It’s been less than a year since Megan Coughlin published her infamous article belittling WSU and the entire town of Pullman.

Since then, I’ve been waiting to exert revenge in the most merciless way possible. Now, with Arizona rolling into town, my opportunity is here.

But I’m not going to do it.

Instead, I’m going to analyze why the Cougars are going to win the game simply using facts about football. I’m not going to bring up irrelevant topics such as the drug addicted homeless population camping the streets of Tucson.

You see, Megan? Pullman and its small football stadium isn’t such a bad place.

In the Pac-12, there are no bad teams; there are different types of teams that match up with some opponents better than others. For example, the Cougars chances of beating Oregon are a lot better than they are when they play a team like Cal.

There is a reason why WSU can take the best team in the conference down to the final minute and lose by a touchdown one week, and then lose by one point to a lowly regarded team a couple weeks later. It’s the matchups.

The Cougars match up well with Arizona. This was evident last year when the Cougs held the Wildcats to 17 points in their own stadium.

Head Coach Rich Rodriguez is known for his no huddle, run-oriented spread offense. The wildcats speed and ability to get into open space has them rushing for 199.5 yards a game this year, according to ESPN.

That’s a pretty good mark. However, the speed of the Cougs at linebacker has been a big reason for their success against teams with similar styles to Arizona.

I expect that, fueled by a good crowd, and an extra week to prepare, the front seven will be able to disrupt the running game just enough for the Cougar offense to do what it needs to and beat Arizona for the second straight year.

Where there might be cause for concern is in Arizona’s passing game. The Wildcats feature the seventh ranked passing attack in the country, throwing at a clip of 357 yards a game.

Combined with their 5-1 record, and intimidating number 15 ranking, it is easy to pencil in a win for Arizona.

But the Wildcat’s resume is unimpressive. It resembles that of a high school student who posted a 4.0 G.P.A with no extracurricular activities or advanced classes.

Yes, the team is 5-1, but despite a win against Oregon, the list of teams they beat and how they beat them is unimpressive.

Yes, they beat Oregon. But they did last year as well, and loss to the Cougars just the same.

This year, the Wildcats beat Nevada by seven, Cal by four on a last second Hail Mary, and UTSA by three.

If you’ve never heard of UTSA, it’s the University of Texas at San Antonio, hardly an FBS powerhouse with a 2-5 record in the Conference USA.

If teams like these can play the number 15th ranked team in the country down to the wire, then surely the Cougars’ offense can keep them in the game, and give them a shot to win it. Arizona’s defense is ranked 57th nationally.

They give up 278 yards a game and 26.8 points. All year, the Cougs’ offense has been taking defenses averages stats and shattering them.

This isn’t a game between a team that’s 5-1 and a team that’s 2-5. Keep in mind that the Cougars are two blown calls away from a 4-3 record. Against Oregon, the notorious Pac-12 referees failed to call a blatant pass interference on the Cougs’ last drive of the game.

To add to their reputation of incompetent professionalism, they struck again two weeks later, failing to call a Girard Wicks carry a touchdown when he clearly brought the ball across the plain of the goal line with seconds left.

For as long as this generation of college students has been alive, there has never been a single group of professionals worse at their jobs than Pac-12 referees, and very little has been done about it.

A few weeks ago, Head of Officials Tony Corrente resigned, but according to sports writer John Wilner, Corrente left on his own account; he was not asked to resign.

The lack of accountability of Pac-12 high ups for the employment of people who consistently fail to perform well at their jobs is astounding.

If you were a chef who consistently made the wrong meals for people, and they had proof that you messed up, would you still have a job? No.

But these referees do.

Given that the referees don’t burn the Cougars for the third time this year (the eighth time since 2002 by my count) and the defense continues their improvement, Arizona is an overrated team the Cougs should have no problem handling.