A sad day in the Palouse

• If you’ve read this space for the past few years you know there are only two things I’ve ever wished for when covering a sporting event: a quick game and no injuries. The former is just for fun, really. The latter, however, is a sincere hope, a hope rarely realized in college football. Too often the games are marred by an injury or injuries. Often, they are minor. Sometimes, though, they are devastating. Yesterday there was the latter. Connor Halliday, Washington State’s record-setting quarterback, went down in a heap after being steamrolled by USC’s Leonard Williams, engaged with Cougar offensive lineman Sam Flor. The weight of those two large young men all came to bear on Halliday’s lower leg. Something popped and Halliday underwent surgery yesterday. He’s awake and recovering, as he was answering friends’ tweets early this morning, but his college playing days are over. And his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL has been derailed, at least for now. Not knowing the extent of the injury, it’s hard to speak intelligently on where that dream lies in the future, but knowing Connor Halliday, it’s also hard to believe he won’t bounce back. He’s been knocked down before – the most prominent example was the liver laceration suffered against Utah three years ago – and always pulled himself back up. So why would you not expect the same this time?

• There is a pantheon of Cougar quarterbacks, headlined by the original passing star, Jack Thompson. But the list is a long one, from Mark Rypien to Timm Rosenbach to Drew Bledsoe to Ryan Leaf to Jason Gesser to Alex Brink. All did enough special things in their tenure at WSU to make the list, from keying upsets to setting records to leading teams to the Rose Bowl. It’s hard to say who was “best,” but it isn’t hard to quantify who is the most prolific. That would be Halliday, No. 1 on WSU’s lists in every major passing category. Yes, he’s been Mike Leach’s quarterback, and Leach has a propensity to throw the ball more than any other coach in college football – hence Halliday’s records for most pass attempts in a game and most passing yardage. But Halliday also was the Cougars lone starting quarterback just one full season, last year. His sophomore season he shared time with Jeff Tuel. This year’s season has been cut short. And still he took control of the Cougar record book – and moved quickly up the ladder in the Pac-12. But numbers don’t tell the entire story. His abilities are an outgrowth of his confidence. He believes he can make every throw. That leads to overreaching at times, sure, but as Halliday as matured such moments have become rarer and rarer. That growth is what had set him apart this season. And put him on a path to join his friend Tuel on a NFL roster next season. How yesterday’s injury will effect that, we don’t know just yet. But nothing can take away from what he did in his five years at Washington State. As Leach said, “Connor’s contributions to this program, most of them are ones that the public doesn’t fully have an appreciation for. But Connor’s contributions to this program are gigantic.” And they will be felt as the years go by.

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• WSU: There is a lot to pass along here, most of it discussing Halliday’s injury . But there is also the matter of the game, a 44-17 USC victory. The loss ensured WSU’s 11th consecutive season without a winning record, extending the longest such streak in school history. Jacob Thorpe has the coverage, with his game story , notebook , keys to the defeat, scoring and the statistics . John Blanchette was in foggy Martin Stadium and has this column while Tyler Tjomsland has the photographs from the game, including the one above as Leach comforts Halliday. … Jacob also has plenty of items here, with video of Leach’s press conference as well as Luke Falk and Sam Flor . There are his final thoughts on the game, the game book and a morning post today with links. … ESPN.com has what we learned from a wild night – and day – in the Pac-12. … To pass along happier news, former WSU star Klay Thompson, who agreed to a four-year, $70 million contract extension with Golden State on Friday, torched the Lakers for 41 points last night. … USC also suffered what could be a major injury. … It wasn’t a good day for the Southeastern Conference.

• Gonzaga: The Bulldogs finally got to compete against someone else, facing Thompson River in an exhibition game at the Kennel. Jim Meehan was there and has this game story of the 95-69 victory.

• EWU: Eastern probably could use a laugher after last week’s last-second loss in Flagstaff and the Eagles got one, routing North Dakota 54-3 at Roos Field. The rain did nothing to slow down an Eastern offense that rolled up 459 yards of total offense. Jim Allen has the game story and a notebook while Dan Pelle adds the photo report . … The win, coupled with Cal Poly’s comeback win over Montana State, puts the Eagles back atop the Big Sky standings. … Eastern had its first individual Big Sky cross country champion yesterday as Sarah Reiter ran to victory in North Dakota.

• Idaho: Have a hankering for a turnover? Well, yesterday the Kibbie Dome was the place to be. No, there wasn’t a culinary convention in town, just Arkansas State for a football game. But the Vandals served up eight of them to grasp a 44-28 defeat out of the jaws of victory. Idaho led 28-24 late in the fourth quarter but three final turnovers and a handful of key penalties led to another loss. Josh Wright has the game story and a blog post with more information.

• Whitworth: The Pirates celebrated senior day with a 30-7 win over winless George Fox. Tom Clouse was in the Pine Bowl and has the story .

• Chiefs: Spokane had plenty of shots but came up one goal short Saturday night, losing 2-1 to Red Deer in the Arena. … Portland picked up a win at home over Kelowna, 3-2. … Everett shut out Edmonton, 3-0. … The Americans are streaking the wrong way.

• Preps: It was a busy Saturday in prep sports, with Coeur d’Alene picking up a third consecutive state 5A girls cross country title. The Viks volleyball team , however, fell in the final match. … The postseason isn’t as far along in Washington, as Greg Lee looks forward to the football playoffs. … Chris Derrick covers the 4A district volleyball title match, won by Central Valley. … The regional cross country meets took place and we have a roundup of all the action. … Mead won the district soccer title, defeating CV 2-0.

• Seahawks: Earlier this year, the Raiders and the Hawks played. It was an exhibition game . Tomorrow, they meet for real . Oakland is still winless this season. The Hawks? They’ve gotten some of their mojo back after last week’s win over Carolina. … Roster churn is a daily occurrence in the NFL but yesterday the Hawks made a surprising move, cutting Bryan Walters (pictured). The reason? They will need another safety for tomorrow’s game against the pass-happy Raiders .

• Mariners: There are some targets out there for the M’s this winter. The question always is, will they hit on any of them?

• Sounders: Seattle opens its hunt for the MLS Cup today in Frisco, Texas against FC Dallas in the first leg of a two-game series. … Dallas will be missing one of its better players today. … If Seattle wants to win, it will have to keep the Dallas defense on its heels. … Brad Evans thinks this Sounders group is better prepared for the postseason, as does Sigi Schmid .

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• I want to apologize for not being able to post yesterday. Some days – about 10 in the past three years – other things intervene. Until later …