Cougar Season Opener Vs. Wisconsin

The Cougars kick off the 2007 season Saturday, Sept 1 against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Cougars come into the game as heavy underdogs to the Badgers, who are ranked 7th in both the AP and USA Today polls. The Cougars are coming off a disappointing end to last season, as they ended with 3 consecutive defeats, including ending the season with an embarrassing loss to the University of Washington in the Apple Cup. The motivation from this loss should help the Cougars come out fired up, and give the badgers a run for their money.

On offense, the Cougars return 7 starters including 2nd team all Pac-10 Quarterback Alex Brink. Brink can throw the ball to an array of wide receivers, including potential superstar Brandon Gibson, Michael Bumpus, Charles Dillon and others. However, they did lose Jason Hill who is now on the San Francisco 49er's The trouble may be the offense line, which last year did a poor job protecting Brink. This line was also unable to open many running lanes for the back, as the leading rusher was Dwight Tardy with only 667 yards and 4 touchdowns. The year before Jerome Harrison had led the team, and was among the national leaders with 1900 yards and 16 td's. They will need Tardy to put up Harrison like numbers to compete against Wisconsin and the rest of their tough 2007 schedule. Kicker is another position of problem, as Loren Langley made less than 55% of his field goal attempts last year. Although he is returning for his senior year, he has been replaced by Romeen Abdollmohammadi, who the Cougars hope can be a more effective weapon.

The Cougar defense was not exactly solid last year, and lost many key players. Defensive stars Mkristo Brice and Eric Frampton both graduated and moved onto the NFL. This year's defensive will need to be much better if they hope to be competitive. Wisconsin is starting a new quarterback this year, and getting pressure on him will be key to the Cougars pulling off a huge upset.

Wisconsin is coming off a very successful season, which included 9 consecutive wins to end the season. They defeated Arkansas in a bowl game to conclude the year. Their offense was led by running back P.J Hill and quarterback John Stocco(graduated). Tyler Donovan will replace him, and his play should dictate much of the game. If the cougars can contain Hill and make Donovan beat them, this will give them an actual chance to win.

My prediction is the Cougars will put up a valiant fight and keep the game close at halftime. However, Wisconsin's running game will eventually wear out the Cougar Defense, and this will be the difference in the game.
Wisconsin 38-WSU 24

Links to other previews
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview?gameId=272440275&confId=9
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/gamecenter/preview/NCAAF_20070901_WAST@WI
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/preview?gid=200709010036