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• If you are keeping score at home – and I presume a few snow birds in Prescott certainly are – it was Arizona 3, Washington 0 in college football matchups yesterday. Arizona State rode the wind to a 24-10 win at Husky Stadium, Northern Arizona rode a last-second drive to a 28-27 victory over Eastern Washington and Arizona basically just rode WSU into the Martin Stadium turf, 59-37. I guess we're lucky the Seahawks aren't playing the Arizona Cardinals today. That's about the only positive I can see. I caught the last few seconds of the Eastern game on an adjacent computer while down in Pullman yesterday and couldn't believe the wide-open spaces the Lumberjacks were given in the final three-play "drive." Up five with less than a minute to play, the Eagles basically just collapsed. Altitude, maybe, causing a loss of memory of one of the basic tenants of football? When the other team has to travel 77 yards to score a touchdown in less than a minute, the idea is just to keep everyone in front. Deep as the deepest man, right? Just don't allow the big play. After all, the opponent is out of time outs and needs a touchdown to win. A handful of tackles and the game is over. Instead, Eastern allowed a 67-yard pass on the second play of the possession and then another seemingly easy 10-yard connection on the next play for the game-winning touchdown. Jeez. What a terrible, no, horrible way to end a game. It's as bad as starting a game with a three-and-out and yielding an 81-yard yard punt return for a touchdown (pictured), as WSU did. That's no good. So was the Washington State offense, at least in the first third of its loss to Arizona. Five scoreless possessions, a stat matched only by the defense and special teams, which allowed the Wildcats to put points on the board each of the first five times they touched the ball. Game-over about a third of the way in. A sell-out crowd couldn't bail out fast enough. Maybe they wanted to get back inside to watch the Huskies try to redeem the state's honor against the Devils from Tempe. No chance. Like the Cougars, UW is a bit beat-up, with quarterback Cyler Miles sidelined due to a concussion. The offense failed to score a touchdown, the defense bent and bent and finally broke and the Grand Canyon State was 3-0 against the Evergreen guys.

• Connor Halliday didn't have his best game of his career yesterday, but he did do something no Cougar has ever done before. He topped the 11,000-yard mark in career passing yardage. The senior from Spokane now owns every passing mark in school history, from completions to attempts to touchdowns to yardage. And yet, as was the case when he set the NCAA record for single-game passing yardage, Halliday couldn't celebrate. His team, the one he was trying to lead to back-to-back bowl games, lost again. It was obvious afterward Halliday was disappointed about it. He even mentioned to Jason Gesser on the postgame show how he realized his time at Washington State was winding down. With four games left in his senior season, evenly split between home and away, Halliday and the Cougars only have a few shots at celebrating with a win. The losses suffered this season have worn on all of them, a condition that's easy to see by just watching the bench during games. This is a group that is hungry for a victory and frustrated they can't figure out how to grab one. Playing harder and with more focused early would help. Execution and crispness throughout wouldn't hurt. And a few players healing up certainly could help. But, with a ticked off USC team coming in next week, the task doesn't get any easier.

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• WSU: The game may have started in sunshine and light, but the Martin Stadium mood quickly was covered in a deep fog yesterday, even if the clouds didn't roll in until later. A 31-0 deficit will do that. Jacob Thorpe had an explanation for some of WSU's problems in his final thoughts on the blog last night, pointing out the Cougars were basically playing with their scout team secondary much of the game and almost the entire second half. That's not a recipe for success in the Pac-12. ... Jacob also has his game story, a notebook that details some of the "youth movement," keys to the game, the scoring and the statistics, all in the S-R this morning. On the blog, he has videos of interviews with Mike Leach, Vince Mayle and Halliday. ... John Blanchette has a column on the game and the season. ... Tyler Tjomsland has the photographs. ... Jacob also held a live chat on the blog yesterday and has a morning post with links this morning. ... There were some lessons learned around the Pac-12 yesterday. ... Bud Withers has more on the Cougar defeat.

• Gonzaga: It was Krazy in the Kennel yesterday, with this year's version of the Zags introduced to the Spokane faithful. And introductions were necessary, with Gonzaga featuring seven players who weren't on the court for GU last year. Jim Meehan was in a packed McCarthey and has a story and blog post on the festivities. ... Dan Pelle has the photographs.

• EWU: The ending is what everyone will remember, but the Eagles probably lost Saturday's game much earlier, when they left clinching points on the board due to some sloppy red-zone play. Jim Allen witnessed it all and has a game story and a notebook on the game. We also can pass along the statistics today. ... The loss dropped the Eagles into a group of five Big Sky teams with one loss, all trailing an undefeated Montana State team. How could that be, you ask, after Eastern defeated MSU earlier this season in Bozeman (pictured)? Thanks to the conference's expansion and the ensuing uneven schedule, that was a non-conference game. Yep, a matchup with a conference team that doesn't count toward the league title. ... Montana was handed its first conference loss by Cal Poly. I follow a couple of Montana fans on Twitter and they were celebrating after the Eastern defeat. Then their Griz lost. Karma? ... Southern Utah got past North Dakota 35-17. ... Portland State kept Weber State winless. ... Idaho State, one of the teams with just one league loss, routed Northern Colorado.

• Whitworth: OK, the Pirates had a good day. They won easily over Puget Sound in the Pine Bowl. Tom Clouse has the story.

• Chiefs: Spokane coach Don Nachbaur decided to inject some young blood into what is now his top line and the experiment has worked. At least it has so far, including in Saturday's 4-3 home win over the Kootenay Ice. Chris Derrick has all the particulars in this story and blog post. ... The Winterhawks won once again on the road. ... Everett stayed hot and defeated Seattle at home. ... Tri-City's home winning streak came to an end.

• Preps: The GSL regular season winds down this week with the 4A playoff spots still to be decided. Greg Lee has the story.

• Seahawks: The Hawks are in Charlotte – for the third consecutive season – to take on the Carolina Panthers this morning. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, including how long the Percy Harvin hangover will last. My guess is until the team either strings together a few wins – that usually cures everything – or it implodes. ... According to Jerry Brewer, Russell Wilson has a few things to answer for, but not the one he was labeled with last week. ... As usual, the roster is still in flux.

• Mariners: Our one baseball story today: The Giants tied the World Series at two games apiece last night with an 11-4 rout of the Royals. Dang it. Game five is today in San Francisco and the Giants have a big advantage on the mound.

• Sounders: Cue the Queen music, the Sounders are the champions of the MLS' world. Their 2-0 victory over the L.A. Galaxy yesterday gave Seattle its first Supporters' Shield, emblematic of the best regular season record. It also meant the Sounders have the top seed in the playoffs, where they won't have to face their rivals from down Interstate 5, the Portland Timbers. ... The win, keyed by two late Marco Pappa goals, was met with respect by the Galaxy and joy by the Sounders and coach Sigi Schmid.

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• It was pretty darn nice to get home at a decent hour last night. But there certainly was a lot more traffic on U.S. 195 at 9 p.m. than there is at 1:30 or 2 on a Sunday morning, the usual time this year I've been driving back from Pullman. And, yes, as my dad used to say, I would complain if hung with a new rope. Until later ...