COUGARS

The stage is set. Saturday's Apple Cup game (4 p.m. in Pullman) will be for the whole pie. At least for the Huskies. A Washington win and it goes bowling and possibly to someplace nice like San Diego, home of the Holiday Bowl. A loss and not only do the Huskies stay home, the Pac-10 probably has three bowl representatives (unless you think Oregon State will upset Oregon). Everyone else is out of the running. Read on for more from Saturday.
••••••••••

• Washington State: One basketball note before we move on to football. I've read a couple places how WSU's win over Fresno State shows the Cougars have no bench. Why? Because of the reserves Tuesday night, Dre Winston's one free throw was the only point. OK, that's true. It's a fact. But is it the whole story? The way I look at it, the Cougar bench had 40 of their 66 points. That would be 28 from Faisal Aden and 11 from Brock Motum to go along with Winston's 1. Because, when DeAngelo Casto returns from his foot injury, which probably happens Tuesday, and Reggie Moore from his wrist, which could happen this week but may not be until later, both Aden and Motum return to their expected roles, sixth and seventh man. And, with the two freshmen – Winston and Patrick Simon – the Cougars have decent bench strength. ... Now back to football, the sport that will dominate the week. Did you know this Apple Cup is being played later in the year than any AC game ever? Yep. Dec. 4 is closer to Christmas than to Veterans Day. And, for the second time since the end of WWII, the Cougars will be playing in December. (If you're wondering, Babe Hollingbery used to like to take train trips in December, playing in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Michigan, California and Spokane. Though in 1929 – just after the crash – the Cougars played two games in a week in Hawaii over the holidays, a practice Hollingbery picked up from his predecessor, A.A. Exendine.) With the late date this season, snow was distinct possibility. And it's a reality now, if the view from my window is any indication. So we looked at the weather report. ... CougFan kicks off the week with memories of Apple Cups stories past. ... There is an opponent Saturday for WSU and that would be the Huskies. They stayed alive in the bowl hunt with a last-second win in Berkeley, which we cover below.

•••

• Around the Pac-10: ESPN.com's Ted Miller slaps his helmet stickers on a few players' melons and tells us what we learned from the weekend. ... And now that there's only a week left, looking at the bowl picture makes a lot more sense. ... Washington: These Huskies aren't going quietly into the good night, that's for sure. Chris Polk's 1-yard run as time expired gave them a 16-13 victory over Cal and kept their bowl hopes alive for another week. The other UW touchdown was kind of fluky but just as important. ... Oregon State: Saturday's Beavers looked like the ones that played WSU and lost, 38-0 at Stanford. ... Now the Civil War looms with Oregon playing for a national title opportunity. ... Oregon: Yes, if the Ducks, not too long ago the laughing stock of the Pac-10, win, they'll head to the national title game. ... Cal: The Bears won't play in Memorial Stadium next year as it's renovated. One less play there would have been nice. ... Stanford: The win was huge, but much of the talk afterward was about the Cardinal's postseason fate. ... USC: There are a lot USC fans can stomach. A loss to Notre Dame in a season that's going downhill fast, isn't one of them. ... UCLA: Norm Chow's two-year contract extension came through. ... Arizona State: It took 11 games, but Montana's Brock Osweiler is the Sun Devils starting QB. ... Arizona: The Wildcats did everything they could offensively to upset Oregon.

•••

• That's all we've got for this morning.With the roads the way they are, we'll be pretty homebound today. But we will have a story for tomorrow on the Huskies' season. We'll try to get that up tonight for you. Until then ...

---

---