Grip on Sports: From shocking games to a shocking denial for Eastern, the past 24 hours have been amazing
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Yesterday was not your typical Saturday. But instead of going to 11, it stopped at 10.5 or so. And we have a few thoughts. Read on.
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• Late-night Saturday games in the Pac-12 keep everyone up – even when they don’t include the team you follow. For example, there was no way we were going to turn off Washington’s last-second win over Utah, if only to see if Kyle Whittingham would call another ill-advised timeout.
Or if the clock operator would make another faux pas that just happened to help the home team.
We noticed a couple of slips during the final minutes last night, rewound the DVR to double check and came away convinced the game was 10 seconds longer than it was supposed to be. Of course, we are going off the TV broadcast, which sometimes can deceive, but there were two instances when the clock seemingly didn’t run or wasn’t reset correctly.
The first came with 1 minute, 20 seconds left, after Dante Pettis had caught a short pass for a first down on UW’s tying drive.
The clock stopped for the first-down reset. The ball was put down and marked ready to play. It was snapped. Jake Browning rolled right. And then the game clock ran. I went back and timed the gap. It was between four and five seconds.
No big deal, right? After all it wasn’t a close game.
The second slip occurred after UW had tied it, when Utah had the ball and quarterback Tyler Huntley fumbled. The Huskies called time out. Referee Mark Duddy spoke. He explained Chris Petersen wasn’t going to be penalized, despite being 5 yards on the field while trying to call time out. And Duddy instructed the clock operator to reset the game clock to 30 seconds. OK, the sound wasn’t perfect but I listened to it three times. My verdict: he said 30 seconds. For some reason the clock was set at 35 seconds, at least on the official stats.
Five and five add up to 10.
Ten seconds may not seem like much, but there are two issues at play here. Would Whittingham have called time out with 13 seconds left instead of 23, thus giving the Huskies a chance? And the game-winning field goal went through the uprights with no time left. Think those 10 seconds helped?
Strange things happen during those late-night Saturday Pac-12 games.
• Nothing else strange happened yesterday did it?
No crotch grabbing on national television? Oh, wait, there was some of that – by the presumptive Heisman winner.
No upsets in SEC games. Oh, wait, Alabama was playing Mercer and Auburn was hosting a directional school. Of course there were no upsets.
No nail-biting basketball games for the local schools. That’s actually true, though Gonzaga was tested by a Utah State team missing one of its best players, but that seemed like a good thing with what awaits next weekend.
• But all that might be overshadowed by the FCS playoff committee this morning not selecting Eastern Washington, which finished 7-4 and played one of the nation’s toughest schedules. The committee took three teams from the Big Sky, including Northern Arizona which was blasted yesterday at Southern Utah. Jim Allen will have a story up soon.
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WSU: The Cougars spent their Saturday like the rest of us, resting, watching football and getting prepared for next week’s Apple Cup. And learning what time that rivalry game would kick off. It’s 5 p.m. if you haven’t heard or read Theo Lawson’s story. By they way, no matter what the ESPN announcers said last night during the Husky game, it will be on Fox. … Theo also covered the 83-62 basketball win over Idaho State, in which Robert Franks came close to a triple-double. … Back to football, Theo attended the end of practice and has video interviews with Mike Leach and a couple assistant coaches. … There were a few Cougars who ran well in the NCAA cross country race, as well as others with local ties.
Elsewhere in Pac-12, Washington’s amazing comeback win, aided by Whittingham’s weird time out (when he called it as UW was letting the clock run out, you could hear Chris Petersen shrug all the way in Spokane, and then call for a pass), was the highlight of the day’s games. And that’s saying something. But how often does a much-maligned kicker get to make a field goal to keep a school’s national title hopes ali, oops, win a game? … USC won the battle of Los Angeles again, though Josh Rosen was the most statistically dominate quarterback, not Sam Darnold. That probably isn’t a surprise to any Pac-12 football fan. … Stanford eliminated UW from the North race and kept its hopes alive with a Big Game win over California. The Bears aren’t stout enough yet up front. … Oregon looked like a different team with Justin Herbert at quarterback and an extra week to prepare for Arizona’s Khalil Tate. … There is only one consistently overmatched conference team. That’s Oregon State, who couldn’t compete with bowl-bound Arizona State at home. … At least the Beavers won in basketball.
Gonzaga: Utah State likes to shoot the 3-pointer. The Aggies made a bunch early. And for 30 minutes, it was a tight game. Jim Meehan, John Blanchette, Whitney Ogden, Dan Pelle and Colin Mulvany were in McCarthey to document the 79-66 victory. Jim has the game story and pieces on USU missing its point guard, Jacob Larsen’s blocks and the three keys to the win. John has his usual column, putting the game into perspective. Whitney has sidebars on Jesse Wade’s high school reunion, and the Aggies’ long-range shooting. Dan and Colin combine on a photo gallery. … I watched at home, like most of you, and had my column on the coverage. I’m beginning to think I want Richard Fox to analyze my cooking this Thursday. He’s that good. … The women ventured into Missoula and blasted Montana behind Jill Barta’s 23 points and 11 rebounds. … The volleyball team lost at Saint Mary’s. … Around the WCC, BYU and Pacific lost at home and San Diego won.
EWU: Eastern knew it went into Saturday regular-season finale needing a win and a bunch of other chips to fall right to make the FCS playoffs. The Eagles did their part, blasting Portland State, and other schools also chipped in. We’ll see today if it was enough. Jim Allen analyzed their chances after he covered the game and wrote about a senior star. … Tyler Tjomsland covered the game with his camera. … Around the Big Sky, Southern Utah won its second Big Sky title in three years by handling Northern Arizona at home. … Weber State earned a piece of the title with a win over Idaho State. … Cal Poly had a truly awful season. … Sacramento State had a great year, capped with a win over UC Davis. … In the Brawl, Montana State bulled over Montana again. Is Bob Stitt in trouble? Bobby Hauck is probably available. … In basketball, Portland State is 3-0. Montana State isn’t.
Idaho: There will be no bowl game for the Vandals in their final FBS season. They fell 13-7 to a Coastal Carolina team that has won just one game this season coming in. Peter Harriman has the game story. … Peter also covered the basketball game, which turned out better for Idaho.
Chiefs: A night after losing 1-0 to Victoria, Spokane turned around and blasted Prince Albert 7-0 at the Arena. Kevin Dudley has the game story. … Everett edged Seattle, 3-2. … Portland handled Regina.
Preps: It was another full Saturday of playoff action, with Central Valley moving to the State 4A semifinals with a 41-0 drubbing of Skyline. … Gonzaga Prep dropped its chance to get there as well, falling 28-21 to Richland at home. Colin has a photo gallery from the game. … West Valley moved into next weekend’s semifinals with a win over Selah in Yakima. … We also have two roundups to pass along covering the other football action. … Every Spokane school playing fell in the State soccer finals.
Seahawks: There is a headline in the online version of the Seattle Times. It reads: “Is this the beginning of the end of the Legion of Boom?” Wordiness aside, it’s true. The four stars, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman and whoever manned the other corner spot, have all suffered huge injuries. The most recent: Chancellor, who some reports have missing the rest of the season – and maybe more. … He’s part of a lengthy injury list for Monday’s game with Atlanta. … Should the Seahawks try to become a run-first team again?
Mariners: Hey, another roster move.
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• You know what sounds good this morning? Cornbread. Yep. And maybe some soppin’ gravy. Bacon too. Eggs? OK. But cornbread for sure. Don’t ask me why, but I’m craving cornbread. The stomach wants what the stomach wants. Until later …