A Giant post about WSU

COUGARS • UPDATED: 1 P.M.

You know, it’s kind of funny. I never knew how many Giants fans lived around here until this week. It’s World Series time, the Giants have pitched themselves into it and all of a sudden all these folks are rooting for them. Interesting. As for Washington State, we have notes and links, so read on.
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• Washington State: We had our Pac-10 notebook in today’s S-R, along with some notes from last night’s practice. Also hit a 5 when I meant to hit a 6, but I fixed that. The Cal game is Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. and it will be on TV, unlike this week’s game. … Coach Paul Wulff had his radio show last night hosted by Bud Nameck – he’s not one of the guys I referred to above; he’s been a Giants fan as long as I’ve known him – and you can read a summary here if you want. … Finally, there is one group of statistics in which the Cougar defense is better than average . … UPDATE: Got a few things for you. First is this story from Christian Caple at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News on helmet-to-helmet hits. I will say, anecdotally, I think there have been fewer flags for these type of penalties this season. … Dale Grummert has this story about Deone Bucannon. … Also, the NCAA released graduation rates today from the incoming class of 2003. You can check out all of WSU’s numbers here . The football number of 60 is middle of the Pac-10 pack.

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• Around the Pac-10: ESPN.com’s Ted Miller takes a quick look at this week’s games. … Bud Withers looks at what the NCAA will do if it doesn’t get 70 bowl eligible teams. … San Jose’s Jon Wilner has some good stuff on the Pac-12. … Washington: Oftentimes a team’s punter is not in the news – until something bad happens. But this year, the Pac-10 punters are so good – we wrote about this a few weeks ago – they are worth examining at various times. UW’s Kiel Rasp is an example of this. … The Huskies were dominated in Stanford last season. … Oregon State: The Beavers long snapper is out – and that might be more important than most think. … It’s been a month since OSU has played at home. … Oregon: How good is USC’s defense ? The Ducks think it’s pretty darn good . It’s just that Oregon’s offense is damn good. … Kenjon Barner returns to practice, but wears a no-contact jersey. … Cal: There is one mission this week: contain Jacquizz Rodgers. … Are you an NFL team that needs a running back? Better be in Corvallis on Saturday to watch Rodgers and Shane Vereen. … Stanford: The Cardinal need their safety back. … Are you an NFL team that needs a quarterback? Better be in Seattle on Saturday to watch Jake Locker and Andrew Luck. … USC: Leadership is often best when it comes from within . … UCLA: With Kevin Price out, Richard Brehaut’s takes control of the offense. … Arizona State: Quarterback Steven Threet was cleared to practice without contact Tuesday, which means he will more than likely be able to play Saturday. … Arizona: Nick Foles went back to Texas to get his knee worked on and it seemed to help .

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• That’s all for this morning. We’ll be back after practice this evening. Until then …