San Jose Mercury News
More PR problems with ESPN: The long-haul damage, the
Pac-12’s response and Larry Scott’s next move
By Jon Wilner San Jose Merc News
PUBLISHED: September 4, 2018 at 9:43 am | UPDATED: September
4, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Here we are, 11 months removed from CupcakeGate, witness to
another case of ESPN-on-Pac-12 verbal violence — to a public display of
contempt that would not happen, ever, to the Big Ten or SEC.
Some partnership we got here, huh?
The latest instance involves Washington (again) and
play-by-play announcer Mark Jones (again), who on Sunday excavated an issue
that everyone else, including his employer, had moved beyond.
Jones used the occasion of the Huskies’ loss to Auburn –he
didn’t call the game, by the way — to mock UW’s soft non-conference schedule
from last year, tweeting:
“Washington Huskies took one one on the chin. Where’s
Montana ?”
Were this the only instance of ESPN showing disregard for
UW, and thereby for the Pac-12, the tweet wouldn’t be worth anything more than
a 280-character response, if that.
But Jones has a personal grievance against Washington and
coach Chris Petersen, who last year failed to kiss the ESPN ring to a
satisfactory degree. And depending on your view, this is either the fourth or
fifth instance of ESPN employees jabbing the Pac-12.
Oh, and it comes after the sides spent the spring and summer
privately seeking to improve relations, to find ways to better serve and
promote each other.
For those just grabbing a ringside seat, let us quickly
recount the events:
* During a weekly press conference in early October,
Petersen apologized to UW fans for the litany of night games on the 2017
schedule but did not specifically mention ESPN.
*** Five days later, on a GameDay broadcast, analyst Kirk
Herbstreit unloaded on Petersen, saying the conference “should be thanking”
ESPN for its coverage.
*** That night, while broadcasting the UW-Cal game from
Seattle, the three-man crew of Jones, analyst Rod Gilmore and sideline reporter
Quint Kessenich mocked the Huskies’ non-conference schedule and aired
complaints about Petersen.
Kessenich placed a series of cupcakes on the sideline to
represent the non-conference opponents, which included Montana.
Jones then called Petersen “irascible” and “somewhat
cantankerous” and noted “he didn’t have much time for us this week.”
Gilmore then chimed in with an explanation: “He declined to
see us this week.”
(Unlike many coaches, Petersen didn’t make time for an ESPN
production meeting the day before the game. Of course, this was nothing new: Petersen
never meets with TV talent on Fridays during the season.)
Well, the barbs from the booth didn’t sit well with the
Huskies or the conference or reflect well on ESPN. A senior-level executive
called Washington athletic director Jen Cohen to apologize and assure her it
wouldn’t happen again.
***Three weeks later, ESPN play-by-play announcer Chris
Fowler tweeted to his 750,000 followers:
“Our crew Would be interested in seeing (Khalil) Tate and
the Cats battle Wazzu. But here in SC they haven’t heard of Pac12 Network.”
That right cross from across the country was the last of the
ESPN shots for 2017, and the offseason brought a series of meetings to rebuild
relations.
During the Pac-12’s spring gathering in Scottsdale,
conference officials and the 12 head coaches met extensively with ESPN
executives and on-air talent to find common ground:
How could ESPN better promote the Pac-12 teams and players?
What could the Pac-12 do to support that endeavor, both in terms of providing
information and access to the coaches?
The Pac-12 made it clear how deeply it values ESPN, which
despite linear subscriber losses remains the undisputed kingmaker in collegiate
athletics. The network, in turn, assured the Pac-12 of its stature as a key
partner.
It was, per a conference source, a productive meeting.
The good vibes continued through the summer, when athletic
communication strategists from several schools joined Stanford coach David Shaw
in Bristol for 24 hours of facetime with ESPN executives, producers and talent.
(Shaw was the only head coach to make the trip and spoke to
a gathering of 250 at ESPN’s talent summit.)
“They heard loud and clear that we care about them,” the
Pac-12 source said. “There was a lot of goodwill on both sides.”
After all that, fast forward to late August …
*** First, GameDay sent a tweet promoting a handful of games
that Herbstreit considered season-shapers.
The list included Washington-Auburn, only instead of an
image of UW quarterback Jake Browning, the tweet featured a picture of
quarterback Jacob Eason, who transferred to UW from Georgia and is sitting out
this season.
Eason was wearing his Georgia uniform in the picture.
The gaffe elicited a few raised eyebrows across the
conference, and a request for correction, but was otherwise left alone — it
was, assuredly, an innocent mistake
*** Then, on Sunday and out of nowhere, came Jones’ tweet,
oozing sarcasm, obviously personal and clearly unprofessional:
Washington Huskies took one one on the chin. Where’s Montana
?
— MarkJonesESPN (@MarkJonesESPN) September 2, 2018
He then tried to placate UW fans with a follow-up tweet:
“Hey don’t get me wrong…I still think Washington will have a
great season..losing to Auburn in their backyard is a lot better than what a
team like Miami did to their CFP chances. All love Seattle. S/o to the bruthas
at Greenlake Park”
Where do things stand?
* Petersen and Washington AD Jen Cohen, who typically move
in lockstep on issues, aren’t talking. (The guess here is that Petersen doesn’t
want to draw attention to Jones or create a distraction for his team.)
* The Pac-12 issued a statement: “We are aware of the
inappropriate comments in this tweet and have addressed it with ESPN.”
* ESPN did not issue a statement but assured UW that Jones
won’t work a Husky game this season.
(It’s possible that edict was already in place internally,
and simply confirmed to the conference and UW over the weekend.)
* If Jones has been punished or reprimanded in any way, that
will seemingly remain an ESPN state secret.
But it’s clear that ESPN’s promise to Cohen last fall — that
the pot shots would cease and desist — hasn’t materialized.
And that whatever private discussions Pac-12 commissioner
Larry Scott and other executives had with ESPN didn’t solve the problem.
And that the progress made in the spring and summer is, at
least, halting.
And that this wouldn’t happen once with the SEC or Big Ten,
much less twice. (And if it happened twice with the SEC, Jones would be
unemployed the next day.)
Viewed individually, none of the instances rise to the level
of crisis. Collectively, however, they paint a backdrop that should be concerning
to the conference.
ESPN and and the Pac-12 are broadcast and business partners,
tied together for 12 years and $1.5 billion, with many shared interests:
The better the Pac-12 football product, the better the
ratings and the greater the ad revenue for ESPN; better promotion by ESPN
improves the Pac-12 image, which helps recruiting and improves the product.
Repeated public jabs by ESPN employees undermine the Pac-12
brand and create an adversarial relationship.
Scott is in a difficult spot. Private discussions between
executives are typically how tiffs get resolved, and he’s undoubtedly wary of
going public and making matters worse.
Four years from now, let’s not forget, the Pac-12 will need
ESPN to be all smiles at the negotiating table when the Tier 1 media rights are
up for bid.
At the same time, Scott is employed by the schools to work
on behalf of the schools.
In the Hotline’s view, the situation has been handled
appropriately by the conference to this point. But if another issue surfaces
with ESPN, be it with Jones or Herbstreit or whomever, then a private
conversation and generic statement won’t suffice.
Scott will need to be very public in his critique of ESPN’s
transgression and in his support of the school involved, leaving zero doubt
that he has its back.
Forget about the Pac-12 and ESPN being on the same page.
Nothing matters if the conference office and its members aren’t unified.
The Pac-12 should draw a line in the turf, here and now.
*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the
Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Conference.
,,,,,,,
COUGAR NOTES
Cougar receivers turned some heads in opener
Wyoming coach says group could be one of best in Pac-12
By Dale Grummert, Trib of Lewiston Sep 5, 2018
Of all the impressive catches made last week by Washington
State receivers, the most striking grab came despite the best efforts of one of
Wyoming's two stellar safeties.
For the most part, though, Cougars quarterback Gardner
Minshew and his wideouts made headway in their 41-19 win at Laramie, Wyo., by
adroitly exploiting the Cowboys' inexperienced cornerbacks - probably the weak
link of a strong Wyoming defense.
Cowboys coach Craig Bohl acknowledged, "We got
exposed," but also said, "I think Wazzu's receivers are - I think
you're going to find that they're going to be in the upper echelon of the
Pac-12."
Bohl is close to first-year WSU outside-receivers coach
Steve Spurrier Jr., who upon arriving at WSU "was shocked by the quality
of players that they have," the Wyoming coach said.
Washington State (1-0) makes its home debut Saturday (8
p.m., Pac-12 Networks) in a nonleague game at Martin Stadium against San Jose
State (0-1).
The Cougars' offensive highlight in their opener was
probably a fourth-quarter catch on a post route by Dezmon Patmon, who clung to
the ball despite a ferocious, immediate hit by Wyoming safety Marcus Epps. The
29-yard gain set up a touchdown that stretched a one-point lead to 27-19.
More typical were a slick 7-yard TD pass to Easop Winston
Jr. against man-to-man coverage in the fourth period and, before that, a
go-ahead TD in the third quarter, when Wyoming freshman cornerback C.J. Coldon
missed an assignment and true-freshman tailback Max Borghi scored on a 6-yard
catch-run-and-dive.
Even on that play, one of those excellent safeties, Andrew
Wingard, made his presence known. As slotback Kyle Sweet pivoted in the end
zone to block him, Wingard watched Borghi cross the goal line and then
gratuitously hurled Sweet to the turf like a Sumo wrestler.
As Bohl noted, his cornerbacks were further exposed by a
strong, blitz-stuffing performance by the WSU offensive line.
Claeys in the booth
The Cougars' defensive coordinator prior to this season,
Alex Grinch, liked watching games from the press box, but head coach Mike Leach
eventually reassigned him to the sideline, where he could communicate more
directly with players.
Leach probably won't do that with new coordinator Tracy
Claeys, who was stationed in the booth during the Wyoming game and in any case
delegates much of the hands-on coaching to his assistants.
"Alex was kind of the voice of the whole defense,"
Leach said. "I mean, if they're going to hear from Alex all week long,
then I wanted them to hear it on Saturday. Where Tracy is a little different.
Tracy kind of leaves it to the assistants. I mean, he coordinates it in the
boardroom and stuff like that. In other words, the assistant of each group is
kind of the voice of them."
Line shuffling
As expected, WSU junior-college transfer defensive lineman
Misiona Aiolupotea-Pei was held from the Wyoming game because the NCAA had not
yet approved his transcript. It was the second time in two weeks the Cougars
had lost the services of a backup nose tackle. Pono Lolohea quit the team
during preseason workouts.
So the Cougars relieved starter Taylor Comfort with, among
others, an intriguing second-year freshman walk-on, Jesus Echevarria, who
notched a tackle for loss in his college debut.
Leach said Tuesday Aiolupotea-Pei may get the green light
from the NCAA soon, possibly in time for the San Jose State game.
On offense, coaches surprisingly started Josh Watson at
right guard, relegating Robert Valencia to fill-in duty after he'd run with the
first unit for most of the preseason. In the weeks prior to the game, Watson
had been overtaken at left guard by Liam Ryan, who indeed started Saturday and
even won the "Bone," awarded each week to the team's top offensive
lineman.
A possible explanation
The most peculiar of Wyoming's 13 penalties came in the
first quarter when standout defensive end Carl Granderson was called for a
late, late hit on Minshew, after WSU offensive tackle Andre Dillard had been
whistled for a false start.
Bohl, the Wyoming coach, hinted that Granderson didn't hear
the whistle.
"Carl Granderson can't hear," he said after the
game.
He didn't elaborate, implying he didn't want to criticize
the officials. But Granderson has told reporters in the past that he has
experienced hearing loss since childhood and doesn't wear his hearing aid
during games.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
Cougs pick up ground in AP, Coaches
polls
By Barry Bolton Cougfan.com
WASHINGTON STATE REMAINS on the outside of the top 25 polls
but it did pick up some ground on Tuesday. In the others receiving votes
category of both polls, WSU is now effectively 37th in the AP and 43rd in the
Coaches.
WSU had six votes in the Associated Press poll released
Tuesday, up from zero in the preseason poll. Meanwhile, the Cougs garnered 11
votes in the Coaches poll, up from seven votes in the preseason.
The highest-ranked Pac-12 team in the Coaches poll is
Stanford, at No. 9. Washington fell five
spots to No. 11 after its loss to Auburn and USC is at No. 12. They are the only Pac-12 teams that are
ranked. You can see the entire poll
here.
In the AP poll, UW remains the highest-ranked Pac-12 team at
No. 9 after falling three spots, with Stanford No. 10. Four Pac-12 teams are in the AP top 25, with
USC at No. 17 and Oregon at No. 23. You
can see the full poll here.
Washington State hosts San Jose State in its home opener
Saturday (8 pm, Pac-12 Networks). The Cougs are a 35-point favorite.
::::::::::::::::
ABOUT WSU NEXT FOOTBALL OPPONENT
What we learned in San Jose State’s opener. (It wasn’t
good.)
By Victor Aquino San
Jose Mercury News
PUBLISHED: August 31, 2018 at 9:20 am | UPDATED: September
1, 2018 at 3:51 am
With a season-opening 44-38 loss to UC Davis, any semblance
of hope and pompous predictions for San Jose State football came crashing down
almost immediately. What was supposed to have been fixed in the off-season
still looked badly broken.
It was the third time in history (19 games) that San Jose
State has lost to an FCS program. The last time, in 2010, also was against
Davis. But this was worse. That loss was 14-13 and the Spartans defense didn’t
give up 589 yards.
“It’s all on me. We have to learn to block and tackle better
and we have to just take responsibility and fix it,” said Brent Brennan, now
2-12 as the SJSU coach “Obviously, I’m very disappointed and everyone is
disappointed. We had a great crowd out here tonight and we let them down.”
Fortunately for all, there were only 12,675 witnesses to a
disappointment that lasted four hours and four minutes.
The Spartan defense was overwhelmed by the Aggies’ up-tempo
offense and perimeter passing and it didn’t help that the initial three-man
rush had no effect slowing quarterback Jake Maier. The Aggies scored on their
first possession, marching 75 yards on 12 plays. In the first half alone, they
racked up 35 points and more than 400 yards of offense. In. The. First. Half.
The Spartan defense did tighten up at times with lively
linebacker play from Ethan Aguayo, Jesse Osuna and Jamaal Scott and defensive
back Dakari Monroe. Aguayo had a game-high 12 tackles and tipped a pass that
Monroe intercepted and returned to the Davis 1, resulting in SJSU’s first
touchdown.
But Maier kept finding uncovered receivers, making good
reads on Spartan blitzes, and that opened the way for Aggies running back,
Ulonzo Gilliam, who ran for 132 yards on 23 carries.
The Spartans offense was mostly inept in the first half. It
wasn’t until game time that the identity of the starting QB was revealed. It
was Josh Love and it was not good.
Under Love, the offense started slow and remained
ineffective. Too many three-and-outs, an interception and bad pass plays, same
as last year.
Here are five takeaways:
1) Montel Aaron should have been — and should be — the
starting QB.
With 12 interceptions and 7 touchdowns over his career, Love
has long had accuracy issues. His read and anticipation levels haven’t been
good enough to consistently sustain drives.
In the first half, besides the three-and-outs, Love wasn’t
seeing the rush well and would get passes batted or suffer some bad hits he
probably could have avoided.
Love was replaced in the second half by Michael Carrillo and
it went from bad to worse. A bad snap resulted in a safety on his first series.
He went three-and-out in his second series. His third series ended with an
interception, as did his night.
It wasn’t until Aaron entered the game in the middle of the
third quarter that the Spartan offense looked respectable. In just a quarter
and a half, Aaron threw for 254 yards (13 for 19) and the offense amassed more
than 400 in total.
2) The best drives featured Packer & Nevins
Before Aaron entered, running backs DeJon Packer and Tyler
Nevens turned the game around, and gave the Spartans the first boost of
confidence that they could come back and win. They sliced and diced the Aggie
defense in a series of second half possessions on the ground and in the air.
When the Spartans were playing power football, they got the
possession football they wanted. Followed up by better quarterback play from
Aaron, the Spartans drove the ball well and got themselves back into the game.
Nevens ended with a respectable 82 yards on 18 carries and 2
touchdowns, but was carried off the field on a stretcher after a big hit late
in the game. Insult to injury, the big hit caused Nevens to fumble, stopping a
drive at the Davis 11 with SJS threatening to cut a 44-31 deficit.
3) The defense was offensive
The Spartan defense basically got scorched by a D1-AA team.
They couldn’t get Maier out of rhythm and they couldn’t overcome the Aggies
offensive play calling.
Maier completed 37 of 55 passes for 446 yards and three
touchdowns. He found 10 different receivers, led by NFL prospect Keelan Doss,
who caught 11 for 85 yards.
Fair to say it’s back to the drawing board for defensive coordinator
Derrick Odum.
4) Untimely errors and…turnovers
In was preached and practiced for months: Curing the
turnover epidemic was Job One for the 2018 Spartans. After one game, they have
three (and the opposition has one).
The Spartans also suffered other self-inflicted wounds.
Untimely holding and motion penalties and roughing the passer calls at key
moments were killers. Too many missed tackles – just bad. Missed coverages and
untouched receivers into the end zone – even worse.
If San Jose State football is going to be markedly better,
these 10 things better happen
5) It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better
The Spartans play pass-happy Washington State of the Pac-12
next Saturday in Pullman, Washington. Then they go to Oregon for a Sept. 15
game against the Ducks and quarterback Justin Herbert, who last season as a
sophomore tied a school record by passing for 489 yards in a game.
This was looking bad before the season started. It’s looking
worse now.
::::::::::::
WSU football
In keeping Gardner Minshew clean, Washington State O-line
does something it’s done just seven times under Mike Leach
UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 4, 2018, 10:53 p.m.
By Theo Lawson of the S-R of Spokane/Inland Empire
PULLMAN – Wyoming’s defensive line could hardly sneak a
glance at Gardner Minshew on Saturday afternoon, let alone forge a path into
the backfield and bring the Washington State quarterback to his knees.
WSU’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack in the
season-opening win over the Cowboys and in doing so, accomplished something the
Cougars have done just seven times in 77 games under seventh-year coach Mike
Leach. During the 2012 and 2015 seasons, WSU allowed at least one sack in each
of its 12 games. The Cougars had two games in 2013 in which they didn’t concede
a sack, one in 2014, two in 2016 and one in 2017, which coincidentally came in
an otherwise putrid Holiday Bowl loss to Michigan State.
So WSU could technically stretch its sackless streak to
three games if the offensive front can keep Minshew clean Saturday against a
San Jose State team that’s far less prone to reach the quarterback, having
recorded only 13 sacks in 2017. By comparison, that’s 21 fewer than WSU’s
previous Mountain West opponent.
Wyoming tied for the conference lead in that category last
season. One week before the Cowboys hosted the Cougars, they planted New Mexico
State QB Matt Romero into the turf four times in a 29-7 rout of the Aggies in
Las Cruces.
Which only further underscores the job done by WSU’s
offensive front Saturday in Laramie.
“I thought we had some communication issues at times,” Leach
said postgame, “but generally for a first game and some new faces, I thought
they did a good job.”
Communication issues are inevitable for a group breaking in
three new starters, but as far as issues are concerned, those are the only
significant ones that ever seemed to materialize for the Cougars at Wyoming.
Coaches will always make tweaks and corrections, and surely
they’ll notice a few blunders from Saturday’s game while poring over film, but
at least this week they won’t be rewinding any part of the game tape that ends
with a defensive lineman slamming Minshew to the turf.
Senior left tackle Andre Dillard, one of two returning
starters, credited the offensive line success to the group’s diligent work in
the film room.
“(We) studied a lot, we put a lot of emphasis on the mental
part of the game and just really pushing each other to be better – to fill the
shoes that have been left for us,” Dillard said after Tuesday’s practice in
Pullman. “… I thought we did a solid job together. All the studying we did
throughout the week paid off for us.”
The top offensive lineman every week earns the team’s “Bone
Award.” This week’s recipient was left guard Liam Ryan, a first-time starter
who’s emerged a major vocal leader for the unit since B.J. Salmonson and Cole
Madison graduated.
“He’s actually stepping up as a leader figure really
heavily,” Dillard said. “He gets the guys going and he’s just always pushing
guys around him, and he focuses in really well on what he has to do.”
Continued Dillard: “He’s actually always been a vocal guy
since he got here. It’s in his DNA, basically. I think he’s a natural leader.
I’m not surprised he was a Bone winner.”
Dillard credited the Cougars’ right guard, Josh Watson,
another first-year starter for “Just (doing) his job, most importantly. Just
doing what he has to do each play, just focusing in like all of us.”
And at right tackle, the Cougars are trusting redshirt
freshman Abraham Lucas to fill the role once held by Cole Madison, a
fifth-round 2018 NFL Draft pick by the Green Bay Packers.
Dillard gave him a glowing review as well.
“That kid is just some kind of robot or demigod or
something,” he said. “He’s just the most naturally talented, athletic kid I’ve
seen since I’ve been here. It almost looks effortless when I see him play, but
he’s done a really good job; redshirt freshman starter, we’re all impressed
with him.”
The “Bone Award” went home with just one Cougar this week;
maybe it would’ve been more appropriate to let each of the five linemen spend
one day with the prize.
“It was pretty encouraging because we had a couple of young
guys out there and I thought they all played pretty well,” Leach said Tuesday during
a Pac-12 teleconference call. “… We’ve seen some of that in practice. We
thought they played good in practice. You always wonder if it’ll translate to
the field, and how long it’ll take for it to. And also, O-line is a unit where
they really need to play together, more than any other position. They need to
be pretty choreographed together, and I thought they were.”
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