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FROM EUGENE — WSU can play the role of spoiler today against the Ducks, who are still in the Pac-12 title hunt. We have some links to pass along as we preview another Saturday in the Pac-12.

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FROM PULLMAN — Was watching the NFC championship game last night when something far more impactful began brewing — first on Twitter, then just about everywhere else. But literally as I put my fingers to the keys to write this just after midnight, it appears as if Chip Kelly may be staying at Oregon after all. That and some links after the jump.

Defending Pac-12 champion Oregon is the choice to win the 2011 Pac-12 Conference football title in a preseason poll of media members who regularly cover the league.

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What more can be said after a 69-43 debacle on the road? Well, one website just decided to ignore Washington State's loss last night at Oregon. We don't have that option, so read on.

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You might want to write off Thursday's 69-43 loss at Oregon as just one of those nights. One of those nights when the shots didn't fall. One of those nights when the ball bounced Oregon's way. One of those flukey nights. Read on for why it wasn't.

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So much for being Syracuse West. Washington State opened in its 2-3 zone and in the first 5 minutes Oregon hit the offensive glass and, when it missed, grabbed the offensive rebound. Before you knew it, the Ducks had built a 17-8 lead. But WSU battled back and cut it to 17-12 when Klay Thompson stole a pass aimed at Garrett Sim and went coast-to-coast for a two-hand slam. About 12 minutes were left until half and WSU was 5 of 14 from the field. Not great but not terrible. Terrible is 6 of 28 (21.4 percent). That's what WSU was at the half, its worst half of the season. Though the Cougars tightened up the defense and the boards – Oregon had one offensive rebound in the final 8 minutes – but the 10:26 stretch without a field goal (from Thompson's dunk to a Faisal Aden 3-pointer broken up by just seven free throws) just killed them. Oregon built a 27-12 lead and never allowed the Cougars closer than nine before half. Thompson and Aden are each 2 of 8 from the floor, with Aden 2 of 6 from 3 and Thompson 1-4. But they had help. DeAngelo Casto is 0 for 4, Patrick Simon 0 for 2 and Reggie Moore and Brock Motum both 1 of 3. For Oregon, Cougar-killer A.J. Singler is 3 of 3 for six points while J.R. Strowbridge has eight. We’ll be back a couple hours after the game is over.

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We've got our pregame basketball post but, being the week it is, there is also a small piece of football news. We'll cover that as well, so read on.

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Twenty minutes into my morning routine of reading stories from up and down the West Coast I began to realize today I was overwhelmed. Snowed under on a clear day by the blizzard of stories on recruiting. There are so many more inches devoted to players who have yet to play a minute of college football than to current college basketball players, it hit me I should be doing two posts this morning. One on tonight's games, one on the signing game. But instead of being intelligent and switching gears, I soldiered on, and here is the result. Read on.

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It's hard to believe that the first day of the football letter of intent signing period, Signing Day if you will, has snuck up on us. Some things just seem to slip through the cracks. Wish it would get a little more coverage so we wouldn't be surprised like this. For more on this, and basketball, read on.

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Coach Ken Bone usually spends his late Tuesday mornings talking with the local media and the Pac-10 basketball writers. Today was no different. Read on.

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It is the first of February. The shortest month of the year. And the month that will decide the Pac-10 basketball race, along with the future of thousands of high school football players. For more on both, read on.

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A basketball season is like a rollercoaster. There are ups, which build anticipation. And there are downs, which scare the crud out of you. The key is for the rollercoaster to be more like the one in Spokane's Riverfront Park that even I would ride, and less like Magic Mountain's Colossus, which I can see from the concession stand is pretty darn scary. The lower the highs and the higher the lows, the better off a team. Which brings us to Washington State and last night. For more, read on.

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It's getting late early tonight, so we'll give you a quick post and head on out of Beasley. You can read more concerning Washington State's 77-63 defeat of Oregon – snapping a three-game losing streak to the Ducks. Read on.

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I'm going to give you some numbers. Faisal Aden, 0-4 from the floor, 0-2 from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson, 2-6, 1-4. Abe Lodwick, 0-3, 0-2. So how bad is Washington State losing? No, the Cougars are up 39-26 at the half against Oregon. Part of it is Oregon just can't shoot. The Ducks are 10-34 from the floor, 29.4 percent. And part of it is Reggie Moore. The sophomore point guard, sensing some of his teammates were struggling, has shot a lot more tonight, though only five times. But he's hit three, including 3-4 from beyond the arc. That, and three trips to the line after faking Duck defenders into the air, has led to 15 points, tying his season high. With Moore leading the way, WSU is shooting 42.9 percent from the floor, despite the numbers at the start of this post. Marcus Capers is 3-4, with two of his makes dunks, both on follows. The second was really impressive as he seemed to get the ball caught on the front rim but still got it over and through. After six turnovers in the first 5:29, WSU has had just three more the rest of the way, a big reason it went from being down 17-9 to leading 27-19 in a little more than 6 minutes. More after the game.

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Not a lot more to add from my morning post, but we do have a couple of pregame notes, so read on.

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Saturday mornings way back when were filled with cartoons, a bowl or six of Trix and putting together maniac plans for a day without school. Then we turned eight. Those were still the good old days. Nowadays, Saturday mornings are filled with reading the Internet, a half-bowl of bran flakes and wondering when we can fit in a nap. Read on.

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About an hour until Eastern Washington University represents for this side of the state in the NCAA FCS championship game. We'll be watching that and rooting – yes, when we don't cover the team we can be a fan – for the Eagles. But before that, we have a quick post and a link to our advance of tomorrow's Oregon game. Read on.

Had a chance to talk with Paul Wulff after Monday’s practice and asked him some questions concerning a big hit in the Oregon game and some off-field problems. Read on for what he had to say and news about a receiver who will be out for at least a while.

It’s Monday morning and, hey, I got a coffee maker for my birthday, though I really don’t know how to use it. And never want to clean it. But it will make a great space-eater on the counter. Yeah. I guess I’ll have to dust it once in a while. Crud. Enough of my whining. Let’s get on to the links.

A little more than 24 hours after the loss to Oregon, Paul Wulff got on the phone for a conference call. Read on for what he had to say.