Theo Lawson

Even 2,000 miles away, the Washington State Cougars are doing their part to provide relief and lift spirits in Houston, Texas.

Last Monday, the moon covered up the sun. Last Saturday, Floyd Mayweather covered up an arrogant Irishman. And a few days from now, college football will be back with a 95 percent chance of covering up your entire weekend and every weekend until the end of November.

Alex Grinch will ultimately leave Martin Stadium a happy man on Saturday evening if his defense concedes fewer points than the opponent. Oh, and there’s another thing. He wants two turnovers. That would really make the Washington State defensive coordinator beam.

The Cougars revealed their week-one depth chart Monday morning and while that’s usually a highly-anticipated moment for fans, the first two-deep of the season lacked any real plot twists or surprises.

Washington State (0-0) opens its sixth season under Mike Leach against former Cougar assistant Jeff Choate and FCS Montana State (0-0).

Cougars’ second-stringer Tyler Hilinski’s role model in football is neither an NFL player or a quarterback. Surprisingly, it’s actually someone on the Cougars’ roster.

Even in this tiny pocket of southeastern Washington, it’s practically impossible to escape the buzz surrounding tonight’s mega-bout between boxing icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA star Conor McGregor.

Judging by the last few seasons, you may have a better chance of choosing the correct Powerball numbers than predicting Washington State’s schedule with 100 percent accuracy. The same team that’s lost five consecutive season openers also has a penchant for breaking off mid-year winning streaks and beating Pac-12 powerhouses with reuglarity. The Cougars head into 2017 carrying a two-game losing streak to the Big Sky Conference (Portland State, 2015, and Eastern Washington State, 2016), but also two-game winning streak against Oregon, which has two national title game appearances in the last seven years. Last season, they lost to Boise State, but clubbed Stanford.

Erick Hallett II is leaving the Lone Star State for the Palouse and an opportunity to contribute as a part of Alex Grinch’s “Speed D.” Hallett II, a three-star cornerback from Cypress, Texas, announced his verbal commitment to Washington State on Twitter Friday morning.

Washington State practice is closed to the public for the rest of the season, meaning fans and reporters who still haven’t gotten their fix of preseason football will have to get creative if they still wish to view the Cougars. (The bridge adjoining the Compton Union Building and nearby elevator is a popular lookout point and any patron of the Holland & Terrell Library can see Rogers Field in its entirety from the large windows on the north end of the building.)

There’s something unfamiliar about the start of Isaac Dotson’s senior season. Familiarity.

Time will tell whether the Oakland Raiders made the right or wrong picks in the 2017 NFL draft, but if two preseason games are any indication, they’re at least getting some bang for their buck from a seventh rounder out of Washington State.

Associated Press voters expect another All-American season out of Washington State left guard Cody O’Connell.

Washington State’s Hercules Mata’afa and Idaho’s Aikeem Coleman were recently added to the watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, given annually the best defensive end in college football.

We take a quick look back at the first three weeks of Washington State football practice and hand out all-camp honors to the five players who looked the best during the dog days of August.

The Cougars just made the cut. Washington State checked in at No. 24 when the Associated Press released its first Top 25 poll Monday morning, giving the Cougars a preaseason ranking for the first time since 2002.

Robert Taylor isn’t alone. He’s not the first Washington State student who’s made a costly after-hours blunder on the Pullman campus and he certainly won’t be the last.

Patrick Nunn received an offer from Washington State in March and six months later, the wide receiver from San Mateo, California, has given a verbal pledge to the only Pac-12 school on his shortlist. Nunn, a 6-3, 195-pound wideout from Junipero Serra High School, announced his commitment to WSU via Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

It’s in Washington State’s best interest to play as much football under floodlights as possible before the month of September rolls around. The Cougars open the season at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 against Montana State.

Made for the Air Raid? It sure seems like Cammon Cooper is.

Every year, one Washington State practice winds up being much bigger of a production than the rest. A few more cameras are circling the perimeter of Martin Stadium and a crew of television personalities wearing navy polos are roaming the premises for a few hours. The occasion? Pac-12 Networks day in Pullman.

Kyle Sweet was throwing footballs when he arrived at Santa Margarita High School in 2011. By 2012, he was catching them. Now he’s punting them.

Mike Leach has always been an adversary of sprint-based punishment. Here’s how the Washington State coach sees it.

Washington State quarterback Luke Falk woke up Wednesday morning to find himself on yet another preseason watch list. Idaho’s Matt Linehan, coming off a season that saw him lead the Vandals to a bowl win, cracked the watch list for the first time.