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Jacob Thorpe

Jacob Thorpe

Current Position: Sports columnist

Jacob Thorpe is a freelance sports columnist covering Washington State football.

All Stories

Sports

Stopping Trojans, means stopping run

PULLMAN – The USC team Washington State faces today will have a different, if familiar, look. The Cougars hope the game’s result is similar to the last time they faced USC – a 10-7 win in Los Angeles last season – even if the Trojans look more like Washington did last year under new coach Steve Sarkisian. Considering that Sarkisian shares a similar offensive pedigree to Lane Kiffin, who coached the Trojans when they hosted WSU last season, it’s surprising to WSU coach Mike Leach how different USC’s offense looks.
Sports

Key for WSU against USC is to stop run

The USC team Washington State faces today will have a different, if familiar, look. The Cougars hope the game’s result is similar to the last time they faced USC – a 10-7 win in Los Angeles last season – even if the Trojans look more like Washington did last year under new coach Steve Sarkisian.
Sports

Tim Drevno has young USC line excelling

PULLMAN – Zach Banner may be just a redshirt sophomore and a first-year starter, but on the USC offensive line he’s what passes for a veteran. The graduate of Lakes High – just outside Tacoma – is the starting right tackle for the Trojans, and at 6-foot-9, 350 pounds he’s the giant on a unit that could start three freshmen against Washington State on Saturday.
Sports

Jacob Thorpe’s Pac-12 football picks

With only five weeks left in the regular season, the games are becoming more significant. Four of the conference’s five best teams will face off in two keys games this weekend, and because all four teams hail from the Pac-12 South, the two winners will emerge as frontrunners for the spot in the conference’s championship game. Up north, Stanford and Oregon will meet in a matchup of teams that have combined to win every Pac-12 championship since 2008. There’s still plenty of time left in the season but chances are the team that will emerges on top in December will win a big game this weekend.
Sports

Jacob Thorpe’s Pac-12 football power rankings

PULLMAN – The Pac-12’s southern division continues to dominate its northern counterparts. How tough is that division right now? Preseason Top-10 team UCLA currently ranks No. 5 out of six teams in the standings, and the Bruins are 6-2. The north is still the most likely to send a team (Oregon) to the college football playoff, but by the time the Pac-12 championship game rolls around will the Ducks be fresh because of their easier road to a divisional championship? Or will they be soft against a team from the south that had to fight to get there? 1 Oregon (7-1, 4-1; last week: No. 1) Oregon better stop giving Royce Freeman the ball or he’s going to take away Heisman votes from Marcus Mariota.
Sports

Pac-12 notes: Conference setting standard for NCAA reformation

PULLMAN – The Pac-12 is changing college athletics and its football coaches are mostly on board, with some reservations. One of the biggest reforms announced by the conference on Monday is that all athletic scholarships will be guaranteed for at least four years. Previously, scholarships were renewed annually and coaches had the ability to withhold the scholarship for any reason, including lack of performance. The conference is also pledging to financially support student-athletes that leave school early by giving them the necessary educational expenses when they return to school providing that they left after completing 50 percent of their degree requirements.”
Sports

Bowl still a possibility for Cougars

PULLMAN – The Cougars waited until their backs were firmly against the wall, but with four games left and needing four wins to be eligible for a bowl game, Washington State football players admitted to a little big-picture thinking during Monday’s press conference. Typically talk of seasonal context or overall record or even the score is anathema to the Cougars, who profess to focus on nothing other than the next play if not the next breath. But with such an obvious goal of making the postseason hinging upon the ability of WSU (2-6, 1-4) to play perfectly the rest of the way, it’s understandably on their minds.