GA "jabs back" at Mike Leach

GA needs to be savvy enough to know that he was being baited. 

I also think Leach gets a bit of a bad rap. The guy is clearly a bit crazy, but he isn't an out and out total jerk. He is more of that low level autism spectrum type of person with no blither filther on his mouth and a general lack of self-awareness. 

The problem we have is we have a HC and an OC that have a vision that McM doesn't match. It doesn't matter that he is actually the best all around QB we have... he is not a Chuckie Keeton clone. 

that is the problem. Gary Andersen is questing to find Chuckie Keeton 2.0 with every QB he coaches. He was trying to do that at Wisconsin, by starting a guy that wound up being a WR in the NFL... And he is trying to do it here with Seth Collins, then the Junior Varsity version of Seth Collins in Garretson, then the freshman team version of Collins with Blount... and finally, only in desperation does he turn to our best QB. 

It is just that he is more of a pocket passer. He doesn't match the vision. 

Here's my take on the Leach comment. I definitely think there was an ulterior motive, but not a jab. WSU is trying to climb up the polls and look good for recruits, etc. Leach is trying to make his team look as good as possible. Not saying that our guys aren't good or talented. But the better OSU looks, the better WSU's win looks. Reser is a tough environment to play in even at reduced attendance, and we thankfully have become a tough out not gimme and at home we definitely have a chance to win. I love my Beavs, but in reality it's not like WSU beat an upper division team on the road. I think it was more about him trying to make his team look better. Leach is crazy, so they way he goes about things is definitely unorthodox. Just my take.

Is it possible that Leach was simply being gracious and being nice in his assessment of the OSU team? If Mike Riley says the same thing week after week after week about every single team he plays we think he's just such a nice guy but Leach is complimentary (whether his true feelings or not) and he gets raked over the coals for it. I'm not a Leach fan or a hater. Frankly, I don't have an opinion about him at all. However, I wonder if everyone is reading far far too into this than is actually there.

Go Beavs!

I can never remember a coach saying another team was full of good players resulting in a coach getting salty about it.

Which reminds me, in the press conference on Monday, Gary Andersen took the question of "what's the mood of the team?" and here was his answer:

"Awesome. Great. No problem. Everyone wants to talk about this and that oh where are they going to be and are they up or are they down and can they keep going...you guys don't know these guys. Nobody knows these guys like I know them. Don't worry about it, they'll play. Don't worry about it. They will play. Exclamation point." (He may have actually said "explanation point" which made me laugh, but I know what he meant.)

Mike Parker brought it back up (the first time I've ever heard someone ask Andersen to expand on an answer, which was nice to hear) a few minutes later.

"Coach when you say that we don't understand your guys, we accept that. On the other hand I just wonder do you have any concern when you play so well and expend so much effort and play so well and come up just short that they're not down..."

"On the flip side of that, that's not an attack on anybody. That's like someone walking into your house and asking you if your family is OK? My family is OK. That's just telling you what I think, that's not attacking anybody in any way shape or form. These kids understand exactly where they are, and they are continually growing. That is the challenge at hand....(there is then a break in his answer where Gary asks a reporter what he or she did to their foot)... where we are in this program right now is understanding that if you are going to win in this league there are going to be ups and downs there are going to be back and forths and there are going to be wins and losses for every team. We are nowhere near where we want to be in that category of wins and losses which is ultimately the measuring stick of any successful season. We all understand that. But in this process we're in you have to be a professional student athlete...."

He then rambled a little bit about players needing to handle themselves appropriately and said he tells them exactly what he feels about the game and "why they are where they are" and how they're hard on themselves as coaches and players and says "when you come up on the short end, you worry about their psyche" and "I expect them to jump right back in" and "we have to grow up."

So, then maybe it wasn't such a silly question after all?

Just seems like GA is extra salty this week. Not sure if that's the losses piling up, or just the way that game unfolded or what.