billion Times is a lot of fun.

OBNUG: After watching last week’s shutout against Montana State (1-0, baby!), are there any areas of concern you still think need to be shored up before you make the leap to FBS opponents? (I promise to forward this response to our coaches.)

CougCenter: Honestly, I didn’t see anything that was like, "WHOA, that’s gonna be a problem" — that’s a pretty nice change from the last two years! It’s more about things that are unknown. Like ... has the secondary improved? We have no earthly idea, since Montana State barely tried to throw the ball. We do think we know that sophomore safety Jalen Thompson is going to be pretty good; he started all 13 games as a freshman and made some nice plays against the Bobcats, including his first career interception. But the corners weren’t really tested much. We’re also not sure how the defensive line is going to hold up to a legit rushing attack, given its smallish stature. I suppose some of those answers will come on Saturday.

OBNUG: Using Microsoft Paint, draw an expression you might see Mike Leach making during the post-game interview.

I am quite the artist, as you can tell.

[You forgot that Mike Leach looks like he's always smelling a pile of dead ferrets. Like, your art teacher.]

OBNUG: On a scale of 90s game consoles (with "Atari Jaguar" being "Not At All" and "Sony Playstation" being "Supremely"), rate your confidence coming into this game.

CougCenter: What’s one step below Playstation — SNES? I’ll go with that. I (like a lot of fans) feel as if the better team didn’t win last year; I believe the Cougars are better than they were last year; and I believe Boise State isn’t as good as they were last year. Additionally, I feel great about this game being played in Pullman rather than Boise.

I’ll even go so far as to say I’m more confident now than I was before the first game. It’s not that the win over MSU did a whole ton to change my perception of the team; it’s more — as we addressed in the third question — that there weren’t any big negative surprises. The last couple of years, the Cougs have gotten a lot better between weeks one and two, and there’s no reason to think they won’t here, also.I do think the current double-digit line is on the high end of what I would expect, but I’ll say WSU wins by something between a touchdown and 10 points — let’s go with 31-24, Cougs.