Another look at those preseason predictions
The Vandals underperformed.
The Cougars overperformed.
And the Broncos and Eagles were about who we thought they were.
Here’s how our area college football teams did (or are doing) this fall, compared to how we thought they’d do back in August:
- Idaho: The coaches and media thought the Vandals would be a fringe FCS playoff team in their return to the Big Sky Conference, after 22 seasons as an FBS school.
So did I.
We were all wrong. Idaho finished 4-7. I thought they would win eight games.
Juuuuuust a bit off!
As it turned out, the Vandals weren’t able to contain the playmakers (quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers) that many of the Big Sky teams had. Idaho did well in the ground-and-pound games, which were more the norm in the Sun Belt. But the teams with wide-open offenses gave the Vandals fits.
And that’s one thing that has to change in a hurry, if Idaho hopes to be in the mix for a Big Sky title, which the Vandals were for many years until leaving the league following the 1995 season.
- Washington State: The Cougars are 10-2 and headed for a major bowl — we thought they’d go 8-4 — and it’s only the sixth time in school history WSU has won 10 games in a season.
Yeah, but ...
Only a college football diehard knew of Gardner Minshew — Minshew Gardner? — before he showed up in Pullman this summer as a grad transfer. Months later, he (and/or his mustache) became a cult hero and a fringe Heisman candidate.
Until losing the Apple Cup on Friday, WSU was talked about as a possibility to make the College Football Playoff — using the same logic that says any guy who’s single technically has a chance to date Maria Sharapova.
Alas, those dreams — the football ones, anyway — died a snowy death in Pullman at the hands of the Huskies.
Still, Mike Leach has the Cougars consistently winning — something that has rarely happened with regularity in Pullman.
Yeah, but ...
WSU, despite its newfound success against most of the other Pac-12 schools, still can’t beat the Huskies.
- Boise State: We had BSU going 11-1. As it turned out, the Broncos got whipped at Oklahoma State, stumbled at home against San Diego State, barely beat BYU and had to rally to beat Fresno State at home.
Still, the Broncos took a 9-2 record in their matchup late Saturday night with Utah State, where a win put BSU in the Mountain West championship game — which should be a game the Broncos play in every year.
Then they should play in a pretty decent bowl.
It’s funny — it was a little over a decade ago when Boise State became America’s darlings. But in recent years, despite going 12-2, 9-4, 10-3 and 11-3 in the past four seasons the Broncos have been largely forgotten nationally.
Call it an unintended consequence of the end-all, be-all College Football Playoff, where a single loss eliminates most teams from national title contention (though SEC teams seem to get a mulligan).
Or maybe it’s because, while impressive, those records are just a notch below the stretch where BSU went 84-8 from 2006-12.
- Eastern Washington: Not many teams — especially at the FCS level — could lose such a highly acclaimed quarterback for the season to injury after five games, and seemingly not miss a beat.
But the Eags plugged in Eric Barriere in place of Gage Gubrud and managed to keep on keepin’ on.
Eastern is 9-2 — we picked the Eags to be 9-2, meaning if you do this enough, you’re bound to get one right — and earned a first-round bye in the FCS playoffs. The Eagles’ only loss with Barriere at QB was at Weber State. Since then, EWU has won four straight and averaged 54.8 points per game.
A return by the Eags to the national championship game for the first time since 2010 is a distinct possibility.
A bigger possibility than scoring a date with ... well, you know.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.