WSU gets closer to Colorado

• One thing I've learned in five years of doing this, and by this I mean covering football practice here in Pullman, is that results during the week mean little on Saturdays. There were some weeks the past few years in which the Cougars looked during practice as if they could run over anyone – and would that weekend. And we all know how many games they won during those years. So even when the play today was up-and-down during practice, I'm not getting all worked up over it. There are two days of walk throughs to lock everything down. … The most important thing to happen today occurred at the beginning of practice when starting right guard B.J. Guerra showed up in pads. The senior offensive lineman took Tuesday off with a shoulder stinger, but was cleared to get back at practice this afternoon. … Running back Rickey Galvin also shed his yellow, non-contact jersey and was back running with the ones. … We have a story for tomorrow's paper on Marquess Wilson and how the sophomore receiver has taken his game to another level this season. As I was listening to Colorado coach Jon Embree answer my question about Wilson earlier this week, I was struck by something former college head coach Keith Gilbertson told me a few years ago. We were chatting after practice one day and Gilbertson, who was the head man at Idaho, UW and Cal back in the day, said he was shocked that Washington State had no playmakers. There wasn't a player on the team, he said, you had to game plan for. No one that scared a coach enough they had to account for his presence on every play. He was talking at that time about both sides of the ball, but I realized this week that the Cougars now have one of those guys on offense, at least according to Embree, a former NFL guy. The Buffs are game planning to contain Wilson. That's obvious. But it seems the way WSU moves its receivers around, the way it spreads the field, it makes it hard not only to identify where he is, but to scheme something to make it tough for him. Besides, Embree said, the entire receiving corps is good, especially No. 84 (Jared Karstetter) and No. 81 (Isiah Barton). It will be interesting to see Saturday what Colorado tries to do.

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• That's it for tonight. We'll be back in the morning. Until then …