A GRIP ON SPORTS • The great ones always know when to just get the heck out of the way. Let the content talk. Vin Scully. Tom Hanks. Jerry Seinfeld. Heck, even the so-so ones know that lesson. Read on.

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• We arose extra early this morning. Beat the sun up, actually. For all of you folks on the Palouse, my hat’s off. It isn’t easy getting up that early to plow through the day. Or even to plow through a website chock full of football nutrition. That’s why we’re exiting the stage early today. There are so many good stories to read from our football section – again, if you live within the sound of my fingers, make sure you get your hands on a paper edition; it is well worth the effort – I don’t want to take up anymore of your time. Besides, time wasted writing is time I don’t have to read more of the stories. So we’ll get off the soapbox and let you get to the stories. (You can also access all the college football stories here.) I’ve organized them by school, as is my usual way, and identified the stories we carried in the special section when possible. Enjoy.

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• WSU: The theme of Jacob Thorpe’s stories in the football section is confidence. The main story has it, the piece on Alex Grinch (pictured) covers it and Peyton Pelluer oozes it. There is also a timeline of the Mike Leach era and WSU by the numbers. ... This is the first pretty-full week of play for the Pac-12 schools, so Jacob has his picks. He “just happened” to get last week’s Cal game correct. (FYI, I had them winning 51-31; at least that’s what I told my cat, she’ll vouch for me.) ... Stefanie Loh has a feature on Leach in today’s Seattle Times as well as a story on what WSU needs to do to be successful in 2016. ... Elsewhere around the Pac-12, there are some hot seats for coaches, most notably at Colorado and quite possibly at Arizona. Oregon State’s isn’t warm just yet. ... There are also some high expectations concerning assistant coaches for Washington and Oregon. ... The defensive side of the ball is highlighted at Stanford, Arizona State and California. ... Oregon State is counting on its quarterback. Oregon is counting on its quarterback running. ... The depth chart is unsettled in Westwood. ... USC wants to play the way USC used to play. ... Stanford just wants to play well early.

• EWU: Cooper Kupp is a lot like Eastern Washington football. Jim Allen explains how in his lead piece from the football section. He also has a story on a senior defensive lineman and an assistant coach. There is also the Eastern timeline and by the numbers. ... Jim has this feature on a couple players coming off injury and will also hold a live chat at noon today. ... The Big Sky gets its chance to pull upsets this weekend, starting tonight in Utah, where Weber State faces Utah State. ... Southern Utah faces off with Utah this weekend as well. ... Portland State picked up an Oregon transfer, though he will play a different position for the Vikings.

• Idaho: The season begins tonight for quarterback Matt Linehan and the Vandals against Montana State. Josh Wright returns to the beat with this feature in the football section as well as a story on defensive coordinator Mike Breske and the Vandals’ excellent pair of tight ends. And, yes, there is a timeline and by the numbers as well.

• Whitworth: The Pirates’ explosive offense takes center stage for Tom Clouse’s football section coverage which also includes a feature on the newest weapon, a story on the defensive coordinator as well as a timeline and by the numbers.

• Chiefs: Kailer Yamamoto received another honor.

• Indians: The Indians lost to Hillsboro 8-5 last night but that wasn’t the most interesting aspect of the game. There was a bit of a beanball war in the late innings. Josh Horton has the story and Colin Mulvany has a photo gallery of the game action. ... He also has a notebook that has been on the blog awhile. ... Everett won in Boise and Eugene won once more.

• Preps: Before we get to the special section stories, which just happen to cover every league in our area, we want to get to all the items in today’s sports section. Greg Lee and KHQ's Sam Adams are back picking six prep games, Greg has an advance on this week’s action – the Seattle Times sees the Eastside Catholic vs. Gonzaga Prep game as its game of the week – and a football notebook. ... Now on to the section. Instead of giving the writers individual notice, we are going to list the stories by league and let you know Greg, Jim Meehan, Jim Allen, Tom Clouse and Josh Horton wrote the stories. ... There are six stories from Idaho, with coverage of the 5A Inland Empire, the 4A Inland Empire, Intermountain, Central Idaho, Whitepine and White Star leagues. ... In Washington, there are stories on the GSL 4A, the GSL 3A, Great Northern, Northeast A, Northeast 2B, Northeast 1B North, the Northeast 1B South and the Southeast 1B leagues.

• Mariners: The least said here, the better. The M’s had a chance to make some noise this week with a three-game series in Texas. The noise they made? A gag. With the season on the line, they were swept by the Rangers, including yesterday’s 14-1 defeat. Anyone out there think they still have a reasonable postseason shot this year? ... The M’s made a trade, picking up the International League MVP for two young pitchers.

• Seahawks: It looks as if Thomas Rawls will play tonight against the Raiders in the final preseason game tonight. But will he actually, you know, carry the ball? ... This is the final chance for some players to make enough of an impression to make the 53-man roster. ... Last year’s numbers may tells us a bit about what will happen this season.

• Sounders: No, Obafemi Martins is not coming back to Seattle. When he was here, they were a much better team. ... What the heck is going on with Clint Dempsey?

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• Idaho begins the football season tonight by hosting Montana State. Why is that important? Dennis Patchin is the voice of Idaho football. He has to be in Moscow. So I’ll be in his chair from 3 to 6 p.m. joining Rick Lukens and Keith Osso for three hours of sports talk. There may or may not be a rant about the M’s coming on. You can listen here. Until then ...

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