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Cave_Johnson
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Hot damn, The Battle of the Palouse is back. Hard to believe it's been three years since the Vandals marched into Martin Stadium during Paul Petrino's first year and walked out with a 42-0 ass kicking. Not many players remain from that year's squad, but I'm sure the few who had the misfortune of being on the field during that game remember it well. I'm also sure they remember the classic meeting between Petrino and Leach at midfield after the game.
Paul : "Good game sir. I'm going to go home and clean my house with one of those fancy electric sucking mechanisms....what do you call them again?"
Mike: "Vacuums"
These guys are obviously real close pals. How could they not be when they live on the same street in Pullman. Gotta love the University of Idaho. Only school where the head football coach lives in another state and the President lives 300 miles away.
Anyway, a lot has changed since that fateful day in 2013. For WSU there have been highs and lows. Last year's bowl win was the first for the Cougs in a decade. Of course the success lead to a bunch of preseason hype. Unfortunately WSU is currently 0-2 after losing to an FCS team in their home opener for the second year in a row and later narrowly getting edged out in Chuck Staben's favorite city.
Don't fret though Coug fans. Nothing cures a losing streak like playing Idaho. The Vandals come into this one after a blowout loss to 8th ranked Washington. Last week's game was a disaster from the start for Idaho after they went down 7-0 16 seconds into the game. The defense hung with the Huskies for the first quarter and the offense actually moved the ball fairly well until untimely turnovers did them in. One or two questionable fourth down calls created great field position for UW in the second quarter which lead to an explosion of points and a deficit that Idaho just couldn't overcome.
On the plus side for that game, Linehan looked decent. There were some major questions about his accuracy after the MSU game but he appears to have fixed most of his issues. Defensively the Vandals actually showed some life, they just didn't have the depth or talent to hang with a top 10 squad. Overall I liked what I saw in this one more than that mess in the first game against MSU. My only worry is Linehan's health after he took a big shot late in the game and never returned. Likely he was going to come out anyway, but given his history I can't help but wonder if he didn't tweak something there.
Getting back on track though, there really is quite a lot to say about the WSU match up. Current Idaho defensive coordinator Mike Breske was actually the D-coordinator for the Cougars in 2013, so he'll definitely be familiar with Leach's coaching style and offense. Of course Leach is also very familiar with Breske. Each will know what the other wants to do. Unfortunately for Idaho WSU will come into this one with the better athletes, and that's something Leach is going to exploit.
Breske has to know this though, and I'm sure he's looked over the WSU-EWU tape plenty. In that game the Eagles did a great job of keeping the Cougar WRs in front of them. They didn't give up many big plays, they tackled well, and they bent about as far as possible without breaking. Sure, WSU got their points. But EWU limited them enough to steal the victory. Look for the Vandals to attempt to do the same, but expect it to be largely unsuccessful. Ultimately Idaho is going to have to force some turnovers to keep themselves in the game here.
In my mind though the offensive side of the ball is really where Idaho can do some damage in this one. Scoring a lot of points won't be as important as staying on the field. Give the Vandal defense time to rest and keep the high scoring WSU Offense on the sideline. Sustaining long drives by spreading the ball around and keeping the defense off balance with the running game will be the game plan. Idaho has yet to really get it's screen game going with Callen Hightower and in my opinion has not taken advantage of the mismatches that can be caused by having Deon Watson and Buck Cowan on the field at the same time. I'm expecting to see them open things up a bit more this week. There really is a lot of talent in that receiving corps to exploit if Linehan has a decent pocket to throw in and plays to the level he is capable of.
Prediction: WSU has to be frustrated after losing two games they could have easily won. Leach isn't going to forget the incident with Petrino in 2013 and will be looking to run the score up in this one. Luke Falk is extremely capable in this offense and I'm not sure Idaho has anybody that will be able to hang with Gabe Marks all game. As I already mentioned, the talent and depth advantage WSU has is going to really make the difference here.
Idaho keeps it respectable in the first quarter, loses a bit of ground in the second, and the wheels fall off in the early third quarter. Barring WSU shooting themselves in the foot multiple times this is a clear blowout. Cougs cover.
WSU 62
Idaho 20
Paul : "Good game sir. I'm going to go home and clean my house with one of those fancy electric sucking mechanisms....what do you call them again?"
Mike: "Vacuums"
These guys are obviously real close pals. How could they not be when they live on the same street in Pullman. Gotta love the University of Idaho. Only school where the head football coach lives in another state and the President lives 300 miles away.
Anyway, a lot has changed since that fateful day in 2013. For WSU there have been highs and lows. Last year's bowl win was the first for the Cougs in a decade. Of course the success lead to a bunch of preseason hype. Unfortunately WSU is currently 0-2 after losing to an FCS team in their home opener for the second year in a row and later narrowly getting edged out in Chuck Staben's favorite city.
Don't fret though Coug fans. Nothing cures a losing streak like playing Idaho. The Vandals come into this one after a blowout loss to 8th ranked Washington. Last week's game was a disaster from the start for Idaho after they went down 7-0 16 seconds into the game. The defense hung with the Huskies for the first quarter and the offense actually moved the ball fairly well until untimely turnovers did them in. One or two questionable fourth down calls created great field position for UW in the second quarter which lead to an explosion of points and a deficit that Idaho just couldn't overcome.
On the plus side for that game, Linehan looked decent. There were some major questions about his accuracy after the MSU game but he appears to have fixed most of his issues. Defensively the Vandals actually showed some life, they just didn't have the depth or talent to hang with a top 10 squad. Overall I liked what I saw in this one more than that mess in the first game against MSU. My only worry is Linehan's health after he took a big shot late in the game and never returned. Likely he was going to come out anyway, but given his history I can't help but wonder if he didn't tweak something there.
Getting back on track though, there really is quite a lot to say about the WSU match up. Current Idaho defensive coordinator Mike Breske was actually the D-coordinator for the Cougars in 2013, so he'll definitely be familiar with Leach's coaching style and offense. Of course Leach is also very familiar with Breske. Each will know what the other wants to do. Unfortunately for Idaho WSU will come into this one with the better athletes, and that's something Leach is going to exploit.
Breske has to know this though, and I'm sure he's looked over the WSU-EWU tape plenty. In that game the Eagles did a great job of keeping the Cougar WRs in front of them. They didn't give up many big plays, they tackled well, and they bent about as far as possible without breaking. Sure, WSU got their points. But EWU limited them enough to steal the victory. Look for the Vandals to attempt to do the same, but expect it to be largely unsuccessful. Ultimately Idaho is going to have to force some turnovers to keep themselves in the game here.
In my mind though the offensive side of the ball is really where Idaho can do some damage in this one. Scoring a lot of points won't be as important as staying on the field. Give the Vandal defense time to rest and keep the high scoring WSU Offense on the sideline. Sustaining long drives by spreading the ball around and keeping the defense off balance with the running game will be the game plan. Idaho has yet to really get it's screen game going with Callen Hightower and in my opinion has not taken advantage of the mismatches that can be caused by having Deon Watson and Buck Cowan on the field at the same time. I'm expecting to see them open things up a bit more this week. There really is a lot of talent in that receiving corps to exploit if Linehan has a decent pocket to throw in and plays to the level he is capable of.
Prediction: WSU has to be frustrated after losing two games they could have easily won. Leach isn't going to forget the incident with Petrino in 2013 and will be looking to run the score up in this one. Luke Falk is extremely capable in this offense and I'm not sure Idaho has anybody that will be able to hang with Gabe Marks all game. As I already mentioned, the talent and depth advantage WSU has is going to really make the difference here.
Idaho keeps it respectable in the first quarter, loses a bit of ground in the second, and the wheels fall off in the early third quarter. Barring WSU shooting themselves in the foot multiple times this is a clear blowout. Cougs cover.
WSU 62
Idaho 20
