Examining Washington State’s 2019 football schedule

Don’t look now Coug fans, but there are 70 days until Cougar football. There’s plenty of lake time between now and then, but before you know it, Pac-12 Media Day will come and soon after, Sacajawea Junior High in Lewiston, Idaho, will be flooded with college football players.

In that spirit, I thought it’d be good to examine WSU’s football schedule. Also, there’s not much else going on out there.

Bill Connelly, now formerly of SB Nation, had an in-depth look at the Cougs’ upcoming season. Part of his preview is to give win probabilities for each game:

If you trust the win probabilities, then the Cougs are only losing three games. Bill has them squeaking out a win at Arizona State, and apparently we’re going to absolutely crush Northern Colorado. Can’t wait.

Some additional thoughts on the schedule:

• That game at Houston should be all sorts of fun. Both teams have prolific offenses, and Houston’s defense is a work in progress. Beware of the short travel week for WSU, though. Now, watch the game end 13-10.
• This is the year of the double bye in college football, thanks to the 2019 calendar. WSU’s byes are Oct. 6 (between at Utah and at Arizona State) and Nov. 2 (between at Oregon and at Cal).
• Those are some nicely placed bye weeks. Playing Utah and Arizona State on the road on back-to-back weekends would be brutal. Same goes for playing Oregon and Cal on the road on back-to-back weekends. Thank you, schedule makers.
• The toughest three-game stretch looks to be at Oregon on Oct. 26, at Cal on Nov. 9 and home against Stanford on Nov. 16. Of course, the bye week between Oregon and Cal makes that three-game stretch a little more manageable.
• If you’re looking for a tough three-game stretch that doesn’t include a bye, I guess you’d go with at Arizona State, home against Colorado, and at Oregon.
• I’ve written it once but I’ll say it again: There’s a decent chance College GameDay heads to Salt Lake City on Sept. 28 if both Utah and WSU are unbeaten.
• College GameDay making a return to Pullman for a second year in a row seems out of the cards, although weirder things have happened. Who knows, maybe the stars align and WSU and Colorado are worthy of a visit. Who knows?!?!

Links

Pac-12 power rankings: Competitive 2019 race? Absolutely! National contenders? Eh - SBNation.com
The Pac-12 has depth and intrigue, but perceptions will continue to be hurt by a lack of truly elite play.

Houston, UCF and Group of Five teams with top-10 ceilings | SI.com
Will a Group of Five team crack the playoff for the first time this year? Probably not. But can any come close again? Definitely.

Charlotte Hornets add shooting in two-way player Robert Franks
The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to a two-way contract with undrafted free agent Robert Franks, who was a sharpshooter at Washington State.

Washington State’s Robert Franks agrees to 2-way NBA contract with Charlotte Hornets: Report - oregonlive.com
Franks, an alumnus of Evergreen High School in Vancouver, averaged 21.6 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Cougars as a senior last season and earned first-team all-Pac-12 honors.