Grip on Sports: The football teams in Washington – college and professional – are pretty darn good

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Seahawks are for real, even if they are a little thinner at running back today than they were this time yesterday. And the Apple Cup is for real, even if it on Friday and neither team is perfect in Pac-12 play. Read on.

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• Before we get to the meat of our column today, a quick request from The Spokesman-Review sports department.

If you have a split family, you know, a Husky and a Cougar in the mix somewhere, they want to speak with you. How do you handle the volatile mixture Apple Cup week? Is it fun? Tough? Ignored?

You can let the guys in sports know by emailing them at sports@spokesman.com. It’s that simple.

• The Seahawks were dominant yesterday, until the number of injured Hawks began to match the number of injured Eagles. So many players went down it made the game hard to watch.

(The injuries and the obligatory NFL referee snafus, from a missed false start that helped Philadelphia to its first touchdown to a punt that went out of bounds at least 10 yards from where it was marked. Both were so obvious that it seems almost impossible for them to be missed but the highest-paid football referees in America did.)

Yet, if you got through the 26-15 Hawk win, you saw Seattle’s depleted defense make Carson Wentz look like the rookie he is and Russell Wilson look like the top-tier quarterback he is. And, if you squinted your eyes just right, you may have mistaken Doug Baldwin for Andrew Luck.

You don’t have to squint to read the standings today. The Hawks sit atop the NFC West with a comfortable cushion of three games with six to play. They may not catch the 9-1 Cowboys for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but they are playing as well as anyone in the league right now.

• There hasn’t been this important an Apple Cup since, well, “important” is a relative term. The winner wins the Pac-12 North, we know that. But saying that the teams are playing for a championship seems a stretch, seeing the victor has to win next week to win the conference title. A division is nice, but it’s also a new invention.

A couple of Apple Cups were played with the Rose Bowl on the line, back when the Rose Bowl was the be-all and end-all of the college football season. So those were pretty important as well.

But let’s go back less than a decade, to 2008. The Huskies were winless. Washington State had one win, over a hapless Portland State team. The Apple Cup was important to the players, the UW and WSU fans and that was it. No one else cared.

Believe it or not, it was an exciting game. Well, it had an exciting finish. The host Cougars won. Nico Grasu (pictured) hasn’t paid for an adult beverage in Pullman since. But neither team was any good.

No matter what happens Friday, both teams will remain really good. The Huskies are one of the best teams in the nation. Washington State is one of the best teams on the West Coast. It’s a rivalry game with venom on both sides and a lot riding on the outcome.

And we won’t hear about it from the participants. Both coaches have decided to push the mute button. No player interviews before the game. The coaches will talk, sure, but not the players.

No Chris Jackson-like pronouncements. No Steve Emtman-like tails of recruitment. No trash talk. Actually, no talk of any kind.

If Luke Falk (pictured watching last year’s Apple Cup) or Jake Browning took the podium today, I’m sure all you would hear is praise for their opponent. And a few well-chosen clichés. Boilerplate, not stoking the boilers. But it would be their words. Their thoughts. An example of their maturity.

Sorry, none of that will be on display. The football game is king. Not the student/athletes. 

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WSU: The emphasis of the Washington State coaching staff was pretty clear yesterday. It was even on Twitter. Put the Colorado loss in the rearview mirror. Jacob Thorpe has a story about the Cougars’ biggest task this week. … The Cougars dropped a few spots in the polls. Jacob has that story as well. … The volleyball team picked up a milestone win yesterday while the women’s basketball team suffered its first loss. … Love the Apple Cup? Have memories? So do these Tacoma News Tribune writers. … The favored Huskies are looking forward to actually playing against Falk. … The two best wide receivers on the field should have an impact.

Elsewhere in Pac-12 football, there is another game Friday, though not too many folks will be concerned with Arizona State at Arizona. … There are also a couple of traditional non-conference rivalry games this Saturday, Notre Dame at USC and Rice at Stanford. Just kidding about the traditional part of the last one. … Oregon is favored but host Oregon State is the hotter team. … If Colorado can get past visiting Utah, the Buffs will go to, and will keep USC out of, the Pac-12 title game. … California also hosts UCLA. Neither team will be bowling.

EWU: The Eagles are the No. 2 seed in the 24-team FCS playoffs which means they’ve earned a bye and a chance to play all the games in Cheney until the Frisco, Texas championship. Jim Allen has the story. … It’s a busy basketball week for the Eagles, with four games on Cheney. … Around the Big Sky in football, Weber State made the tournament as did North Dakota and Cal Poly. If Eastern and North Dakota win after their byes, they will meet in Cheney. Then the Big Sky title can be really sorted out.

Seahawks: John Blanchette was at CenturyLink yesterday and he caught a pass from Baldwin. No, he didn’t. But he highlighted it in his game story and Thomas Rawls in his column. … Can you run a 40 in 4.4 or so? Weigh about 205 or more? Maybe the Hawks will call you this week. They need some help at running back. … The defense lost a couple guys in the secondary as well, most notably Earl Thomas who grabbed his hamstring and never returned.

Sounders: The Rapids have one defensive goal in Tuesday’s match, the first of two-match series.

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• A short week ahead. Thanksgiving week. Is it pumpkin pie in your house? Or something else? My dad used to live minced meat, whatever that is. He had to have it. And he got it. Thanksgiving week. Until later …