Stuck at No. 8, Washington State piles up evidence to try to convince playoff skeptics

The conversation began with the College Football Playoff’s latest ranking, but veered into more familiar fantasy. Sadly, Mike Leach is not a believer in Bigfoot – even though, from his perch in the Northwest, the idea does not seem completely impossible.

“I think my odds are quite high, if one does exist, of being within a couple hours of him,” he said.

More on the (possibly) mythical creature in a bit. Back to the reason we were talking Tuesday night. Had Leach seen the latest rankings?

“No,” he said. “Where are we?”

Washington State ranks No. 8. Just behind LSU, just ahead of UCF and Ohio State. Leach took in the information, then asked:

“Where should we be?”

Probably somewhere closer to the Playoff bracket, more involved in the conversation.

Instead, as Washington State (10-1) keeps winning, it remains lodged firmly at No. 8 – it’s occupied that position in all four of the selection committee’s rankings so far – and the static ranking seems consistent with the narrative that the Cougars need a lot of help to move past the teams ranked higher and into the four-team bracket.

“I think we can (play with the other contenders),” Leach said. “Like all teams, I don’t think we’re a complete team, but I do think we can.”

Leach almost certainly does not know that “complete team” is one of the selection committee’s current buzz terms. But he knows many are generally skeptical of his team.

“I’m generally aware of the fact that until recently, everybody thought we’d get our heads kicked in every game – which we haven’t,” he said.

Instead, the Cougars have done the kicking.

Washington State is led by a legitimate (and mustachioed) Heisman candidate in quarterback Gardner Minshew; its offensive numbers are as wacky as you’d expect from Leach’s Air Raid system. But it plays some defense, too. And if the Cougars can beat rival Washington in the Apple Cup on Friday night in Pullman, they’ll head to the Pac-12 championship game riding an eight-game win streak and hoping they’ve provided enough evidence to convince skeptics.

But even as they’ve rolled to wins, there’s this nagging concern: Has anyone seen them? Witness this post on a reddit message board by a Washington State fan Tuesday night, not long after the rankings were released: “If you score 55 but no one is awake to see it, did it really happen?”

The reference was to Washington State’s 69-28 victory – the Cougars scored 55 points in the first half – last Saturday night over Arizona. Emphasis on “night.” Kickoff was 10:30 p.m. Eastern. Did anyone see it?

“Honestly – and I’m not a big ‘sing the blues’ guy – honestly, I suspect not,” Leach said.

(Ahem: “We saw what Washington State did, putting up 55 points in the first half,” selection committee chairman Rob Mullens said Tuesday night. So there’s that.)

It was a tremendous show, perhaps the Cougars’ most complete performance. And Washington State’s run prompts the question: Was the Pac-12 written out of the playoff too soon? Consider that the Cougars’ only loss was by three points at USC, on a Friday night in September, complete with a couple of mildly controversial calls. Since then, all they have done is win seven consecutive games in a league Leach insists is better than people think.

“I guess at some point you’ll find out who ends up on top in this thing,” Leach said, “but I think from top to bottom the Pac-12 is the toughest conference. I don’t know if the Pac-12 has the best team (in the country) or not, but I do know the lower half is really good.”

Washington State’s nonconference schedule of Wyoming, San Jose State and Eastern Washington has been cited as a prime reason for disregarding the Cougars, and it's legitimate criticism. Using opponents’ winning percentage – which is what the selection committee does – Washington State's nonconference strength of schedule ranks 60th among 65 Power Five teams (but then, Alabama’s nonconference strength of schedule ranks only 41st).

Leach also contends Washington State’s reality is the harder climb of a program that is not a traditional winner. But he said he’s not paying much attention to the preliminary rankings or what’s being said about the Cougars’ playoff chances.

“Everybody that thought we were gonna get pounded by everybody – they’re the same people saying, ‘You should be ranked here or there,’ ” Leach said. “None of it has helped us move the needle.”

To move up much from that No. 8 slot might take several rounds of chaos in a season that has not seen much of any. Which is too bad, because the vision of Leach getting the full playoff publicity treatment is tantalizing.

Consider the Pirate, as coach of the No. 4 seed, wandering earnestly along a thought stream as Alabama’s Nick Saban sat quietly next to him. How would Saban enjoy Leach’s musings on Bigfoot? Because he has some.

“It’d be neat if there is one,” Leach said Tuesday. “My biggest problem with Bigfoot is, where’s the bones? There’s no bones. We have dinosaur bones from prehistoric times.”

That brought us back to something he and I had discussed last season. What is the correct plural of bigfoot? Bigfoots, or maybe bigfeet? It should be bigfoot, he said – like moose or deer.

“So you’d say, ‘We saw a herd of bigfoot,' " he said. 

And his reasoning remains the same as last year, when he told me: “If real, they deserve distinction.”

There’s an Apple Cup to play, and for Washington State that matchup is traditionally a significant obstacle (they’ve lost five in a row to Washington). It’s one reason Leach didn’t watch the rankings reveal Tuesday night, or know the Cougars’ status until we talked.

“I don’t have any control over that,” he said. “What can I do? Any minute I spend thinking about it is a little wasted. If I come up with even the slightest technique or coaching point that gets us even one more first down, that’s more important. … We’ve been pretty good at focusing on trying to improve and impress ourselves instead of anybody else.”

But if they win, hopefully someone will take notice. It’s past time the Cougars factored into the playoff conversation. 

If real, they deserve distinction.