A playoff berth for WSU? It’s actually possible, and it would be a kind of justice

If Washington State makes it into the College Football Playoff this season, it would be one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of the sport.

That might sound like a bunch of concocted B.S. from a devout Coug, but it’s true. Granted, I realize you’ve got all kinds of counterpoints that make my contention laughable, not to mention highly unlikely.

If we hired an arbitrator to determine who has the best argument, you’d win hands down. But can you let us Cougs dream a little bit? I mean, if it happens, don’t we deserve it after what we’ve been through?

Washington State has won seven of its first eight games and moved into the AP Top 25 this week at No. 22. ESPN’s College Football Playoff Predictor projects the Cougs as having a 10 percent chance to get into the new 12-team championship format.

Those odds will undoubtedly improve in November with the Cougs being big favorites to win their remaining four games against Utah State, New Mexico, Oregon State and Wyoming.

An 11-1 season would put them in a better position to be chosen for the CFP, especially when you consider that their only loss would be to a Boise State team that is ranked No. 15 now but will probably finish the year in the top 10.

Granted, Washington State has not played a strong schedule. In fact, it’s been weak as hell, I’ll give you that. And for a long-time follower of the Pac-12, this first season consisting of many Mountain West opponents has been largely uninspiring to me. I admit to really missing the Pac-12 and wish we were still playing USC and Oregon instead of Hawaii and San Diego State.

But you know what happened — 10 of the 12 conference teams left for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, leaving WSU and Oregon State behind, treating us like trash.

I love how the Cougs - and to a lesser degree, the Beavs too - are fighting back. What’s happening in Pullman this season is a big ol’ bleep you to everyone who played a role in this stupid upheaval in college football.

While the Huskies and Ducks are sending their players across the country every other week to play Big Ten games, the Cougs are doing their damndest to remain relevant and basically saying: “Hey you jerks who caused all of this, don’t forget about us!”

So yeah, that schedule of ours has definitely been a contributing factor to our 7-1 record. You could even say we’re lucky to be 7-1 because we certainly could have lost to Washington, San Jose State, Fresno State and San Diego State. If we played a Pac-12 schedule, there’s no way we’d be 7-1 after eight games.

But I’d argue that it should still be impressive to the CFP committee that will choose the 12 teams. And while they’re considering the Cougs as a possible candidate, somebody better put Jake Dickert into the running for national coach of the year.

Think about it. Dickert has managed to successfully navigate an unprecedented situation. There could be excuses galore for why things haven’t worked out, but instead we’re talking about why they have. Most of these players came to WSU expecting to play Power 5 opponents. It’s got to be a letdown to play Hawaii at homecoming instead of Utah.

Conversely, if you’re a Mountain West team, you want to prove your worth against a Pac-12 team like Washington State so you’ve got built-in motivation. I think the Cougs are emotional underdogs every week but they’ve consistently overcome that intangible.

Yet because of that schedule, we need help to get into the playoff. We’ve turned into scoreboard watchers, hoping teams ahead of us in the rankings lose and lose some more. Like this week we need Notre Dame to lose to Florida State and Indiana to lose to Michigan State, to cite two examples.

At the same time, we want two other teams - Boise State and Texas Tech - to win because it would improve our resume. It would also help the Cougs if the Huskies win, but that’s taking it too far. It’s impossible for me to root for our biggest rival when I’ve been rooting against them for 50 years, even if it’s for the greater good.

The only rankings that matter - the ones picked by the CFP committee - come out for the first time next week on Nov. 5th. In early December, the top 12 will be revealed, and if anyone has a heart and an affinity for a team that got royally screwed over, the Cougs should make the cut.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.

This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 9:03 AM.