Jacob Thorpe

Washington State will likely play in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 in San Diego, thanks to No. 4 Washington's win over No. 9 Colorado in Friday night's Pac-12 Championship Game.

PULLMAN – It was apparent early in the season that Washington was going to be a contender fo the Pac-12 crown, and when the Huskies knocked off Stanford and Oregon in successive weeks it seemed that there was little the rest of the conference could do to keep its most dominant team out of the Pac-12 game. The Huskies passed their final test, the Apple Cup, in about six minutes of game time last Friday, securing a championship game date against a team many predicted to finish last in the Pac-12 South.

Malachi Flynn did not stop being one of the state’s most dangerous and efficient scorers when he elevated from high school to college, a point he drove home over and over while leading Washington State to a 83-76 win over a surging Utah Valley team on Wednesday night.

A lethargic loss in front of a miniscule crowd on Sunday was most troubling for how familiar it all felt for the Washington State men’s basketball team. The Cougars gave San Jose State an 88-76 win in Beasley Coliseum in the same manner as so many of their losses last season, when there were oh so many losses.

What to know before Washington State hosts Washington in the 109th annual Apple Cup.

Very little about the 2016 football season has played out like I, or many others, predicted. The Oregon Ducks jumped out of their nest and forgot how to fly, falling splat at bottom of the conference.

Well, we have made it this far. Our last full week of picks and we are barely hovering above .500 against the spread.