Bottom of the Pac? Cougars should be better than projected

Connor Halliday, the nation's third-leading passer last year, returns to an offense that should help the Cougars win at least six games this season. (AP)

A week from today, the Cougars kick off the 2014 season against Rutgers at CenturyLink Field. They’re nine-point favorites and figure to beat Nevada in Reno on Sept. 5 and Portland State in Pullman on Sept. 13. If all of that happens, which it should, the Cougars will be 3-0 when they face Oregon at Martin Stadium on Sept. 20.

After so many years of the Cougar flag flying in the background everywhere else, there’s a good chance that ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew will be in Pullman for the first time. To take it one more step, how cool would it be if Lee Corso puts Butch’s head on at the end of the show, picking WSU to beat the Ducks?

When it comes to the Cougs, I have a permanent place on Fantasy Island, right under three palm trees on a sandy beach.

But there’s always someone – actually, a bunch of “someones” – who spoil the dreams by talking or writing about Cougar flaws that will prevent them from being good enough to even be in the game with the Ducks.

Those same someones – and I hate them all – think the Cougars will be halfway decent this year. Not good, not bad. The over-under for WSU’s number of wins is 5.5, and if I were in Vegas, I’d bet with both hands on the over. The Cougs, with a senior quarterback and their array of wide receivers, should go at least 6-6, shouldn’t they?

It really bothered me when ESPN.com’s Stats & Information department calculated a bunch of stuff, I guess, and determined the Cougs have a .01 percent chance of winning the Pac-12. If it were 1 percent, I’d say, OK, I get it, but .01 percent? Not buying it. You mean to tell me if they played out this Pac-12 season 1,000 times – or maybe it’s 10,000 times; I didn’t take math at WSU – the Cougars would win the conference only once?

Is the rest of the conference that good? Are the Cougs that bad? Or is it a combination of both?

A media poll has WSU finishing fifth in the Pac-12 North, ahead of only Sonny Dykes’ hapless Cal Bears. I’ll give you Oregon and Stanford, but the Dawgs? And the Beavers? WSU is going to be worse than them, too?

And do you mean to tell me, if that over-under is correct, after the Cougs go 3-0 to start the season, there’s a chance they’ll go 2-7 the rest of the way?

The biggest concerns? Offensive line, where WSU lost three starters, and the secondary, where the Cougs lost Deone Bucannon and Damante Horton.

I love the Pac-12 Network, and I watched their preview show of the Cougs when they went to Martin Stadium with Mike Yam, Curtis Conway and Rick Neuheisel, my favorite Husky coach of all-time, narrowly edging Tyrone Willingham.

It’s nearly impossible to beat out a coach who led the Dawgs to an 0-12 record in 2008, but Neuheisel proved capable, winning a lawsuit against the UW and embarrassing the hell out of the school in the process. What a beautiful thing that trial was. Some days when I’m on Fantasy Island, I dream of those afternoons in the Kent courtroom, like the one when Slick Rick was on the witness stand, and his cell phone rang. Should’ve seen the look on the judge’s face, and I swear that Neuheisel checked to see who was calling before he turned off his phone. It was either that day or the next when Neuheisel’s sister flipped off Hugh Millen, spicing up the festivities in a big way.

Anyway, the Pac-12 Network crew interviewed Mike Leach, and I was encouraged to hear that we have more depth on the defensive line along with bigger and more athletic offensive linemen.

The No. 1 concern for me is keeping Connor Halliday healthy and/or giving him time to throw. As you know, he’s not the most mobile kid in the world.

If he goes down, since Austin Apodaca and Tyler Bruggman transferred, we’re left with walk-on Luke Falk to take over. I’ve read a few things about Falk and know that he was supposed to go to Florida State at one point so he must be pretty good, but I still don’t want to see him until next year or in blowout wins this year.

Even if our defense is improved, there will still be games when our secondary is blistered, which means the Cougs will have to win shootouts, and Halliday’s equipped to do it.

When it comes to evaluating the “someones” who project how Washington State will fare this year, I respect the guys in Vegas more than anyone else. So let’s go with a 6-6 regular season and another trip to a minor bowl game with a better outcome this time around.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.