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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

Jacob Thorpe’s Pac-12 power rankings

The two teams at the top and bottom of the conference are easy enough to sort out. Oregon and USC have the only two major wins so far while Colorado and Washington State are the only teams currently flailing. The other eight teams have almost all won two games they were expected to win and we should see plenty of movement once they start to play each other. 1 Oregon (2-0; last week: No. 1) The vaunted Michigan State defense held the Ducks to all of 46 points, and Oregon’s defense is pretty gritty as well.
Sports

Pac-12 football: Bottom line, Dawgs and Bruins are 2-0

This was supposed to be the Pac-12’s year. With six teams ranked in the AP Top-25 and as many as three or four with a reasonable shot to make the College Football Playoffs it became chic among national sports pundits to say the conference was as good or better than even the mighty SEC. Conference standard-bearer Oregon has done what it could for the narrative, beating then-No. 7 Michigan State, and California has helped lift the bottom of the conference with a win at Northwestern.
Sports

Pac-12 football: Bottom line, Dawgs and Bruins are 2-0

This was supposed to be the Pac-12’s year. With six teams ranked in the AP Top-25 and as many as three or four with a reasonable shot to make the College Football Playoffs it became chic among national sports pundits to say the conference was as good or better than even the mighty SEC.
Sports

Struggling Cougars lack focus

PULLMAN – Despite an unexpectedly poor start to the 2014 season, the Washington State football team is afflicted with an air of positivity that prevents it from realizing its flaws, according to coach Mike Leach. At his weekly Monday media availability, Leach said the team’s focus has been an issue, and that the Cougars have had trouble isolating their focus from the outside opinions, or “noise.”
Sports

Struggling Cougars lack focus

Despite an unexpectedly poor start to the 2014 season, the Washington State football team is afflicted with an air of positivity that prevents it from realizing its flaws, according to coach Mike Leach. At his weekly Monday media availability, Leach said the team’s focus has been an issue, and that the Cougars have had trouble isolating their focus from the outside opinions, or “noise.”
Sports

Cougars hope to dig out of 0-2 hole

RENO, Nev. – Overheard in the Reno airport on Saturday morning were the groans and grumbles of those who came to the Biggest Little City in the World and lost. Oh, the dice may have been hot and perhaps the slots were loose but the show was a disaster. The opening number was dreadful, the ending awful and the lack of electricity among the performers made one wonder why this troupe had bothered touring to Reno in the first place.
Sports

Cougars hope to dig out of 0-2 hole

The hangover suffered by the departing Washington State football fans will linger after a hard night of watching their Cougars lose to Nevada of the Mountain West Conference, 24-13.
Sports

Oh, dear: 0 and 2

RENO, Nevada – Washington State’s defense was better than most Cougar fans likely dared to dream, but penalties and missed opportunities sent the offense back four years to the days when touchdowns were exceptional, rather than expected. The Cougars struggled to score in the first half and managed only a field goal in the second half of a 24-13 loss at Nevada.