Where do we go ? Where do we go? Where do we goooOOO FROM HERE?!

If I could adequately convey wailing the line from UFO's Rock Bottom I would, but I think you get the point. This weekend the Cougars effectively brought the Cougar Nation to rock bottom with their 63-14 loss to the Oregon Ducks. So once again, us fans are left picking up the pieces of a busted season. One in which not much more than a couple of moral victories and some progress will likely be all we can show for all of the Cougars effort. This however does not mean that we as fans should all be filing out of the stadium downtrodden and unhappy with where this ship is headed. Yes there are problems with the players, yes there are problems with on field discipline, yes there are problems with coaching, but this is just the beginning of a ride that can and will end well.

As a fan first and foremost and a critical observer second, this is a hard pill to swallow, but Paul Wulff and his staff are not miracle workers. Bill Doba was and will continue to be the problem for this team for the rest of this year and next year. While it is a widely acknowledged fact that Doba himself was a classy, good guy, the same can not be said of his football team. Thanks to the Seattle Times a few months back we all got a little bit of insight into just how far downhill this program had gone since Doba took over. This is nothing personal against him, Lord knows he was distracted from it himself with his wife battling and succumbing to Cancer. However, the quality of recruits that were brought in during his tenure has caused an inestimable amount of damage to this program. Paul Wulff isn't walking into the same kind of situation Jim Tressel, Rich Rodriguez, or any of the coaches of their ilk have. He hasn't taken over a program loaded with untapped potential that just needed a good leader to bring out the best in the players. He has walked into a problem scenario in which players have been able to run the show free of consequence. Terrible attrition (most of the Texas recruits), bad seeds (Arkelon Hall), and a complete lack of accountability (previous coaching staff), have all led to this team effectively being on the verge of self destruction for years. The fact that they never quite did fully melt down is a testament to the on the field leaders like Alex Brink and Mkristo Bruce who kept giving all they had with the hopes the ship would right itself.

This is the year in which Paul Wulff and his staff are having to figure out whats left. They are effectively trying to piece together a puzzle with nothing but a couple of corner pieces and a half destroyed picture of what this team should look like. Coach Wulff has largely been able to get this team turned around in terms of academics and personal accountability which were both lacking severely under the previous regime. What he hasn't been able to do yet is get some of the guys left over to buy into his system and his on field mentality. It is as plain as day to see who is or isn't trying on the field each and every down. Guys like Xavier Hicks, who has made some mistakes, are obviously buying in as they are the ones flying around and trying to make something, anything, happen for the Cougs. Unfortunately for Wulff he doesn't have enough guys like that to make a starting 11 on either side of the ball and it shows. However, he is making progress as more and more there are guys who are clearly trying harder than they ever did under Doba. He and his staff are also making progress on the recruiting trail and, doubts about Ty Willinghams future at UW aside, making some amazing progress in the battle for Washington's top recruits. He has also made an unpopular move which makes sense for him and his coaches in redshirting JC defensive linemen Bernard Wolfgramm and Jesse Sanchez who will make a much bigger impact next year than they could have this year. Many fans have called this into question, but it has been made clear that the staff would rather have them in the system for a year learning the ins and outs while getting bigger and stronger in the weight room, than trying to go for a quick and dirty payoff this year after some tough on the job training. Keep an eye out next year as big things are expected of these guys.

Wulff has also made it clear that if he could, he would red shirt every true freshman and JC transfer coming into the program. In this case he is putting his money where his mouth is and is travelling a harder road for it. While the Cougars may have made some extra plays this year and come away with an extra win for it, that would still leave them at a whopping 2/3 record which would hurt just slightly less than 1/4 does now. Everything that has been done by this staff has been with an eye toward the future. Jumping ship now, while understandable, just makes us fans look like a bunch of fairweather ninnies who couldn't stick it out until the Cougars were good again. So it is, with an eye to the future, I encourage everyone to stick it out. Marshal Lobbestael looks like the quarterback of the future for the Cougars and it will be fun to watch him develop. The kid looks like he can lead the team, it will be the next couple of years that will determine just how it is he goes down in Cougar Football history, but it looks like he will be special. Watch him develop now and get the new no-huddle in place and in a couple years when guys like James Montgomery are in the backfield and they are both lighting up the scoreboard it will be good times in Pullman again. Couple that with a rebuilt defense bolstered by the likes of Wolfgramm, Sanchez, Montgomery's fellow Cal transfer Brandon Jones and recruits like Darren Markle, we can all be happy we toughed it out and be more proud of the Cougars than ever.

So where do we go from here? We go up. That is the only place the Cougars and we fans can go. This season may get worse, there again it will probably get better. The rest of the way through the Pac-10 is really only highlighted by USC and the Arizona schools. Aside from them there are some very winnable games, starting with UCLA next week. The Cougars may be the worst team in the Pac-10, but Paul Wulff hasn't given up and neither should us fans. They play the games to figure that stuff out, the battle to rise up out of the basement starts next week and its going to be a fun one to watch. At this point the season is about building momentum and confidence. UCLA, UW, and Hawaii should be tough close games the Cougars can win, and along the way who knows maybe they can upset one of the Arizona schools or maybe even USC. Of course it's a longshot, but who cares? If us fans can't have fun with some wild prognostication what's the point of watching? I guess in the end the best thing we could do is take a cue from the Head Coach who's going to lead our Cougars out of this mess and keep our heads up. Its a long road aho and its going to be plenty bumpy, but if we can work hard to support our Cougs, and the coaching staff can continue to work hard to get the team turned around, it has to pay off, and somewhat soon. Faith however hard it is to hold on to can and will be rewarded. That's all I have to say, so feel free to leave me some comments and I'll be back later in the week with a look at UCLA.

Until then... Laters and GO COUGS!