BadgerBlitz.com brings back it's Behind Enemy Lines series, where we get an opposing beat writer's take on the upcoming matchup.

For Week 2, we spoke to Kuria Pounds of WazzuWatch.com, and touched on the state of the Cougars football program, star quarterback Cameron Ward and more.

Pounds: The expectations are somewhat similar to last season, in a LOADED Pac-12 conference. The Cougars are expected to finish around the middle of the pack, no pun intended, with some competition at the top. But after the performance from the Colorado Buffaloes last week, there's a lot more competition in the conference that some people originally had thought, but nonetheless, the Cougars will be a dark horse sleeper under Jake Dickert, especially with an improved offense.

Pounds: The mood around WSU athletics is very mixed, mostly frustrated, anger, and sadness. A lot of the fans are treating this current football season as "the last ride" with a bunch of changes and departures expected for the off-season, while a lot of other fans are upset to see their alum, current school, and favorite school being left in the dust by our competition. The fans have just accepted the realization that WSU is potentially going to the Mountain West Conference with limited to no other reasonable options left for the athletics program. I could go on and on about the domino effect of conference realignment for the university, as a whole, but for the athletics, the President has already confirmed that the next two years "won't be pretty."

Pounds: The offense Ben Arbuckle is running changes the deep ball passing game immensely, one of the Cougars' weaknesses last year. WSU struggled to throw the ball deep last season, and also struggled to stay in front of the chains, racking up offensive penalties. The first drive for the Cougars against Colorado State saw Ward have four completions of 15-plus yards, which is a huge step from last year. The biggest addition to the offense is the use of the TE position, something that was tried to be implemented into the offense last season, but is more fluid and there's a lot more "hype" regarding the improved TE group after last season.

Pounds: Cam Ward has always had this ability to improvise off the scramble and be a magician when it's needed, but it just took a full season in the Pac-12 for him to really bring that out, along with Arbuckle. Ward had flashes of this ability last year, in the Oregon game, and in the annual Apple Cup against Washington, the only problem was turning over the ball, or making freshman mistakes. Now that he has a year under his belt, and has gotten used to what Pac-12 play looks like, Ward's offensive presence has taken a huge leap, along with his level of maturity in the pocket, scanning every read.

Pounds: The run game for Washington State is not a concern at the moment, the Cougars knew the run defense of the Rams was going to make it difficult all night, and the matchup was through the air, or off of designed quarterback reads, as to why Ward was the leading rusher for WSU on Saturday. Dickert talked about that strategy postgame about how he does not want Ward to be the leading rusher again, but because of the matchup, the designed runs were a part of the Arbuckle offense.

Pounds: LB Devin Richardson, the transfer from Texas, will be the big name to watch, filling in former LB Daiyan Henley's 'MIKE' position. Richardson totaled 11 tackles last week in his debut for the Cougars and will definitely be a threat in the interior part of the defense once again. SS Jaden Hicks can read the QB very well, after his 36-yard pick-six last week that fell right into his hands, the secondary as a whole has improved on their reads of opposing QBs. The EDGE rushing group is the biggest X-factor for the Cougars, with five guys that can all beat opposing offensive lines to get to the quarterback, Ron Stone Jr. and Brennan Jackson are the two biggest names leading that pass rush group.

Pounds: This Saturday is going to be one of the most high-energy and electric environments of the season, the game has already sold out, with limited room available for purchase in Martin Stadium. This is the first home game for the Cougars on the season, and it's a Saturday night matchup on a nationwide broadcast against a ranked program that has been historically great in the Big Ten, the excitement is through the roof in Pullman this weekend. This will be the biggest home game of the season in my opinion, with not many other home games having the same amount of hype and spotlights on Pullman throughout the season.

Pounds: The Cougars will look to mirror last year's gameplan of stopping the run immediately, not letting Braelon Allen or Chez Mellusi get loose early. The offense for the Cougars will be the Wild Card, after a week where they put up 40 offensive points on the board, how can they repeat last week's success at home against a good Badgers' defense. I think this Cougars' team is being slept on as well, and this game will steal the spotlight on Saturday night, in a back-and-forth game.

Washington State - 27, Wisconsin - 24

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @pete_brey12, @seamus_rohrer

*Like us on Facebook