WSU puts in a little extra time for UW
COUGARS
Talking to Myron Beck after practice last night, he said it took him 8 hours to get home to Seattle for Thanksgiving break. Which is about as long as practice seemed Monday, as Washington State didn't hit, but it spent a lot of time preparing for Saturday's Apple Cup. By the way, with a winter storm warning in effect for the next 24 hours in the Palouse (4 to 7 inches of snow is predicted), it might take 8 hours for Cougar and Husky fans to make it here Friday. Read on for more WSU news.
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• Washington State: In case you are wondering, it's snowing lightly here right now. Getting around today might be a lot of fun. And practice? Well, for now it is outside at Rogers Field, but if the 7 inches of snow materializes, the Cougars might have to spend another day indoors. ... If they had tried to practice at Rogers last night, by 9:15 (when they finished), I would have been in the CUB watching from above like Bear Bryant. ... The tempo Monday night was exceptionally quick – and loud. There was more hollering, more celebrating, more talking from the players than I've heard since, I don't know, last year's Apple Cup week. Coach Paul Wulff said he felt the Cougars were re-energized from their week off. ... It showed with the injury report, with offensive linemen Wade Jacobson (back) and John Fullington (ankle) both back along with no yellow jerseys on anyone but the quarterbacks (as per usual). On the defensive side, Daniel Simmons didn't practice and probably won't play, but freshman cornerback Damante Horton, who has been out since the Arizona game with a knee injury, was back and participating in drills. Wulff did say Horton was questionable this week. Deone Bucannon, who played the entire Oregon State game with a quad bruise, was still limping some Monday, but is expected to play Saturday. ... Practice ended with a conditioning drill the Cougars have done many Monday nights, a series of timed sprints. The team is given a certain goal and, if the group is too slow, everyone runs again. Though the time was shorter than usual and though the team was coming off a week away from Pullman, they made it with ease. ... Now to some links. ... We had our first look at the Apple Cup which we linked late last night – FYI, the reason we didn't post after practice was simple: we didn't get back home until well after 10 and figured it was too late to hit most of you – and a short advance of tonight's basketball game. Which reminds me. There are only a few tickets left for the Kansas State game Friday and even less for the Gonzaga game next week. As for the Apple Cup, there are still tickets available but quite a bit less than last week. ... As we said yesterday, Jeff Tuel and Travis Long were made available to the media. Want to watch? We have the video below. ... The News Tribune's Todd Milles writes about offensive line coach Steve Morton. ... Finally, a weather report for Saturday. The prediction now is for clear skies and cold temperatures, with a high of 29 on the day.
• Here is Tuel ...
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• And here is Long ...
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• Around the Pac-10: As usual on Tuesday morning, we let ESPN.com's Ted Miller tell us who the Pac-10 players of the week are and he takes a quick look at the games ahead. Hey, this will be pretty much the last Tuesday we look ahead at games. ... How many changes are there ahead in the Pac-10? ... Washington: Coach Steve Sarkisian said in his press conference yesterday he had made his decision to go for a touchdown as soon as UW got to the 1-yard line. ... Sarkisian doesn't want his team looking past the game to a possible bowl. ... Oregon State: The Beavers' punter injured his shoulder before the Stanford loss last week. ... Oregon: The Ducks have just one starter who played his high school football in the state of Oregon. ... Looking at the key battles Saturday. ... Cal: Grading the loss to UW. ... Stanford: Grading the victory over Oregon State. ... USC: And interesting look at the student agent at the heart of Dillon Baxter's troubles. ... UCLA: The 2006 upset of USC didn't help the Bruins as much as they thought it would. ... Arizona State: Some notes about the Sun Devils. ... Dennis Erickson's team could be one of the Pac-12 favorites next year. ... Arizona: Win and the Wildcats are headed to the Alamo Bowl. Lose and the Apple Cup will decided where they are going.
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• That's it for this morning. It's Pac-10 media day – the final one for the season – and there's a basketball game tonight. We'll be back before the latter. Until then ...
