Mike Leach is the state of Washington's new rock star - bringing his devil-may-care attitude, wide-open passing offense, phallically suggestive book/philosophy, and strong recruiting history of results to Pullman and in the process has created a whole lot of excitement on the Palouse -- and on the west side of the state as well. Displaced Cougars and even local Huskies alike are hopeful that Leach can and will return the UW-WSU rivalry to its old days of glory, when both teams were national championship contenders and the Apple Cup was one of the biggest games of the year, nationwide. Part of the hope that teams with talent can vie for the national title lies in college football's new playoff system, which Leach addressed on an interview with KJR this week.
Where do you stand on the new playoff system?:
"I'd do some stuff different. First of all, I think the thing's very positive and I think it's a step in the right direction. I think that everybody, five years ago, [they] thought this playoff thing would be over in a couple months. The thing is, it's lasted, it's withstood, all those things. ... I think that it's good. The NCAA doesn't typically plunge into the pool, they'll dip their foot in first. And that's basically what they did. If this works out well, I think they'll expand it. I do think it's positive. If you have a bigger field that goes into the playoffs, then it reduces the politics as far as who gets in. And then, of course, if you make it through the gauntlet ... you deserve to be national champion. ... I think it should be 16 teams or more. I'd like 64. I think, in the end, if you play in the finals, you should play 16 games."
More on that playoff idea:
"The other thing I think is important on this thing is that period from mid-November to mid- to late-December has literally been a free for all to the NFL, to the point where they scatter their games all over the week. That's a huge market and there's a huge interest in football that time of year. I think it would be good financially for the colleges to capitalize on that a little more and I think if you expand the playoffs, that'll give you the opportunity to do that."
For more on Leach and the Cougars, head over to CougCenter. For more on the Washington Huskies, check out UW Dawg Pound.