Live chat on eve of kickoff, plus links

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FROM PULLMAN — In about six hours, the Washington State football team will board a charter flight to Utah, where they begin the Mike Leach era on Thursday night. First, we have links to hold you over until then, plus a live chat coming up this afternoon.

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First, a note that we’ll be chatting live on the blog at 1 p.m. today, with some time to go for a little longer than usual if the demand is there. We have a couple of stories in this morning’s newspaper. One is a mini-profile of BYU quarterback Riley Nelson, who entered college the same year I did and is finally BYU’s unquestioned starter as a senior. We also chipped in this Pac-12 notebook , with a focus on new kickoff rules. Here’s our report from last night’s practic e, as well as a summary of Mike Leach’s comments on the coaches’ call yesterday. And I answered five questions about Thursday’s game for Brandon Gurney of the Deseret News, and he returned the favor with a blog post we’ll have up later today. … Howie Stalwick has a feature on John Fullington. … Bud Withers picks the Cougars to finish last in the Pac-12 North, though he says that doesn’t mean they won’t make a bowl game. … The Pac-12 Blog writes about Mike Leach’s business trip to Provo. … Here’s the AP’s preview of the game. … BYU : Jeff Call of the Deseret News writes about WSU’s Air Raid attack. The Salt Lake Tribune writes that WSU’s receivers will test BYU’s secondary. Here’s a story about the WSU coaching staff getting the band back together. Leach is adding to LaVell Edwards’ legacy.

Around the Pac-12 … Arizona is still shuffling players around. … Arizona State has a chance to take control of its home market. … Plenty of information in the Mercury News’ Stanford preview. … California hopes to fare better against Nevada this time around. … A feature on Stanford’s new starting quarterback , Josh Nunes. … The LA Times calls USC the nation’s No. 1 team . … Matt Barkley’s giant face has been covered over in Westwood. Jim Mora is ready for his first game as a college head coach. … Utah is hoping Jordan Wynn quiets any doubts about his ability to win games. The Utes ain’t exactly facing the Patriots in their opener. … Some notes out of Colorado as the season approaches. … Oregon’s (now) backup quarterback might be leaving. Or he might not. No, he’s not . OK . … Oregon State is starting a freshman at center for the first time in a long while. … Washington will rely on a pair of running backs to replace Chris Polk this season. Withers also has a story about new starting quarterbacks in the Pac-12.

That’s it for now.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com . Twitter: @ChristianCaple