NCAA Football washington state Cougars

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind.during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his latest dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Washington State. What's the angle, you say? The Cougars have no manner of a long win streak versus the Irish a la Michigan State, USC and Boston College. There's no Ty Willingham connection a la Washington, no in-state pride a la Purdue. There's no season-opener anxiety, as with Nevada and there's no good-old fashioned mutual loathing, as with Michigan.

It only took eight weeks, but the Irish happen to be playing ... just a football game.

LOS ANGELES -- Do you smell that? The foul odor coming from the northwest corner of the country? It stinks doesn't it?

Well let me introduce you to the likely source: Washington State's struggling football program, which arguably could be the worst in playing in a BCS conference.

Second-year coach Paul Wulff's team has not won a game this season and did not come close in ugly defeats to Stanford and Hawaii.

"Frankly, Central Arkansas is a much better team [than Washington State]," Hawaii center John Estes told the Honolulu Star-Review after the Warriors defeated the Cougars' 38-20 last week.

So is this the year someone besides USC wins the Pac-10 title and gains the automatic BCS bowl berth?

If there is ever a year for USC to get chased from behind and caught, this is this year. The Trojans are breaking in a new quarterback in Aaron Corp and replacing several departed starters to the NFL draft.

So who's it going to be? Cal? Can the Golden Bears overcome early-season trap games and win the games they are supposed to and make it interesting? Can Oregon beat USC at home and win difficult road games and take the title? And how about Oregon State? Do Mike Riley teams always have to start 1-3 before getting into high gear?

And what about the rest of the field? Is this Stanford's breakout year? Is UCLA ready to become a Pac-10 factor again? And is Arizona really the third worst team in the conference as it was picked by the media? These are all intriguing questions that will be worked out in the coming weeks.

Our standings preview and records predictions are after the jump.

LOS ANGELES -- USC was picked to win the Pac-10 football title for the seventh consecutive year by the media, and yet the coaches from all nine competitors -- including Arizona's Mike Stoops (right) and even USC coach Pete Carroll -- touched on the uncertainty of the Trojans this season.

USC received 28 of the 32 votes with California receiving three while third-place Oregon collected one vote. The Trojans will be breaking in a new quarterback and several new defenders since 11 players were taken in the NFL Draft. Perhaps this is the year another school emerges and takes the crown out of Los Angeles, but they approached Thursday precariously and with respect. There were no declarations that USC is going down or the reign is over -- not even from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel.

LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps there was a reason Pete Carroll pleaded with Mark Sanchez to return to USC for his senior season. He knew his Trojans would lose their gorilla grip on the Pac-10, and that is the enduring theme entering the conference's media day Thursday at the LAX Sheraton Hotel.

The Trojans are not the prohibitive favorites, but the precarious favorites with a slew of teams chasing them. But there's one major catch in their pursuit, most of the conference teams -- outside Washington -- are breaking in a new or less experienced quarterback. USC should be voted the favorites Thursday, but who is second?

Pity the poor Pac-10; its revenues are barely half of the SEC, Big Ten, and, shudder, the ACC.

As a result, the Pac-10 is exploring a route that has already made it rain on the SEC and the Big Ten, starting their own network. The Big Ten started their own network in conjunction with FOX and netted $66 million from the network last year. Rather than start their own network, the SEC partnered with CBS and ESPN. Beginning this year the SEC will bring in -- wait for it -- $205 million a year just from television rights. Why does that matter? The Pac-10 conference had revenues of just $88.78 million in 2007. Yep, by 2009, the SEC will triple the Pac-10 in sports revenue. That's a huge deal in the arm's race that is major collegiate sports.

Fortunately, as a lover of all things college football, I'm here to help the Pac-10 ensure their network is a hit. How do we do that? Programming, baby, it's all about the programming.

College Football Spring Storylines 2009 looks at the key developments and big news from spring ball.

Since 2002, the Pac-10 has been derisively called USC and the nine dwarves. Its more than a little unfair, but that's the prevailing wisdom. Although the conference is consistently among the deepest and most competitive around, USC's monopolized that top spot. Any chance of that changing this year begins with decisions those programs make this spring.

We're not quite sure if this is altruistic or stupidity, but Washington State quarterback Marshall Lobbestael was arrested Saturday after being discovered passed out in a pickup truck at the police station.

Being 19, he picked up a minor in possession charge. In response, Washington State has suspended him from the team.

The University of Washington wants to renovate Husky Stadium. They estimate the cost to be roughly $300 million. Naturally, the school would like the state to kick in $150 million by extending the taxes the state legislature levied in King County for the construction of Safeco Field and Qwest Stadium.

A contingent of Washington State alumni are doing what they can to derail it.

Athletic Director Scott Woodward and noted Huskies booster Ron Crockett, owner of Emerald Downs racetrack, told legislators that the stadium, built in 1920, needs substantial repairs for basic safety that shouldn't be the responsibility of private donors.

But the unofficial group of WSU alumni, who have launched an e-mail campaign urging lawmakers to vote against the project, said UW should turn to its wealthy base of donors, not taxpayers, for the project, especially since the state is facing a deficit of at least $5 billion.

"We think that they have the capacity at the University of Washington to fund their own stadium," said Glenn Osterhout, a WSU alum who noted that WSU's Martin Stadium is also in the middle of a renovation, which has not received state money.

The Washington State alum view see no reason that the state should fund the renovations which would only serve as a further advantage to the Washington football program in recruiting and marketing. This is when you know that there is a heated in-state rivalry. Everything is fair game.

Washington State itself is taking no sides in this little battle since the WSU Athletic Director admitted that if UW succeeds in getting the money, the Cougars would consider a similar proposal. That seems to be the nature of these things -- whether it is partisan politics or rival schools. Spread the money to both sides, and everyone is happy.

scha·den·freu·de

–noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

[Origin: 1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

I don't think a winning team has ever pulled down the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness award, but we have history this week. LSU fell behind against the Troy Trojans of Troy (We're From Troy!) 31-3, causing a mass exodus from Death Valley and a truly epic message board war. This is the nuclear bomb:

At this point LSU fans just need to STFU. We are largely irrelevant, living off past glory, full of self-congratulatory bluster. Even now, some tard (sorry PJ) is on my radio talking about Nick Saban. Saban ? We don't believe in our team, we don't believe in our coaches, it's not important to us anymore to even stay at the stadium. We have made second-guessing an art form and have a juvenile view of reality. We bitched our way through a National Freaking Championship and now we are sniveling through a 9/10 win season. THAT IS WHO WE ARE. Snivelers. Whiners. Crybabies. With a ridiculous sense of entitlement.

I'm not blaming us or even asking for change, I'm just acknowleding the Truth.

Uh. Wow. And then you've got the first response:

It was either leave or kill the wife to stop the whining and there were too many witnesses to do the right thing.

Yes, what they say about LSU fans is true: they smell like corndogs and are complete lunatics. (Just kidding LSU fans! Please don't dip me in batter and fry me!) The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.