"Moore to the Story" The Next Chapter in Cougar Football

[redsox907]

LSU in the Las Vegas Bowl

Tough draw

[Deuce2223]

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK MATCHUPS

With the Week 14 Army/Navy matchup in the books (Navy won 21-14) we move to Conference Championship Week with several College Football playoff spots on the line as well as Top-4 seeds.

CUSA
#24 (12-0) East Carolina vs (9-3) Appalachian State.
"The Pirates ended the regular season a perfect 12-0 and finally made their way into the Top-25 rankings (I had no idea).. ECU still has playoff hopes as the #12 seed but they will need some help (BSU and Southern Miss must lose)

AMERICAN
#19 (10-2) Southern Miss vs (7-5) Mississippi State
"The Eagles still have playoff hopes as well as Boise State is just ranked 2 spots ahead in the poll.. A Bronco loss and a Southern Miss win would leave the Eagles as the highest rated G-6 school"

PAC-12
#17 (11-1) Boise State vs (9-3) Stanford
"The Broncos have won 11 straight since their Week 1 loss to Oregon. The Broncos and Cardinals did not face each other during the regular season but if BSU can keep their win streak going a playoff spot awaits"

MOUNTAIN WEST
(11-1) UNLV vs (8-4) Arkansas State
"The Rebels loss to Nevada will go down as the biggest loss in school history.. The Rebels were ranked higher the Boise State, Southern Miss and ECU and a playoff spot was theirs if they had just won out.. Instead now they are just hoping to win the first conference title in the post BSU era."

SUNBELT
(10-2) Jacksonville State vs (9-3) UAB
"2 programs back in the Sunbelt battling it out as they look to stake claim to the kingdom.

MAC
(10-2) Miami OH vs (7-5) Toledo
"The title as the 2nd best team in Ohio is on the line"

ACC
#2 (12-0) Miami vs #10 (10-2) Duke
"For the Hurricanes a Top-4 seed is on the line, for the Blue Devils it's a spot in the playoffs.. These 2 squads did not play in the regular season"

BIG 12
#4 (12-0) North Texas vs #3 (12-0) BYU
"Someone will move on to 13-0 and secure a Top-4 seed the other most likey will be the #5 seed and host #12"

IBIG TEN
#1 (12-0) Michigan vs (8-4) Notre Dame
"The Irish shocked the country with their (31-24) win over Oregon in Week 13 and in the process earned a spot in the Big Ten Championship as they finish (7-2)) atop the Leaders division. Can they do it again or will the Wolverines keep their #1 seed.?"

[Deuce2223]

LSU in the Las Vegas Bowl

Tough draw

Yeah. originally I was projected to play (7-5) Wake Forest who is a 72 Overall which would've been a much better matchup to try and finish with a win.

The Tigers are a (96 Overall) so obviously the toughest team I will have faced all season.

[Deuce2223]

2026 AWARD SHOW

Drew Mestemaker came up short in the Big 12 Championship as North Texas fell to BYU (31-30) but the Sophomore QB cleaned up at the Award show walking away with the Heisman/Maxwell/Walter Bryant and Davey O'Brien after throwing for 4682 yds with 35 TD and 3 INT well also adding 487 yds and 8 TD's on the ground.

Mestemaker wasn't the only multi-award winner as Duke's SR DE Wesley Williams wins the Chuck Bednarik, the Bronko Nagurski, the Lombardi and the Defensive End of the Year Award. Williams finished the year with 64 Tackles including 35 TFL and a nation leading 19.5 Sacks.

Despite failing to lead UNLV to the playoffs, UNLV's Dan Mullen took home the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award , well his OC Richard Wiley (CPU) was named the Broyles Award winner..

Washington State's Lester Creer came up short for the Shaun Alexander Award given to the nation's Top Freshman after finishing the season with 92 rec for 1110 yds and 15 TD's as the Award goes to Colorado QB Julian Lewis (3974 yds 38 TD 6 INT) but WSU didn't come up empty handed as JR RB Maxwell Woods wins the Jet Award. Woods finished with 28 KR for 739 yds (26.4 avg) including a 101 return for a touchdown well also returning 33 punts for 355 yds (10.8 avg).

Here is a list of the other Award winners
Paycom Jim Thorpe Award-SO CB Courtland Guillory (Virginia Tech)-60 Tackles, 2 TFL, 5 INT 8 Pass Deflections
Doak Walker Award-JR RB Isaac Brown (Miami FL)-256 carries 1487 yds 14 TD (He actually had better # at Louisville last year with 329/1609/17)
Fred Biletnikoff Award- SR WR Jordan Dwyer (SMU)-89 rec 1240 yds 19 TD ( He had 73 rec 1078 yds and 12 TD last year for TCU)
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm- SR QB Ty Simpson (Alabama)-4595 yds 42 TD 4 INT, 446 yds rushing 2 TD
Outland Trophy/Rimington- SR C Sheridan Wilson (Texas Tech)
John Mackey-SR TE Lawson Luckie (Georgia)-74 rec 710 yds 6 TD
Dick Butkus- SR LB Kam Robinson (SMU)-110 Tackles 9 TFL 4 Sacks, 2 INT (Had 105 tackles, 9 TFL and 3 Sacks last year for Virginia)
Lou Groza- JR Garrison Rippa (Jax State)-28/32 FG's 44/45 XTP
Ray Guy- SR Noah Botsford (UTEP)

[Deuce2223]

YOUR TOP-12

For a 2nd year in a row the Selection Show was filled with Drama surrounding Notre Dame.as the Irish were left out of the playoffs after claiming they didn't play a schedule worthy of being a Top-4 seed.

This year Notre Dame finally buckled and joined the Big Ten Conference and in Year 1 came away as Big Ten Champions after earning a spot with a Week 13 win over Oregon and then beat #1 Michigan to win the crown knocking the Wolverines out of the #1 ranking well handing them their first loss of the season, but a Week 1 loss to Miami (the new #1) as well as Big Ten loss's to #9 Nebraska and #7 Penn State and a Week 9 loss to (6-6) Navy knocked the Irish out of the rankings and as a 4 loss team for the first time since the playoff era started the Big Ten Champ will not be represented.

With the Notre Dame out, the Committee made another drama filled decision as they also leave out both the #11 Ranked (10-2) Ohio State Buckeyes and the #12 ranked (10-2) Oregon Ducks instead giving At-large bids to both #16 Boise State who won the Pac-12 and #19 Southern Miss who won the American well giving the Big Ten basically the Middle Finger in the process.

Despite having the #16 ranking, the Broncos will received the #11 Seed well the Eagles will be this year's #12.

Here is a look at at the entire Bracket.

#12 (11-2) Southern Miss vs #5 (12-1) North Texas winner will take on #4 (12-1) Michigan in the Cotton Bowl

#9 (10-2) Nebraska vs #8 (11-2) Alabama (They beat Georgia to win the SEC).. Winner will take on #1 (13-0) Miami in the Orange Bowl

#11 (12-1) Boise State vs #6 (10-2) Louisville. Winner will take on #3 (10-2) Florida in the Fiesta Bowl

#10 (10-3) Georgia vs #7 (10-2) Penn State.. Winner will take on #2 (13-0) BYU in the Peach Bowl




CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK RESULTS

#24 East Carolina beat Appalachian State (51-16)-CUSA
UNLV beat Arkansas State (41-26)-MWC
Miami OH beat Toledo (34-23)-MAC
Jax State beat UAB (44-32)-Sun Belt
Boise State beat Stanford (38-35)-Pac-12
Southern Miss beat Miss State (34-17) American
BYU beat UNT (31-30)-Big 12
Notre Dame beat Michigan (29-13)-Big Ten
Miami beat Duke (20-17)-ACC
Alabama beat Georgia (32-31)-SEC

[Deuce2223]

2026 BOWL SCHEDULE

68 Ventures- (8-4) Michigan State vs (7-5) Western Michigan
Alamo- (9-4) Stanford vs (7-5) Baylor
Arizona- (7-6) Toledo vs (7-5) Nevada
Armed Forces #15 (9-3) Texas A&M vs (7-6) Miss State
Birmingham (7-5) Clemson vs (7-5) Wake Forest
Boca Raton (8-4) Middle Tennessee vs (11-2) Jacksonville State
Citrus- (9-4) Notre Dame vs #18 (8-4) Pitt
Cure- (9-4) Appalachian State vs (8-4) Kent State
Duke's Mayo (7-5) NC State vs #12 (10-2) Oregon
Famous Idaho Potato (6-6) Missouri State vs (12-1) UNLV
Fenway (7-5) FAU vs (7-5) Florida State
First Responder (6-6) Colorado vs (8-4) Louisiana
Frisco (7-5 Missouri vs (6-6) UCF
GameAbove Sports (7-5) Maryland vs (11-2) Miami OH
Gasparilla (8-5) Boston College vs (7-5) Texas
Gator- (8-4) Auburn vs (7-5) UConn
Hawaii- (8-4) Air Force vs (8-4) Memphis
Holiday- (7-5) New Mexico vs (7-5) Fresno State
Independence (6-6) Charlotte vs (7-5) SMU
L.A. (7-5) Tulsa vs (8-5) Arkansas State
Liberty (6-6) Arizona State vs (7-5) Tennessee
Las Vegas (8-4) Washington State vs #23 (8-4) LSU
Military- (6-6) Cincinnati vs (7-5) Kentucky
Music City (8-4) Oklahoma vs #11 (10-2) Ohio State
Myrtle Beach (6-6) Coastal Carolina vs (6-6) Navy
New Mexico (6-6) Oklahoma State vs (9-4) UAB
New Orleans #24 (13-0) ECU vs (6-6) Georgia State
Pop Tarts #17 (10-2) Utah vs #13 (10-3) Duke
Rate (8-4) Iowa State vs #20 (9-3) USC
Reliaquest #21 (8-4) UCLA vs (6-6) Wisconsin
Salute to Veterans (6-6) Temple vs #25 (10-2) La Tech
Sun (6-6) Cal vs (8-4) UNC
Texas #14 (9-3) Ole Miss vs #22 (9-3) Texas Tech
XBox (8-4) Buffalo vs (7-5) James Madison

**I think the Bowl committee came away with some decent games like Oklahoma taking on #11 Ohio State, #13 Duke taking on #17 Utah and #14 Ole Miss taking on #22 Texas Tech but they also set up some pretty crappy matchups too.

I am not sure how #12 Oregon best matchup is a 5 loss NC State team in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Also why Big Ten Champ Notre Dame has to play another Big Ten opponent in #18 Pitt and how a undefeated team like #24 ECU gets stuck playing a (6-6) Georgia State squad.

[ShireNiner]

I think changing conferences around messes with the bowl schedule and the logic of teams being picked.

[Deuce2223]

TURNOVERS CONTINUE TO PLAGUE THE COUGARS

Facing their toughest opponent (94 Overall ranked) LSU, Coach Kirby Moore knew the only way the Cougars had a chance to come out on top was to play a clean game and rely on the Cougars rushing attack to limit the the Tigers scoring opportunities.

Well the run game came through with 50 carries for 175 yds and 2 scores including 21/123/1 by JR Leo Pulalasi who returned from injury, it also produced 2 Fumbles (Sheppard and Abbott). Sheppard also had a rough day throwing the ball as he adds 2 more INT's to his season total as he finishes the season with 18.

Moore

"Alot of people consider Drew Bledsoe one of the former QB greats here at WSU probably because he went on to be a #1 Overall Pick and the face of the Patriots for a decade before a injury opened the door for Tom Brady to take over. Well I would like to remind people that Drew's TD to INT ration in his 2 seasons as the starter here at WSU was 44 TD/33 INT."

Despite his 3 turnovers, Ajani Sheppard did manage to throw 3 TD's as well including a pair to Lester Creer as the True Freshman takes over the #1 spot in the WSU record books with a new school record of 17 TD's in a season.


Tied (14-14) midway through the 2nd Quarter, LSU scored on off 2 of the turnovers late in the 2nd Quarter to take a (24-14) lead and then extended that lead on the other 2 turnovers in the 3rd Quarter to go into the 4th up (42-21) but the Cougars never game up as they outscore the Tigers (14-7) to finish the beating LSU in pretty much every stat catagory but the scoreboard.

FINAL SCORE LSU-49 WSU-35

KEY PLAYERS
QB-A. Sheppard-26/40 (65%) 322 yds 3 TD 2 INT, 22 yds rushing 1 Fumble
RB L. Pulalasi-21 carries 123 yds (5.9 avg) 1 TD, 4 rec 26 yds
RB A. Abbott-11 carries 20 yds 1 TD 1 Fumble
FB C. Provo-4 carries 10 yds
WR L. Creer-6 rec 85 yds 2 TD
WR D. Faupel-4 rec 74 yds
WR C. Pabst 5 rec 64 yds
WR T. Merriweather-3 rec 35 yds
TE J. Fineganofo-4 rec 38 yds 1 TD

QB J Sagapolutele-25/34 (73%) 325 yds 4 TD
RB C. Durham-24 carries 112 yds 2 TD
WR N. Anderson-7 rec 115 yds 1 TD
WR A. Perry-9 rec 100 yds 1 TD
WR A. Anderson-4 rec 43 yds 1 TD
TE T. Green-2 rec 26 yds 1 TD

[Deuce2223]

I think changing conferences around messes with the bowl schedule and the logic of teams being picked.

I am sure it does. I just wish there wasn't so many Bowl games and I wish there wasn't some broken logic to how teams got picked. I feel like they could reduce the # of Bowl games to something like The remaining Top-25 teams plus any Conference Champions that maybe are not in the Top-25 and make like a 10-12 game bowl schedule with those teams. I think it would be cool to have something like in this Dynasty for a example

It could've had ECU play Duke, UNLV play Oregon, Miami OH play Ohio State and Jax State play Ole Miss (Conference winners who didn't make the playoffs vs Top ranked teams that didn't make the playoffs.

[Deuce2223]

2026 RECAP

PLAYOFFS

1st Round- #5 UNT defeated #12 Southern Miss 31-14, #8 Alabama beat #9 Nebraska 51-33, #6 Louisville beat #11 Boise State 27-24 and #10 Georgia beat #7 Penn State 35-14

2nd Round- #4 Michigan destroyed #5 UNT 63-24, #1 Miami beat #8 Alabama 38-21, #3 Florida beat #6 Louisville 35-17 and #10 Georgia beat #2 BYU 49-30

Semi Finals #4 Michigan beat #1 Miami 27-24 and #10 Georgia beat #3 Florida 52-36

Champions- Michigan is the 2026 National Champions as they beat Georgia (52-31) Michigan lost to Indiana last year (37-22).

BOWL RESULTS

(Winners in Bold)

68 Ventures- (8-4) Michigan State vs (7-5) Western Michigan
Alamo- (9-4) Stanford vs (7-5) Baylor
Arizona- (7-6) Toledo vs (7-5) Nevada
Armed Forces #15 (9-3) Texas A&M vs (7-6) Miss State
Birmingham (7-5) Clemson vs (7-5) Wake Forest
Boca Raton (8-4) Middle Tennessee vs (11-2) Jacksonville State
Citrus- (9-4) Notre Dame vs #18 (8-4) Pitt
Cure- (9-4) Appalachian State vs (8-4) Kent State
Duke's Mayo (7-5) NC State vs #12 (10-2) Oregon
Famous Idaho Potato (6-6) Missouri State vs (12-1) UNLV
Fenway (7-5) FAU vs (7-5) Florida State
First Responder (6-6) Colorado vs (8-4) Louisiana
Frisco (7-5 Missouri vs (6-6) UCF
GameAbove Sports (7-5) Maryland vs (11-2) Miami OH
Gasparilla (8-5) Boston College vs (7-5) Texas
Gator- (8-4) Auburn vs (7-5) UConn
Hawaii- (8-4) Air Force vs (8-4) Memphis
Holiday- (7-5) New Mexico vs (7-5) Fresno State
Independence (6-6) Charlotte vs (7-5) SMU
L.A. (7-5) Tulsa vs (8-5) Arkansas State
Liberty (6-6) Arizona State vs (7-5) Tennessee
Las Vegas (8-4) Washington State vs #23 (8-4) LSU
Military- (6-6) Cincinnati vs (7-5) Kentucky
Music City (8-4) Oklahoma vs #11 (10-2) Ohio State
Myrtle Beach (6-6) Coastal Carolina vs (6-6) Navy
New Mexico (6-6) Oklahoma State vs (9-4) UAB
New Orleans #24 (13-0) ECU vs (6-6) Georgia State
Pop Tarts #17 (10-2) Utah vs #13 (10-3) Duke
Rate (8-4) Iowa State vs #20 (9-3) USC
Reliaquest #21 (8-4) UCLA vs (6-6) Wisconsin
Salute to Veterans (6-6) Temple vs #25 (10-2) La Tech
Sun (6-6) Cal vs (8-4) UNC
Texas #14 (9-3) Ole Miss vs #22 (9-3) Texas Tech
XBox (8-4) Buffalo vs (7-5) James Madison

NOTEWORTHY COACHING CHANGES

Oklahoma's Brent Venables leaves for the NFL and The Sooners hire Dan Lanning away from Oregon
Oregon hires BYU's Kalani Sitake
Eric Morris leaves North Texas for Arkansas
Texas fires Steve Sarkisian and he ends up at Florida State, Texas hires Joey McGuire away from Texas Tech (not sure this would ever happen)
Indiana's Curt Cignetti retires and they hire Miami OH Chuck Martin to replace him.
Texas Tech hires SMU's Rhett Lashlee
Washington's Kyle Whittingham retires (he never made it to Michigan) The Huskies hire Mike Norvell who was fired from Florida State
Arizona States Kenny Dillingham leaves for Oklahoma State (another one that would never happen IRL)
Arizona State hires Coastal Carolina's Tim Beck
North Texas hires Tony Franklin (La Tech) to replace Morris.
BYU hires OC Josh Proehl to replace Sitake
SMU hires OC Jake Tuggle to replace Lashlee
West Virginia fires Rich Rodriguez and he ends up in Houston
Kansas hires former Arkansas HC Matt Ryan
Minnesota fires PJ Fleck but he moves over to Illinois
Minnesota hires former Northwestern HC David Braun
Northwestern hires OC Mike Kuhn
Purdue fires Barry Odom and he ends up a Miami OH

**Boise State's Spence Danielson steps down at Boise to take the DC job at Notre Dame.. The Broncos offered Kirby Moore but he turned it down and the BSU goes outside the norm and hires former South Carolina HC Shane Beamer

(I am unsure why Danielson after leading BSU to a Pac-12 title and a playoff spot would step down to take a DC job. I would've understood him going to Washington or Oregon (which he did in one sim)


Oregon State hires former Eastern Michigan HC Chris Creighton