Washington St Cougars 2016 NCAA Football Preview
WASHINGTON ST COUGARS
PAC-12 Conference – North Division
2015 Record – 9-4
ATS – 10-3
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
North Division #4
Conference #7
2015 Recap
Now THAT was what we had hoped to see out of a Mike Leach coached team. They had a fine 9-win season, and to put things in perspective, from 2008 to 2011 they had a grand total of NINE wins. They started out slow losing to Portland St (!) and slithering past Rutgers, but after week four, they really caught fire. They beat Oregon, Arizona and UCLA on the road and then finished up with a Sun Bowl victory over Miami.
2016 Preview
OFFENSE
This should be fun. QB Luke Falk did not even play a full season and still put up video game numbers (4,500 yards, 38 TD, 8 INT) in 2015. Falk returns to lead a loaded offense that returns 8 starters from last year’s team. Almost the entire WR corps from 2015 is back including star Gabe Marks who hauled in 104 balls for 1,192 yards and 15 TDs. The offensive line gave up 41 sacks last season, but all things being considered, that is not bad given the Cougars threw the ball over 700 times last season.
Washington St doubled their rushing yards per game from 2014 to 2015. The problem is that they still ranked 127th in the FBS. Now to be clear, this offense is not predicated on the run game picking up a lot of yards, but if they could just crack the 100 per game barrier it would help keep defenses a bit more honest.
DEFENSE
The defense was the difference last year. We have always said, if you have a team with a high-powered offense, you just need your defense to be average or a bit better to have a successful campaign. Washington St held their opponents to less than 30 points per game (27.7) for the first time seemingly since the Nixon administration, and the results showed up in the win column SU (9) and ATS (10).
The Cougars return a fine LB corps including leading tackler from 2015, Peyton Pelluer. The secondary was sneaky-good last season only allowing 13 TD passes while picking off 13. Three starters return to this group and they should be good once again.
The big worry is the defensive line which helped lead the Cougars to an impressive sack total of 33 (rank #30 FBS, 6th PAC 12) last year. The run defense is a concern of ours, and overall, Washington St loses four of their top 5 sack guys from the 2015 team. So it comes down to this. Find a way to pressure the QB like you did last season or else the secondary will get exposed.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Last season was a bit of a dud as the Cougars finished in the bottom third of the PAC 12 in net punting, punt returns and kickoff returns. PK Erik Powell did a fine job (20/26), but overall, they need to get a lot better on special teams if they want to take a crack at winning the division.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 7.0
MEGALOCKS says:
Legitimate expectations. That is how we feel about the Cougars this season. Their offense is going to be fantastic. We can easily see them scoring 35+ points per game (31.5, 31.8, 31.0 L3Y) but the defense has to be on par with last season’s unit for them to take a step forward in 2016. The schedule is pretty manageable other than a 3-week stretch where they face Oregon, Stanford, and UCLA. Then again, they did beat Oregon and UCLA on the road last year.
Overall, we give the COUGARS a 7.0 ATS Value Rating (Good) this season. Fine. I guess we will drink the Kool Aid. Washington St went 9-15 ATS in 2012 and 2014 combined. In 2013 and 2015 they were a combined 19-7 ATS (!). The offense is going to very difficult to stop, but in our opinion, whether or not this team can be a money maker hinges on the play of the DL. We enjoyed backing the Cougars last season after almost a decade of being in the MEGALOCKS PENALTY BOX. They are worth keeping on your watch list again.
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Website
http://www.wsucougars.com/index.aspx?path=football
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http://www.scout.com/college/washington-state/forums/1995-football-forum
https://washingtonstate.forums.rivals.com/forums/the-cougar-lair.8/
News
http://www.spokesman.com/cougs/
http://bleacherreport.com/washington-state-football
https://twitter.com/wsucougfb @wsucougfb
https://twitter.com/JacobThorpeSR @JacobThorpeSR Jacob Thorpe
https://twitter.com/StefanieLoh @StefanieLoh Stefanie Loh