From Pullman -- The slow march towards Sunday's bowl announcements took another step forward on Thursday, as the Cougars returned to practice for the first time since the Apple Cup. It was a skeleton coaching staff, however, as all the coaches but head man Mike Leach and defensive coordinator Mike Breske are still on the road recruiting. With the basketball team not playing until Saturday, "dead week" seems to be an appropriate term for what's (not) going on at WSU right now. We've got our practice report up on the blog, and a story about what the Cougars have been up to for the past week ... Will you be traveling to a bowl game if the Cougars are invited? The folks at CougCenter want to know.

If you're itching for more info, on Saturday we'll have a morning chat to talk about the bowl situation, the Pac-12 championship game and who knows what else.

Links from around the conference after the jump.

...

• Stanford's coach will be returning to his roots against ASU.
• More on Cal's new field sponsor.
• Colorado's coaches aren't traveling far to do their recruiting.
• Ken Goe says the Beavers should pass on a bowl game.
• Here's an early look at UCLA's new training facility.
• USC's Steve Sarkisian is already talking titles.
• The Huskies interviewed Boise State's Chris Petersen for their vacant head coaching position.

---

---