Your Friday morning WSU, Pac-10 stories

COUGARS

We spent an inordinate amount of time this morning reading. All the stories on the link? Of course we read those. But there were a lot of other headlines that made us pause, some on subjects unrelated to football and games this Saturday. In other words, we lost focus. But we’re back and we have your links. Read on.
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• Washington State: As the Cougars get ready to play SMU on Saturday (we have a couple Mustang stories, including a feature on a linebacker and coach June Jones commenting on the long trip), they are also getting freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel ready to play. Here’s our feature on Tuel. … Freelancer Howie Stalwick takes a look at all the lineup changes for the Kitsap Sun. … The Times’ Bud Withers covers Marshall Lobbestael’s ascension to quarterback and captain. … Here’s a look at SMU from CougCenter . … Cougfan passes along a letter athletic director Jim Sterk sent to influential WSU supporters.

• Around the Pac-10: Buster Sports’ Nick Daschel names his top 10 Pac-10 players this week. … And we pass along Withers’ weekly picks . … Washington: Bob Condotta concentrates on USC again, with this piece on the Trojans’ dominance of the conference. … Tacoma’s John McGrath believes Jake Locker should be a viable Heisman candidate. … Oregon State: The Beavers have to stop Cincinnati’s passing game and the Beavers have just the guy to do it. … Oregon: The tables are turned in this battle of BCS vs. non-BCS schools. It’s Utah that has the most to lose . … Cal: Not practicing won’t keep this Bear from playing Saturday. … Stanford: Another longtime series could be in jeopardy soon. … USC: Another Trojan player is injured, but this one happened off the field . … And here’s a special added attraction passed on by a friend. Former Idaho coach Nick Holt takes a little beating here. … UCLA: It looks like Kevin Craft will start against Kansas State. … Arizona State: It’s not often a freshman linebacker gets this type of buzz . … Arizona: A little different look at the Wildcats’ trip to Iowa.

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• That’s all for this morning. We’ll be back this afternoon with our game day items and story for tomorrow’s S-R. Until then …