Jacob Thorpe

Washington State rose in the College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday, but was leapfrogged by a Pac-12 rival. The Cougars rose to No. 23 from No. 25 in last week’s initial rankings, but previously unranked USC debuted at No. 20.

What a boring week of Pac-12 football Week 10 turned out to be. Not a single game was within single digits, nearly half the conference took the week off and the average margin of victory in the four games was five touchdowns.

Once the defense and special teams had done everything Pullman needed to get a win over Prosser in Tuesday night's winner-to-state game, it was only fitting that the defense have the game in its hands on the last drive of Pullman's 14-13 victory.

The Evergreen State has been treated to some pretty good football in 2016, what with No. 4 Washington and No. 23 Washington State both ranked in November (and the Seahawks atop the NCF West).

Game notes and depth chart for Washington State's football game against California on Saturday.

Washington State coach Mike Leach is hardly alone in pointing out that the Pac-12 puts itself at a disadvantage by playing nine conference games. The SEC, for example, only plays eight conference games meaning its schools can schedule one extra cupcake each year.

With the game clock winding down and Washington State’s 69-7 victory over Arizona well in hand, Cougars coach Mike Leach and wide receiver Gabe Marks had a debate.

With only three Saturdays left in college football’s regular season, the Washington state schools are peaking at the right time. And both Washington and Washington State have been playing well for a while.

The Cougars outscored the Saints 52-35 after halftime.

The Cougars outlasted Carroll College, 78-70, in Sunday's exhibition game.

Washington State moved up two spots in both the Associated Press and coaches polls following Saturday’s 69-7 beatdown of Arizona, ranking No. 23 in both.

Washington State quarterback Luke Falk may say he is “not really focused on individual stats or anything like that” but the Cougars sure put up some impressive ones – and even broke a few records – during their 69-7 win over Arizona on Saturday.

Luke Falk has played superbly throughout Washington State’s seven-game winning streak, but he has never been better than he was on Saturday against Arizona.

Keith Harrington was a credible scoring threat on the ground and through the air for Washington State in 2015, but entered Saturday’s game having yet to play a snap this season because of an undisclosed injury.

1. Arizona nearly matched its offensive scoring ouput for the game on the first play. Brandon Dawkins reared back and fired a deep pass to Nate Phillips, who caught the pass and ran unimpeded to the end zone. But a flag for ineligible receiver downfield erased the play, and the Wildcats instead began the game by going three-and-out. 2. Shalom Luani intercepted Dawkins on UA’s second drive and gave WSU the ball at the eight-yard line. Because of that play, the Cougars took a 10-0 lead over the visitors and the offense barely had to work at all.