OT - Wazzu coach gets salty after big win
Washington St coach Jake Dickert made some provocative but thoughtful comments about ESECPN's realignment manipulations after the Cougars beat Oregon State. We've been laughing at the Pac-2, but this brings home that these are real people - players and coaches and their families - who are adversely affected by this.
https://footballscoop.com/news/wazzus-jake-dickert-calls-out-lee-corso-and-college-gameday
- Called out Lee Corso – 88-year old studio guy called the matchup with Oregon State the “No One Watches Bowl.”
- Called out ESPN - "It's well documented what ESPN has done to try to get our league to where it's at.”
- Called out other P5 (P4?) conferences for not bringing WSU into the fold – “We belong."
Then, to make things more interesting, WSU alum and losing QB in the 1998 Rose Bowl Ryan Leaf put out a supportive X pointing out hypocrisy from College Game Day then got smacked down by a pretty thin-skinned Herbstreit. (in the link above)
September 27th, 2023 at 7:38 AM ^
My wife this last weekend: "Why is that poor old man on tv?"
Me: "I honestly don't know. We loved him 20 years ago?"
September 26th, 2023 at 8:02 AM ^
have you watched gameday the last 5 years? the fuckin guy cant even talk or forumlate a coherent sentence. its embarrising they trot him out there every weekend. He's the football version of Mitch Mcconell and Diane Fienstein
September 26th, 2023 at 8:23 AM ^
No, he's an entertainer. In contrast to your examples, particularly the former, he has no impact on anything actually important.
September 26th, 2023 at 9:32 AM ^
You'll take the domestic abuser? Even off the field? OK.
https://patch.com/california/palmdesert/ex-nfl-qb-ryan-leaf-admits-palm-desert-domestic-violence (2020)
September 26th, 2023 at 12:23 PM ^
Leaf, re: ESPN talking heads: “Just a bunch of wind socks.”
100% accurate. Ruffled some feathers for sure.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:25 PM ^
Washington State plays an exciting brand of football and after watching them beat a couple of very solid teams convincingly I can see why he is salty. To me Washington State and Oregon State are what college football should be: high level football in distinctly college towns. It fucking sucks to see that type of thing go to waste over TV dollars.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
Agree 100%. Teams like Oregon State and Washington State are teams that the majority of CFB fans root for when they’re having a good year. They are what college football is all about. You know maybe 2 or 3 NFL players who went there, and when you see them in the top 25 you just inherently root for them. They bring more to the actual sport of college football than a heck of a lot of “Power 4” schools do.
September 26th, 2023 at 7:36 AM ^
I think all of these (accurate) points would still hold true if both programs move to the Mountain West. A consolidation of the massive schools into just a couple of schools is fine, as it produces more exciting and realistic conference races in the other conferences. The Big 12 without Texas/Oklahoma, the MWC with WSU and Oregon St, and the Sunbelt are all extremely intriguing conferences that true college football fans will easily love.
September 26th, 2023 at 8:50 AM ^
I disagree. People root for teams like this to pull off upsets against blue bloods, not to dominate the Mountain West enough to be in conversations.
September 26th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
How about dominate the Mountain West well enough to make the CFP next year and beat a P4 team in said playoff. Entertaining enough for you?
In fact, if I were the CFP I'd make it 4 P4 winners bye. 4 highest G4 winners vs 4 highest ranked in the first round. That'd be some damn fun times right there.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
Historically, they are not. Both programs have a hard time sustaining success.
Pretending that these two schools are Wisconsin or Iowa requires one to ignore their respective histories which are filled with more valleys than hills.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:10 AM ^
Iowa has sustained success? Hmmm 🤔
September 26th, 2023 at 9:40 AM ^
Relative to its ceiling, Iowa has been very successful under Ferentz. They have basically zero recruiting base but make bowl games every year.
September 26th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
From Hayden Fry to Ferentz its been a good 40 year run for a program that on paper based on recruiting territory should be Kansas.
September 26th, 2023 at 2:00 PM ^
My memory of Wisconsin football was a pretty big valley in-between two pretty good hills.
The 30 years between 1963 - 1992 saw Wisconsin go 119-196-9, a .381 winning%. During those 30 years they had 6 winning seasons. The max wins in a season was 7 in an 11 game season.
During that same period they had 6 season where they won 2 games or less including 2 0-fers.
Wisconsin used to be pretty bad at football. Once Barry Alvarez got into his fourth year with his players in 1993 it has been a very good ride since.
September 26th, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
Not unrelated - PAC12 After Dark has been special, and it's built on the backs of WSU and Oregon St more so than any other PAC12 programs. They are fun as hell to watch late on a Saturday night!
September 25th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
After watching Mel implode at MSU and Ryan Day unraveling on National TV and this, I’ll take our coach and some cheeseburgers all day long. It’s good to be us.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
He’s right and he should say it in my opinion.
gameday had a very “we’re all looking for the guy who did this” feel to it this week about conference realignment.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:42 PM ^
I truly don't know and didn't find anything in the first two minutes of googling. What exactly did ESPN do to the Pac-12 to destroy it? If a TV company was behind this, wouldn't it have been Fox or NBC since those are the ones with the Big Ten deals?
September 25th, 2023 at 10:56 PM ^
The PAC put a mediocre product on thr field in a time zone that cares less about college football than anywhere outside of the Northeast. But let's blame the networks for refusing to overpay. Exactly.
September 26th, 2023 at 5:58 AM ^
ESPN got you to start using the word "product" when talking about college football
September 26th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
Indeed, nothing reeks of mediocrity like the full-throated gobbling up of commodification. Perhaps ESPN, being a superlatively mediocre product, felt that competition from other apparently mediocre products would be a threat…
September 26th, 2023 at 1:01 PM ^
I don't watch anything except the games, so I assume you are assuming basic economics is invalid because ESPN MBA grads like to use buzzwords instead of actual explanations?
That's MBAs everywhere.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:01 PM ^
Not sure if espn really messed around with the Pac-12 but espn had their hand in OU/Texas going to the SEC.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:42 PM ^
We had no less than 3 coaches (Day, Dickert, Lanning) cutting Professional Wrestling promos this weekend.
Not to mention Deion, who actually took a weekend OFF from cutting Promos.
A byproduct of ESPN hiring Pat McAfee, I suppose. We're making the sport more like the WWE.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:47 PM ^
Dantonio was way ahead of the curve.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
Dantonio would have been the worst professional wrestling promoter ever. He wouldn't be able to cut a promo if his life depended on it. Shoot, even Lloyd Carr would have been better (he'd be "Tremendous Man", he'd call himself "tremendous" 200 times in every cut).
I get it, Michigan fans don't like Dantonio (his "don't take shit from U-M over there, and rub their noses in it when we do beat them" attitude at MSU), but Day/Dickert/Deion/Lanning aren't acting like him at all here.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:01 PM ^
Well, he didn't use the hot take voice that I suppose is required, that's true. But he definitely has a long list of greatest hits.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:49 PM ^
Deion took the weekend off from a lot of things.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
Of course Herbstriet is going to stick up for his dear ol' dad.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:57 PM ^
They still are going to play football. They still are going to be on television.This isn’t a situation where people are going to be suffering.
Dude runs his mouth way too much for someone who has accomplished so little. He’s 14-9.
Calling out an eighty-six year old man…😬.You know what Corso so why the precise fuck are you getting all riled up over what he said? Why are you calling out a man who very clearly is no longer in firm control of his faculties? Embarrassing.
Jake Dickert had a lot of growing up to do.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:25 AM ^
That man who is “no longer in firm control of his faculties” sure has a big platform to say whatever comes to his old mind. So he can say some dumb shit and people shouldn’t expect a response ? Haha. Ok dude.
Some people say he is running his mouth, actually you are the only one I have seen type that, others say he is doing his fuckin job and defending his program in a crappy situation.
step down from your ivory tower big dog
September 26th, 2023 at 8:04 AM ^
its embarrassing they put him out there every weekend .
September 25th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Heck yeah. More coaches need to speak out about what's happening in college football. Calling out Corso might not be the brightest thing, but I'd be pissed too if I was a coach and the game I was getting ready to play was between 2 undefeated and ranked teams and someone calls it the 'No one watches bowl'.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:05 PM ^
People seeing this guy attacking an old man who had a stroke a few years made himself look like an ass and a coward.
A man knows which people to criticize and which to ignore. He should have ignored Corso as most mature adults do.
September 26th, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
I used to think the old "ignore it" path was virtuous. Then I grew up and realized how institutional discrimination works and the very real impacts it has on everyone's life because very few people in a position to change it are willing to take a stand and say/do something.
ESPN uses it's position to influence college football in a manner which is not equitable. It's important for the people on the other end of that inequity to speak up when they get their chance, even if it means calling out Corso as part of the problem.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
If he didn’t say his team is tough 50 times in one interview then Ryan Day does not approve of their toughness.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
Corso said "Nobody Wants Us Bowl"...which isn't the same as "Nobody Watches Bowl". If Dickert is going to call out an old - but legendary - dude like Corso he better gets it right. The irony is that most people don't get this because they didn't actually watch it being said.
Here's the thing though, so many coaches use the whole 'everyone's against us' chip on their shoulder thing as a motivation tactic. And I think it's happening more publicly this year because coaches have seen Deion Sanders get applause for it, so they figure it's cool now and a good way to get public support.
September 26th, 2023 at 8:49 AM ^
Coaches have always done this. Saban, Belichick, Harbaugh, Miles, Meyer, Dantonio, and so on. It is a way to message their players and fans and steer the narrative of the season. The big difference now is that it is amplified for the teams that are winning by social media, hot takes, and a junky era of clickbait journalism.
Deion is getting applause from some but I think he is just trying to light a fire in the belly of a lamb. Colorado football had no edge and he had to find an identity for the team, fans, and recruits. Playing disrespekt stories will pay the bills Monday-Friday for the networks and the polarization will increase viewers.
September 26th, 2023 at 8:53 AM ^
What Diskert did was nothing more than Harbaugh did many times in 2015-2016 - respond to someone calling out his program, players, and fans. We love it when Harbaugh does it, but if someone else does the very same thing we're supposed to treat him differently? No thanks...
I support Dickert - he is well within his right to clap back at Corso. Corso made his comments on a nationally broadcast show that is still one of the games leading showcases that sets the tone that everyone follows. If he wants that audience, he can take the heat that comes from it.
September 26th, 2023 at 9:23 AM ^
Which part of "He didn't properly understand Corso's comment and got angry at something that was never actually said." did you not understand? If Harbaugh did that, I'd think he's being an idiot, too.
When you publicly call someone out, you're going out on a limb, and you'd do well to make sure you're getting the basic facts right. Dickert didn't do that, and it makes him look bad to those of us who actually care about those facts.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:07 PM ^
"No one watches bowl" vs "No one wants us bowl" is not that far off from each other.
Yeah he heard it wrong, but that shitty comment, is still a shitty comment.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^
It's certainly a different idea. While maybe not especially sensitive, it's a simple fact that indeed no established conference wanted Oregon State and Washington State. So it's a joke about something we all know is true.
Implying that no-one watches those teams is inaccurate and insulting however. They obviously have fan bases and even outsiders like myself watch games involving those teams. It would be a weird thing for an ESPN guy to say and totally out of character for the show as well.
I think Corso is obviously a shadow of his former self, and not far from incoherence. He should be taken off the air for his own sake. But it's also pretty clear that he did not intend to insult Wazzu and Oregon State.
September 26th, 2023 at 2:38 PM ^
Dickert carried on arguing against a point that nobody made. "People watch our games!" he said (paraphrasing).
Yes, they do. No one said otherwise.
Therefore, everything BlueMK1690 is still valid.
When you publicly call someone out, you're going out on a limb, and you'd do well to make sure you're getting the basic facts right. Dickert didn't do that, and it makes him look bad to those of us who actually care about those facts.
When I read your reply, what I read is: "Yeah, but we don't care about those facts!"
Facts don't matter, spiritually true, decline of America yada yada #nopolitics
September 26th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
It's also 100% accurate truth.
They are left in the Pac-2 because no one watches them. The quality of the football team is irrelevant. No one watches when they are good or bad.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:21 PM ^
When I saw it live I agree with Herbs I thought Corso was making a funny/sad sympathy joke for OSU/WSU. I did not think he was picking on them, but pointing out with comical sadness that they have been left out.
But, coaches gotta cut those wrestling promos.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:07 AM ^
I watched the clip a few times yesterday. Corso didn't say that; instead, he said "the 'nobody wants us' bowl".
September 26th, 2023 at 6:52 AM ^
Forget it. He's rolling.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:21 AM ^
Lot of misplaced anger here. ESPN at least televises PAC12 night games. Gameday built brand equity for all the schools. PAC12 could have stayed together and negotiated a better deal. There is no doubt on the field they belong with B1G/SEC/Big12. PAC12 sold itself out, starting with its wealthier members. That is the sad truth