Friday, September 15, 2006

Prediction Time

I've been dreading this all week, because I don't think I can predict a Baylor victory here.

I know a lot of reason the Bears CAN win this weekend, but I don't have those reasons why they WILL win. Washington State is the more established team, both in terms of scheme and experience.

Baylor COULD see its offense come together, and if that happened, then I think Baylor would surely win. But to predict that is going to happen on the road, after a 10 hour plane ride, in a strange field, against a team of about equal talent seems like a stretch. I think it's more likely that we see some good things from the team, and that we see a lot of struggles as well.

Washington State versus our defense is another interesting call. I love our secondary and I think we are going to be ok against the pass. I'll put CJ Wilson up against any receiver in the nation and feel ok about it. And Anthony Arline is a #1 CB playing in a #2 position. And the guys on the bench are pretty good, too.

I think our defensive line has a lot to prove, though. They have to show the ability to shut down the running attack (they looked good against TCU, with 2.9 yards per rush, but lackluster against NSU), and probably more importantly, the ability to pressure the QB.

I'm hoping that Bradley has got some tricks up his sleeve to get after WSUs QB in this game and maybe get him rattled. If we can get him to throw up some ducks, and we can turn them into turnovers, then we'll be giving our offense a much better chance to help us win the game.

Right now, I see WSU getting a couple long drives together and making key plays on offense to put some points on the board.

I see our offense struggling to do the same, although we might get a couple long plays sporadically.

I'm calling it (and I really, really hope I'm wrong):

Washington State - 27
Baylor - 16