Washington State football has been one of the biggest surprises in college football in 2018. Where might the Cougars be heading for postseason play?
With the departure of quarterback Luke Falk and many other key contributors from a year ago, not much was expected out of Washington State in 2018. In fact, some prognosticators even picked the Cougars to miss a bowl game altogether.
Instead, Mike Leach has put together his best team in Pullman to date, relying heavily on East Carolina graduate transfer Gardner Minshew, who took the reins from Falk and even elevated the level of quarterback play in Leach’s Air-Raid.
Minshew has emerged as a legitimate Heisman contender, and while he isn’t likely to jump Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa or Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, even being in consideration and possibly earning an invite to New York for the ceremony would be remarkable for a player who considered his playing days mostly over.
Minshew was initially committed to play at Alabama, where he would at best have been third-string behind incumbent starter Jalen Hurts and National Championship hero Tagovailoa, with an eye on learning under Nick Saban and ultimately launching his own coaching career.
Instead, Minshew was won over by a recruiting pitch from Leach with a chance to start at a power-five program, and the results have been better than either could have imagined coming into the season.
At 9-1, Washington State sits as the highest ranked team from the Pac-12, and if they can exorcise their Apple Cup demons in a couple of weeks, they’ll have the opportunity to play in the Pac-12 Championship game for the first time.
The scent of roses has begun filling the Pullman air, but at No. 8, the Cougars are still in the thick of the playoff race. Too much would have to happen over the final few weeks to elevate them into the Top 4, so I don’t see the playoff as one of the three most likely bowl scenarios for them at this time.
Even still, barring a collapse, nobody in Pullman is likely to be disappointed by where Washington State ends up in the postseason. Let’s take a look at their three most likely bowl scenarios: