COUGARS

Once again it's game day. We'll start by asking a question: Do you think this is the day Washington State breaks through with a win? If you're sitting at home, or reading on your Blackberry, or in the RV shaking your head up and down or side to side, let us know. I'm kinda wondering what the consensus is out there. Now on to the today's stories. Hit the link and read on.
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• Washington State: Today is, of course, the day with all the game advances. We had our short story and our game-day items. We're also going to have a short note at the end of this paragraph on something that didn't make the paper, but you'll have to wait. ... Freelancer Howie Stalwick has this piece in the Kitsap Sun and other papers. ... Here's the Associated Press game advance. ... CougCenter does its weekly tailgaters guide. ... And we have the Dallas Morning News advance on the game. ... That's it with the stories. Now on to a little extra-added attraction. Someone asked WSU coach Paul Wulff on Thursday whether he was surprised when he heard June Jones had left Hawaii and taken the head coaching position at SMU. He never said yes or no, but he did explain why Jones might have left a school he had established in the WAC for a school that hadn’t won consistently since the early 1980s. Wulff first talked about how Conference USA, SMU's league, was wide-open with no established power team (think USC), allowing Jones the chance to build a program that could dominant its conference (with Boise State and, to a lesser degree, Fresno State in the WAC, that wasn't going to happen at Hawaii). But then Wulff got to the crux of the matter. "The thing with SMU is they've got a tremendous amount of money," Wulff said. "A brand new stadium. They paid him a lot of money and I think that those are reasons why he wanted to go there." Jones reportedly makes about $2 million a year. Which means SMU, 2-0, needs to win now. "They've got a lot of things invested in trying to build that program up," Wulff said. A loss at 0-2 WSU obviously would not be seen as a good return on that investment.

• Around the Pac-10: Buster Sports' Pac-10 coach emeritus, former UCLA mentor Terry Donahue, looks at today's games in this podcast. ... Washington: The Times' Bob Condotta explains why today's game is a test of the Huskies' progress. ... Todd Milles of Tacoma says the injury to Matt Barkley has robbed today's matchup with USC of some star power. ... Oregon State: Though the Big East is either the weakest or second-weakest BCS conference (along with the ACC), a win over Cincinnati would be a big deal for the Beavers. ... Oregon: The two offenses at Autzen Stadium today will look similar but there are subtle differences between the Ducks' and Utah's attacks. ... Cal: The Bears' secondary is expected to be tested today in Minnesota. ... Stanford: San Jose State is tired of being treated like the little brother in series with the Cardinal and that's probably the main reason it may not continue down the road. ... USC: We've heard a lot about USC's quarterback situation from Seattle. Here is the LA point of view. ...UCLA: It's a depleted Bruin squad that will take on Kansas State. ... Arizona State: Not much in the way of an advance about Louisiana-Monroe, but there is this. ... Arizona: Two big deals today. There are rumors swirling around Tucson that All-America Rob Gronkowski, out with back problems, has decided to redshirt. He's not in Iowa, where the Wildcats face coach Mike Stoops' alma mater.

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• That's all for this morning. We'll be back before the game with some final thoughts on the matchup. Until then …

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