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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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As weather cools off, college football talk heats up

A GRIP ON SPORTS

There's a line in the movie "Groundhog Day" that seems appropriate this morning. "It's cold out there every day." Yes, "every day" has already arrived. And it's not even Thanksgiving. So when you leave the house today, don't forget your booties. Read on.

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• Most of the nation is in the midst of this Arctic invasion, so we're not alone around here. It just means college basketball season is just around the corner. That's a good thing. And it also means we are that much closer to our first NCAA FBS playoff games. The controversy part? That started in June or July. The games themselves aren't going to commence until the first of the year, when we should be up to our noses in snow and frozen leaves. The committee putting together this way-to-small four-team playoff must love the controversy part because they did their best to stoke it some yesterday, moving the one-loss Oregon Ducks – "They lost at home, to Arizona, dadgummit!" – ahead of defending national champion, and most-importantly, undefeated Florida State. And, horrors of horrors, the committee saw fit to put one-loss TCU of the, ahem, Big 12 Conference, ahead of Nick Saban's guys. Yep, the Southeast Conference's West Division was snubbed. Well, besides undefeated and No. 1 ranked Mississippi State. But just one team in the top four and none from Alabama? What the heck? It has to be that women's fault, right? After all, she teaches at Stanford. What does a professor have to do with college football? Leave football to football folks, will ya? OK, we exaggerate for fun – and effect – but yesterday's work-in-progress rankings did ruffle a few feathers. Honestly, I do believe it was by design a bit. The committee, 12 people with the toughest committee job, it seems, in America right now, is obviously trying to work out the kinks, to determine how to rank four teams in a sport in which any of 10 to 12 could probably win a tournament. Maybe some of the committee's 12 desire what I do believe most college football fans want, a 16-team tournament that would determine a true champion. That would, of course, probably force FBS schools to play at least one less regular season game – with the 12-game schedule we have now, two teams would play 16 games and the hue and cry from playing a "professional" schedule would be overwhelming – and no bottom-line orientated athletic director – read that as "all of the them" – wants that. Especially not after the recent wave of football-first Taj Mahal building. Those edifices have to be paid off some way. How about earmarking some of the television largesse from a 16-team playoff to be divided equally among all the schools to make up for a lost home game? (By the way, it is possible for an FBS school to play 15 games right now, if it plays a 13th regular season game in Hawaii, a conference championship game and a bowl game. Plus, a couple of FCS schools could play 17 games this season. It's not likely, because it is hard for teams that play in the first round of the playoffs to make the championship game, but it could happen. No one complains about that.) But someday there will be an eight-team playoff, then a 16-team one. Of course, we will be arguing then about the fifth-place SEC West school instead of the second-place one, but that's progress. Isn't it?

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• WSU: There may be a bye this weekend but that doesn't mean time stands still. Or even that Jacob Thorpe does. He has his Pac-12 notebook today, as per usual, as well as his conference power rankings and a morning post with links. ... The fact Oregon moved up toe second in the CFP rankings came as a surprise in Eugene. A second-place ranking at the end of the season would mean a Rose Bowl semifinal game for the Ducks. ... WSU's fourth consecutive selection to the NCAA soccer tournament leads Jim Allen's college soccer notebook today. ... John McGrath talked with Ernie Kent recently and has this column in the News Tribune.

• Gonzaga: The Zags held their weekly media availability yesterday in advance of this weekend's season-opening games and Jim Meehan was in the house. He has a notebook and blog post on the redshirt decisions of a couple of freshmen guards. ... A Gonzaga women's soccer player earned honors from the WCC. ... The San Francisco Chronicle has its basketball previews today, including looks at Santa Clara, USF and St. Mary's. And, oh yeah, an examination of the sad state of affairs for Bay Area teams.

• Whitworth: Though the football season didn't finish on an up note, the Pirates' first year under coach Rod Sandberg was a successful one. As Tom Clouse's story explains, there is more to the Pirates than just their 6-4 record.

• Chiefs: Not only did the Chiefs have a home game last night – Chris Derrick has the game story and blog post from their 4-3 defeat at the hands of Kelowna while Jesse Tinsley adds a series of photographs – but it is also Wednesday, so we can pass along Chris' WHL notebook as well.

• Preps: It was cold yesterday afternoon too, with the wind blowing pretty hard. That didn't stop the Central Valley and Mt. Spokane soccer teams from winning state playoff matches. And it didn't stop Jim Allen from covering them or Jesse from photographing the CV win. ... The Great Northern League was 1-1 in two play-in football games yesterday.

• Seahawks: The Hawks were hit with another body blow yesterday and this one might be the biggest yet. Brandon Mebane, the anchor in the middle of the defensive line, will miss the rest of the season with a torn hamstring. Is this the straw that breaks the Seahawks' back? I am of the mind it is. Mebane is too important to the defense to lose and have the Hawks' Super Bowl hopes survive. ... The hawk apologized for its pregame antics last week. Ya, it's a joke, but it is funny. ... With a Thanksgiving night game awaiting the Hawks, they can be thankful NBC didn't pick up their game with the Cardinals scheduled for the preceding Sunday. ... Up next is Kansas City.

• Mariners: Today's the day when Felix Hernandez finds out if he wins a second American League Cy Young Award. Looking at the statistics, and taking into account the precursor awards Hernandez swept, I'm guessing he does.

• Sounders: Seattle's depth played a big part in advancing past FC Dallas, though everyone hopes Ozzie Alonso will be healed enough to help against the always-tough L.A. Galaxy. Alonso left the Dallas match with a hamstring problem. ... The MLS has a pretty nice looking final four remaining.

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• It was so cold this morning my dog took one step on the deck, turned its head, looked at me as if to say "really?" and then tried to come back inside. It didn't work. I shoved him out the door. He was back, though, really quickly. "Quickly" wasn't a word that I could use to describe how my Internet connection was running this morning, though. The cold must have frozen the data packets or something, because it took me twice as long to get to some sites today. Not fun. Until later ... 



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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