The big optimist side of me says WSU has a great chance at winning the next three games, especially against Colorado State, which I heard has a terrible defense and questionable defense by Texas State, based on that high scoring game last weekend. But another part of me believes the Cougs could continue to run out of steam in the second half as we have been known to do. But regardless, I would like to keep hopeful about the future of our program and see whatever changes come our way leads to some level of dominance in the coming years. Go Cougs!

He said someone called him Sunday, gonna guess Baylor?

https://www.si.com/college-football/pat-forde-college-football-playoff-projected-bracket-after-week-8-2026

Here you go!

The Field 

1. Miami (7–0)
2. Ohio State (6–1) 
3. UCLA (7–0)
4. Georgia (6–1)
5. Indiana (7–1)
6. Kentucky (7–1) 
7. Utah (7–0)
8. BYU (6–1)
9. Notre Dame (6–1)
10. Wake Forest (6–1)
11. Texas (5–2) 
12. Boise State (6–1) 

Also considered: Northwestern, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, LSU, Arizona, SMU, Wisconsin, New Mexico, UTSA. 

First Round 

• No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Indiana
• No. 11 Texas at No. 6 Kentucky
• No. 10 Wake Forest at No. 7 Utah 
• No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 BYU 

Quarterfinals 

• Cotton Bowl: No. 4 Georgia vs. winner of No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Indiana
• Rose Bowl: No. 3 UCLA vs. winner of No. 11 Texas at No. 6 Kentucky
• Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 10 Wake Forest at No. 7 Utah
• Peach Bowl: No. 1 Miami vs. winner of No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 BYU 

Can I watch for free on CW Sports? or it is required on ESPN app.

Last post about Coach Shep today, promise! Posted three of these threads with different quotes that I thought touched on big important/popular topics. He gave a lot of good answers today and wanted to give each it's own focus. Full quotes below:

Reporter: We haven't had a chance to ask you yet about your thoughts on expanding the college football playoff to 24 teams. What are your thoughts on that?

Coach Shep: Man, you know, I really just worry about access. When you start talking about expanding to 24 teams, you think about the men's NCAA basketball tournament and the number of teams that get an opportunity to get involved in that tournament. They win their conference championships and things of that nature. I mean it's it's special, it's something that when you play college basketball, you know that you have a real chance every [year], all four years to be involved in that NCAA tournament. And if you've never been to one of those games, they're special. They're special. They really truly are. Every year I watch the ending and see all the different plays made throughout the tournament. And it's a special moment for these young people. I'm really happy that they have that available to them and that has not always been available to everybody in college football.

It's just the reality of it. If you're - and I don't want to be disrespectful - but if you're in some of these conferences around the country, specifically outside of the top five [conferences] - the PAC 12 being one of those top five...if you're outside of those top five it's sometimes a little more difficult to get into to the [playoffs] even with winning your conference. I'm hoping that with the 24 team playoff...I know that there there's some ideas floating around of what that should look like. 'Oh, this conference you get so many automatic bids. That conference you get that many automatic bids.' Well, this kid, he puts on his pads just like this kid in this other conference. He has to come to work under the same rules, stipulations, and things of that nature within the NCAA's bylaws that the kid at another conference has to. Everyone has to work under the same set of rules.

So, let let's try to make it more accessible to more people rather than just trying to make the rich richer. And that's what it ends up boiling down to, the rich get richer. And I'm hoping that that's not the case. I hope [they] actually care about student athletes, all student athletes, not just the ones in the SEC and the Big 10.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zezRjPCGQW4 Around 12 min mark

Reporter: "When did you know that the commitment was going to be made [by Jesse] and why was it the right time to do now compared to maybe the end of the season? Was it something that Jesse wanted to do during the by-week? Was it something his dad wanted? Like why why now? And how can that only benefit you throughout the rest of the season and into next year?

Coach Shep: "Well, I think that one of the benefit pieces is it just lets people know what kind of culture we have here at Oregon State University, that he would want to do that that [so] early. [Jesse] definitely could have waited and tried to hold us to the fire on certain things and his representation could have really tried to hammer us on some things and made it really difficult for us to to keep him. And so Jesse wants us to have a great football team here. He wants to have a winning football team here. And so he wanted to get this over with. And it definitely was in the back of his mind. There's been people asking, "Hey, I don't know if I want to donate unless I know some of these people are coming back." Hey, well, guess what? He said he's coming back, so go ahead and start donating.

You know, there are some wondering, "Hey, are other guys going to want to come back [next season]?" You know, and once they know Jesse's coming back, well, there's no doubt. I don't think that he thinks that it's all [about] him. I think that he believes that he is letting everyone know, "Hey, I believe in the culture and I want to stand side-by-side with the men in this program and continue to uplift this program. I think that's that's the message that partly gets lost with with what happened there. Ultimately it wasn't ever really truly about him. It was about what he felt like about this program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zezRjPCGQW4 around 8/9 min mark

Edit: Sorry misspelled his last name in the title, it's Shephard

Shephard gave a great press conference today and touched on lots of things. Going to post a few threads about topics he weighed in on. This one is Shepards comments on Jesse going to back his high school for his return announcement (pulled from the YouTube auto transcript, wasn't going to retypeout everything he said...pretty accurate):

Specifically talking about what happened with Jesse, I think there just has to be some context related to that. I think that people don't realize how important it is for that young man to go back and represent his city, Baltimore, Maryland, and represent his high school in a in a very passionate yet positive way. He's doing everything that he can to let people in his community know that they have the opportunity, ability to be successful regardless of what anybody thinks about them. A lot of people didn't think a whole lot of [those guys]. And I thought it was great for him to go back into his community. He's going to have an impact with a lot of younger athletes and things of that nature back in Baltimore because of what he did this past week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zezRjPCGQW4 around 4 min mark