Washington State University head football coach Mike Leach walked up for his Pac-12 Media Day press conference, sat down and said, "Alright, any questions?"
Most coaches started with an opening statement, but as well all know, he's not most coaches.
Leach went on to address questions from the media. A major topic for Cougs fans was conference commissioner Larry Scott's comments about officiating going into next season.
He specifically mentioned the two targeting penalties that weren't called in a game between Washington State and USC last season.
There will be new procedures, according to Scott.
The head of officiating will now report directly to the commissioner rather than the football administrator, Scott said. This is notable because a football administrator, who was untrained to be an official, is who overturned the calls to no targeting in the game.
There will be an adoption of a new manual codifying process and procedures that will eliminate incidents like the targeting debacle in the WSU-USC game.
The final two changes were that officials will be trained to be more consistent and there will be more transparency when it comes to significant calls or errors, according to Scott.
The manual codifying process and procedures part is something Scott said the conference will release more about soon. Leach was asked about it all.
"I can't really comment on the officiating unless I want to invest more than I plan to at this point," Leach said. "I think everyone just wants the same thing. They want it as good as we can possibly get it."
The Cougs were picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 North division by the media in the preseason poll. Oregon, Washington and Stanford were teams listed ahead of WSU.
The Cougs did receive one first-place vote though, and that person picked them to win the conference's title game.
Leach did not agree where the team was picked by everyone else, saying this team could be better than last year's with its returning talent.
"Every season everyone thinks we are going to get our head kicked in, and then we don't and everyone gets to be stunned and surprised. So it's fun for everybody," Leach said.
Other notables from today were that punter Oscar Draguilevich III was named as a preseason All Pac-12 First Team selection. He also got national attention as he was named to the Ray Guy Award preseason watch list.
Linebacker Jahad Woods and offensive lineman Abraham Lucas were named to the second team. Running back Max Borghi, wide receiver Dezmon Patmon and wide receiver Travell Harris were honorable mentions.
The conference title game will also be played at Las Vegas Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2020 and 2021. Since 2014. it had been held in Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Attendance of those games hadn't been great over the past few years.
