John Blanchette

FRISCO, Texas – So here it is, Eastern Washington football redefined, by the Eagles themselves: The unlikely is humdrum.

FRISCO, Texas – The best thing about Eastern Washington playing for a national championship is … well, Eastern playing for a national championship. There doesn’t even have to be a second-best thing. But there is.

The best thing about Eastern Washington playing for a national championship is … well, Eastern playing for a national championship. There doesn’t even have to be a second-best thing. But there is.

So the story goes that Matt Hasselbeck was still in coach Pete Carroll’s ear to start Sunday’s playoff-for-the-playoffs even as the Seattle Seahawks made their way through the tunnel canopy just before kickoff. One can only imagine.

So the story goes that Matt Hasselbeck was still in coach Pete Carroll’s ear to start Sunday’s playoff-for-the-playoffs even as the Seattle Seahawks made their way through the tunnel canopy just before kickoff. One can only imagine. “C’mon, Pete, I’m ready … You’re not seriously going to go with ol’ ‘Passion of the Christ’ here, are you? … Pete, I’ve started 131 NFL games … Hey, my butt’s healed – although you’re really starting to make it ache again … What, are you trying to re-enact ‘The Last Supper?’ … Be serious, Pete – you want a quarterback who’s been there or a guy you signed straight out of a BeeGees tribute band?” But Carroll went with his gut over Hasselbeck’s glute and put the game into the hands of backup Charlie Whitehurst.

And you think the BCS is a cockamamie way to decide a football champion? It has to be a playoff, right? Gotta have a playoff. A playoff is the only way. OK, ladies and gentlemen, presenting your playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks. Your precedent-setting, D-minus, no-way, 7-9, playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks. Don’t you just love them? Why wouldn’t you?

Resolu- tions don’t have to wait until New Year’s, but sometimes the calendar paints a guy into a corner. So here goes:

Resolutions don’t have to wait until New Year’s, but sometimes the calendar paints a guy into a corner.

The most-watched game in Football Championship Subdivision history – nearly 2 million households – was last year’s playoff semifinal between Montana and Appalachian State. The momentum from that produced a television rating of 1.52 a week later when Villanova beat the Grizzlies on ESPN for the national title – the biggest Nielsen number since the game moved from CBS to cable in 1994. In a week, Eastern Washington and Delaware meet in Frisco, Texas – and on ESPN2 – to crown a new champion. And an hour later – just 44 miles down the road in Arlington – Texas A&M and LSU kick it off in the Cotton Bowl on Fox.

In the interests of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that just 50 weeks ago in this space, the following question was posed: Why can’t Washington State win the Pac-10 basketball championship?

After review, could we go back 13 years for even further review? Just for the what-if fun of it?

The exhale in Spokane would have registered 13 on the Beaufort Scale if it went that high. In any case, Marquise Carter felt it – heard it – all the way down in Dallas. Gonzaga had outlasted ninth-ranked Baylor in the Bears’ backyard, the Zags’ first win over a ranked opponent in 10 tries over 22 months. Steven Gray missed the last 25 minutes with back spasms. Elias Harris played just 18 because of foul trouble. The lineup on the floor at the end had the combined firepower of 28 points per game and included two newcomers with less than 300 minutes of major college playing time between them, and a walk-on.

The exhale in Spokane would have registered 13 on the Beaufort Scale if it went that high. In any case, Marquise Carter felt it – heard it – all the way down in Dallas. Gonzaga had outlasted ninth-ranked Baylor in the Bears’ backyard, the Zags’ first win over a ranked opponent in 10 tries over 22 months. Steven Gray missed the last 25 minutes with back spasms. Elias Harris played just 18 because of foul trouble. The lineup on the floor at the end had the combined firepower of 28 points per game and included two newcomers with less than 300 minutes of major college playing time between them, and a walk-on.

There’s something different now about this place, this program. Maybe one victory shouldn’t do that, necessarily. Maybe it won’t be completely true without one more.

Dear Montana fan, I’m not sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it.

By the way, the red turf does turn pink. If you order up a blizzard. And then if the skies really empty, the whole thing turns white and you forget there’s even a color underneath – sort of a memory cleansing that also extended to the many amazing turns in Saturday’s football game and the latest bit of lore etched by the Eastern Washington Eagles.

Episode 4,382 in the ongoing reality soap that is The Real Cougs of Spokane County: That’s how many passed through the portals of the Spokane Arena on Friday night for a live eyewitness sizing up of the Washington State Cougars, who a day before were the talk of office water coolers for their 22-point pasting of Gonzaga.

PULLMAN – On the bright side for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, at least the scoreboard at their arena works. Not that the Zags seem to have much need for it this year.

J.C. Sherritt will not tell you what the initials stand for, but he will tell you why he won’t tell you. “My two older sisters,” he said. “When they got mad at me, they would call me by my first and middle names. So it stuck in my mind that I do not like being called that.” Julius Caeser? Joe Cool? Jimmy Crackcorn? How bad could it be, really?