Today's links are the meatiest of the preseason, thanks mainly to our special football section, which was published today. Our college section focuses on program-building at WSU, Idaho and most importantly, Eastern. We also have story lines and a look at why Eastern's schedule is a bit more rugged this year. Happy reading!

There's much more. At practice yesterday, I wondered how much the coaches get pumped up  for a game like Oregon State. Here's the story. As I'm writing this, I also need to put in a plug for today's live chat at noon at spokesman.com/sportslink. Now for the rest of the links, starting with the Oregonian, which has so many stories that I'll link to them all right here.They must be running out of story ideas, since they even asked me five questions about the game. There's also a nice feature on Eastern running back turned linebacker Jordan Talley, a Portland native. ... The Oregonian also has several stories this week on Portland State football. ... I just realized that the Eagles play three schools from Oregon this season, including OSU in the opener, PSU at the end and Western Oregon next week. (I wonder if that's a school record for most games in a season against schools from one state.) ... Elsewhere, the Toledo Blade poses the question: can Toledo's line hold up against Florida's defense?

---

---