Jacob Thorpe

PULLMAN – Mike Leach uses the term “floodgate game” to describe those rare contests between somewhat evenly matched teams in which the winner seemed to play its best football of the season and the loser played it worst. One team gets every favorable bounce, one team doesn’t get a break and the result is a score so lopsided that one’s first reaction upon seeing it is to assume somebody made a typo. The floodgates were open and the levees broke in the Pac-12 last weekend, with fully half of all games involving a Pac-12 team turning into unexpected laughers. At the start of the season it was conceivable that Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon would not lose any games at home. Now they’ve each lost one by more than three touchdowns. 1 UCLA (4-0, last week: 1) If Jim Mora isn’t careful, the Bruins may become so good that he won’t have anything to complain about after games.

The Cougars will need their starting nickelback when they face arguably the country's top passer this weekend.

Mike Leach answers questions from the media.

PULLMAN – Washington State’s bye week came before the Cougars had a chance to bang up their bodies too much, and there will surely be times during the nine-game slog ahead when they wish their break had come later in the year. But since the Cougars have been practicing nearly every day since early August, the bye week served as a much-needed mental respite for the players heading into their conference schedule.

Ernie Kent began WSU men's basketball Media Day with a 30-minute press conference.

Mike Leach answers media questions.

WSU nickelback/linebacker Parker Henry talks to the media.

Safety Taylor Taliulu answers the media's questions.

Quarterback Luke Falk talks bye week and California with members of the media.

Big men Josh Hawkinson and Connor Clifford preview the 2015-16 men's basketball season at WSU Media Day.

Guards Ike Iroegbu and Que Johnson preview WSU's 2015-16 season.

Game notes and depth chart for WSU's game at California on Saturday.

The bye week is over and the Cougars have a game this weekend at California.

There were some surprising outcomes in the Pac-12 on Saturday, but Oregon's loss to Utah overshadowed them all.

SEATTLE – Whether or not Washington State football players and coaches gathered during their Saturday off to watch California’s 30-24 win at Washington, the Cougars are certain to see the game over and over this week. In the close contest, the Huskies revealed a method for attacking the Golden Bears, even if it wasn’t enough for a victory. With a game at Cal Saturday, the Cougars would do well to study what worked for their instate rivals.

For a while yesterday, it seemed likely that for the first time since 2003 there would be no Washington State flag in the background of ESPN's College GameDay broadcast.

Greetings from the west side.

Washington State has wrapped up its nonconference schedule and won't play this weekend, so this seems like a good time to assess the Cougars.

The Washington State football returned to practice on Wednesday after a two-day break.

Washington State may be taking a week off from playing, but there is still plenty of Pac-12 football to watch this weekend. In fact, it’s a pretty good week to sit back and watch games, since four of the conference’s six ranked teams will be playing each other.

After a pretty normal practice, the Washington State first teamers faced off against each other. Then, the Cougars held a scrimmage for the underclassmen.