The fumble call that could have changed two program's season seemed obvious to everybody but those who could influence the ruling.

Washington State fell on Saturday, to No. 8 Stanford, which needed every possible break to stave off the Cougars. There was Luke Falk's untimely interception and a truly baffling decision not to award WSU a fumble recovery. Ultimately, the Cougars were still just a makeable 43-yard field goal away from ending the day on the furthest possible point on the spectrum of emotions from where they ended up.

Here is my story from the game and a column from John Blanchette, who saw a lot to like from the Cougars. Photojournalist Tyler Tjomsland has a gallery of excellent shots from the game and we also have a scoring summary. On the blog we have notes, final stats and postgame videos of Mike Leach, Jeremiah Allison and Gabe Marks; and Peyton Pelluer, Parker Henry and Luke Falk.

Stefanie Loh has her game story to pass along and Larry Stone wrote a column, saying that the close loss is a sign of progress. Here is the CougCenter recap, and another from Chantel Jennings. Here is an article from the Stanford perspective.

Washington's freshman quarterback had a breakout game in his team's blowout win over Arizona. … UCLA survived a scare from Colorado. … California missed its chance for a big win against USC. … Utah pulled away from Oregon State in the fourth quarter.

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