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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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A Saturday morning without WSU football


COUGARS

For the first time in three months, we arise on a Saturday without having to cover a football game. Oh sure, there's football practice today but (insert Allen Iverson voice here), it's practice man. There's nothing like a game day to get you going. So we don't have the usual football links to get you excited this morning either. But there are games – two – in the conference today, including the self-titled Big Game, so read on.
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• Washington State: We covered practice last night and filed this report. You can't believe how happy I am the Cougars are practicing today at 9 a.m., which gives me a chance to be standing in the sun for at least a while today. ... That's all we've got on WSU football. We didn't really get into Ken Bone's press conference yesterday, because it pretty much covered the University of Portland in advance of Tuesday night's game in Seattle. Other than the Pilots, who were blown out last night in the Rose Garden by Kentucky and play at UI tonight, Bone talked about the Key Arena experience (he loved it last season), the crowd this year (he expects a lot of Portland fans), Reggie Moore (he's shooting and doing a lot of cardio work, but timetable remains the same, the cast stays on for a couple weeks, it will come off, the wrist will be checked and if it's possible to play, he'll play; if not, they'll deal with it then) and the play of Patrick Simon (as you could expect, Bone thinks he's doing well). And that was about it.

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• Around the Pac-10: ESPN.com's Ted Miller has his weekly mailbag. ... Washington: The Huskies' running game really got going against UCLA. ... Oregon State: The Beavers need their offense to show up today. ... Oregon: A national title-game berth would mean a run on tickets as the supply will be limited. ... Cal: The Bears' pass defense is ready for the challenge of Andrew Luck and the Cardinal. ... Stanford: No matter what, the Cardinal's bowl fate won't be decided by today's outcome. ... USC: The Trojans have never been able to figure out Mike Riley. ... So a fellow student offers you a ride and that turns out to be an NCAA violation? It's getting weird out there. ... UCLA: The Bruins' final two games are more about them than the opposition. ... Arizona State: Nothing here. ... Arizona: Or here either.

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• That's all for this morning. Well be back after football practice and after we write our story for Sunday's paper. Until then ...



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

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