Why the Weirdness?
Question: There have been some wild finishes with the Cougars over the past several years, especially since Mario Cristobal has been at the helm. What do you think it is about Washington State that gives Oregon fans such unease, and why do they always give the Ducks a tough game?
Neel: I think that the Cougars can be compared pretty closely to the Seattle Seahawks, in the sense that they’ve seemingly never played a “normal game” (Shout out to Kevin Clark.) Whether it’s finding a way to ‘coug it’ down the stretch or just being involved in wild shootouts that often take place after much of the nation outside of the west coast has gone to bed, strange things just seem to happen when Washington State is involved. As if it were a black hole, it seems that any team playing them is affected by that gravitational pull. Oregon is no exception.
Smalley: Other than Chip Kelly’s offense, Washington State’s offensive attack is the most difficult to defend because they spread you out and throw the ball often. They make the secondary play defense A LOT, so eventually, WSU will find an open receiver to make a play and score. It’s also hard to pressure the quarterback with how fast they get the snap and fire it off. There’s just not enough time to get to him.
It’s like in baseball. A homerun hitter is always in scoring position. The same goes for the Cougars. They don’t have to be inside the 20 to be a threat to score a touchdown.
Patton: Teams that pass the ball a ton are often volatile, and like him or hate him it seemed like Mike Leach knew how to exploit Oregon’s (and Cristobal’s) weaknesses. It’s possible the Ducks have overlooked this team in years past, focused more on Oregon State and Washington as their local rivals, but I think it’s more to do with the pass-heavy attack causing problems.