Roundtable: Washington State football still ranked 8th. Is that too low?

Jaymin Bernhardt, Contributor

Washington State, I believe is overvalued in the eyes of the committee. Gardner Minshew is a very good quarterback however, it feels to me like most of the throws are ones of the easy variety. Against the Oregon Ducks, WSU played one heck of a game. Their defense was solid and made Heisman hopeful Justin Herbert look pedestrian at best. However, the reoccurring theme seems to be that their offense is one that throws crossing patterns.

Is the Air Raid effective? Absolutely. Oregon usually plays in a zone defense or soft man coverage. The way to stop those routes is to jam the receivers at the line of scrimmage but UO didn’t do that. Washington State is a good football team. However, until they can win something at the end of a season, they will always be overrated because of their ability to “Coug it up.” Once they prove that assumption wrong, they can be considered a contender.

Herb Nightingale

The Cougars are considered second fiddle to the Washington Huskies in the state. Even with victories over Oregon and Stanford this year in the North Division, unless or until they beat the Huskies in the Apple Cup on November 23, they will be undervalued. In fact, they will need to win several PAC-12 North division titles before really being a serious contender on a National stage.

Going into this season, before the rise of Gardner Minshew, no one seriously thought the Cougars would contend for a PAC-12 championship, let alone a playoff spot. Even though they have the top passer in the nation and only one loss, the committee is not likely to put them into the College Football Championship series, unless numbers four through seven falter.

LSU lost last week to number one Alabama last Saturday 29-0 yet WSU still didn’t get enough votes to move past the Tigers. Of course, if LSU loses again it will change, as long as the Cougars continue winning.

Washington State needs to win out, and have number four through six each lose another game by a good margin and no close games against other good teams for the Cougars to get in. It will be a tough road ahead for them.

What do you think? are the Cougars ranked too low?