Mastery of sports• Well, how about that. Maybe Washington state is really that good. Maybe the last few minutes of a week ago were actually aberrations, not decisive moments. After the Cougars’ victory over California yesterday, it certainly looked like that, and the homecoming crowd also included a group of people who knew a thing or two about success.
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• 1997 Cougar, Or at least as many people as possible were able to, being entertained at Pullman on Saturday. Raise the flag. Walking on the field in the first half, I heard the roar of the crowd at Martin Field again.
One of those strolling the grass is Bill Doba, who is quite possibly the best defensive coordinator the Cougars have ever had (alongside Mike Zimmer). Many remember Doba as the head coach who followed Mike Price, but those who know him remember him as the architect of the best defense that WSU put together in the modern era of football.
Defense is built on speed. toughness. Coping well. vitality. You know, the Cougars defense against the Bears again.
If the offense was just grabbing the damn ball…
Where have you heard of it before? Paging Chad Davis. Regardless, Washington State beat the Bears, who only lost in South Bend, despite two ill-advised Cam Ward throws that cost at least six and as many as 14. in suspicious circumstances.
This is not your pop California team. You know, Doba’s defenses used to be torn apart. The Bears have a better coach, solid defense, a little chip on their shoulders, and a competent quarterback — and a growing rookie running back Jayton Otter.
None of that matters, especially after half-time.
The second half started with a 75-yard score that took 69 seconds to show Washington State’s strength. hit that. What is Washington state.
This is a defensive team that either needs to get the offense really buzzing or it needs to get out of the way. Be careful if either happens.
California State revamped its offensive line a week ago, passing the ball to Ott and watching him run for a Pac-12 freshman record with 274 yards over Arizona. Against cougars? 16 carries for 71 yards. After running for more than 70 yards in two games with the Wildcats, he had an 18-yard run at Pullman.
Karl didn’t turn the ball over. The Bears drafted Ward twice. They handled it well, putting pressure on Ward, flying around. After halftime, they were still out of the game.
Something special is going on in Palouse. A special opportunity awaits next Saturday in Los Angeles. USC is undefeated. Top 10. Has a strong offense among the Heisman candidates at quarterback. Former WSU assistant coordinating opportunistic defense. It seems to have matured.
Take care of the ball, you may be here echoing the cheers and shouts in the gym tunnel, perhaps with shades of crimson and grey. the last time.
• We hate mistakes. Above all, we hate our mistakes. We’ve been doing badly lately. Mind blowing, we didn’t even realize we did it until an alert reader emailed us yesterday. And we don’t know how we are so stupid.
All season we’ve been complaining about how stupid baseball’s playoff structure can be. How the last wild-card team will play against the division champion with the worst record. How wrong that seems, since the division champion with the worst record is usually not as good or accomplished as any wild-card team.
There’s a good chance it needs wild-card contenders if they can’t grab the top spot — and its built-in home game — to lose on purpose and finish third. The logic seemed plausible for most of the AL season, and then Cleveland got on fire and ran with the AL Central. The Guardians and Blue Jays woke up this morning with the same record.
In the National League, however, we support that argument because the Mets, now a top wild-card team, seem to be a tougher matchup than St. Louis. Louis, Central Champion.
This got us into our most recent bug (we’re as stuck as possible). We’ve mixed up the game lately. Somehow, we incorrectly listed which games the second and third wild-card teams will play.
We feel bad about it. We know you count on us. We’re screwed. There is no reason. Don’t blame fatigue or editing or our $%&#@ computer. neither. We only have one apology. and resented our mistakes.
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Washington State University: SR had its own Palouse Posse out yesterday, Colton Clark for the game story, different makers – Renard Bell doing well – and pregame injury reports, Theo Lawson for the 1997 team reunion, Jacob Thorpe for his column . … a veteran of the group, photographer Tyler Tjomsland, has photo coverage. …people in the office deal with recaps with emphasis. …we have footage of our TV that highlights what we see from the living room. Two surprises: There are no major issues with the referees, and Lincoln Kennedy has improved a lot since last season. …we can also relay reports from California. … In the Pac-12 and elsewhere in college football, Jon Wilner has his usual Saturday night column, and this week, it rained on his parade at the conference. …Oregon State didn’t let Stanford’s upsets bite again this season, pulling together in the second quarter and winning 45-27 in Eugene. …does Oregon have a USC hangover? Or is Utah much better than the Beavers? With the Utes going 42-16, it’s clear they’re much better at at least one position: quarterback. …Arizona handled Colorado with relative ease, winning 43-20 in Tucson. But Buffs has some consolation. For the first time this year, they stayed within 25 points of their opponents. Back to the drawing board for the Wildcats? … On Arizona State’s last visit to the gym, the Sun Devils proved no match for USC in at least one conference game. The Trojans won 42-25. … After Friday’s 40-32 win over UCLA, what is Washington’s future? … In basketball news, Colorado sophomores have a new approach.
Gonzaga: Rui Hachimura is from Japan. we all know. We probably don’t even know what that means to him.
EWU: There is also a college football game this weekend. It is located in Florida and features the east. Dan Thompson previews the Hurricanes delayed game that kicks off at 9 am this morning. … Elsewhere in Big Sky, Caltech will build a new football facility that will be named after its most famous alumnus, John Madden. However, his alma mater was struggling and lost to Sacramento State 49-21. …Montana pulled out of UC Davis in the second half and won 41-24. …Montana played a real road game and nearly lost home. However, the Grizzlies did beat winless Idaho State 28-20. …Portland State defeated visiting Northern Arizona 35-27.
Idaho: The Vandals rode the right arm of quarterback Gevani McCoy to a 55-35 victory over Northern Colorado on Saturday. More importantly, they improved to 2-0 in the Big Sky game. Peter Harriman has the story. …The Bears are not happy.
Whitworth: After struggling to score in the final game, the Buccaneers had an offensive frustration against Lewis and Clark in Portland. They won 66-28 in the Northwest League opener.
Prepare: Before we turn to what happened on Saturday, we have to connect the Dave Nichols game that was covered on Friday night. We tried it yesterday morning and we couldn’t find it on the SR website. Dave tells the story of Mead’s 21-17 victory over the Central Valley. … We can also pass on a photo of Colin Mulvany. …Dave looks back on the football schedule throughout Friday. …He reports on Saturday afternoon’s 42-7 GSL win over visiting Rodgers at Shadell Park. …He also rounded up all the other Saturday games.
Chief: Spokane is back home with two wins at Victoria at the start of the WHL season. But, as Dan Thompson told us, the Chiefs lost to the Kamloops 4-2.
sailor: (At least) two hangovers, so what? The M’s rode Luis Castillo’s right arm to a 5-1 win over Oakland and a tie with Toronto in the wild-card round. …Ms are ready to write a new chapter. …Brian O’Keefe picked up his first major league hit.
Seahawks: When you’re done reading this, turn on the TV because the Eagles kick off this week at 10. This is what you should be looking for.
Siren: Hey, a new mascot. …another preseason stoppage? Yes, please, if it carries over.
sound: No playoffs are coming, but Christian Roldan has something to play with today when Sporting KC comes to Seattle.
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• As we said, we hate mistakes. There’s one more (fixed) in our TV show today. But it’s not entirely our fault. Autocorrect got us. But we should see it before hitting send. OK then. after that…