G&T Blog Matters: Pac-12 officals, Vandals’ Sun Belt return, fresh looks for Zags’ senior duo, Connor Halliday’s nation-best numbers

A sampling from the past week of

entries in The S-R blog, Sportslink

at spokesman.com/sportslink

1: Thursday: Last night the Pac-12 announced that Coordinator of Officials, Tony Corrente, resigned for personal and professional reasons and that Larry Blackwood will fill in as interim coordinator.

Thursday: Idaho and Georgia Southern are both in their first seasons in the Sun Belt Conference – well, in the Vandals’ case, it’s their first season back after a decade away. But that’s a long enough absence to qualify Idaho as a newbie, given that no one connected with the program has an attachment to the school’s first tour through the league. 

In any case, the Eagles seem to have the hang of things already. The Vandals, not so much. The comparison gets a closer look this weekend when the Vandals make another cross-country trip to play the league-leaders in Statesboro.

John Blanchette

1:

Wednesday: Washington State QB Connor Halliday’s passing numbers right now are absurd. He’s leading the country in passing by nearly 1,000 yards and he’s thrown for four more touchdowns than any other quarterback. Halliday’s 252 passing completions are more than any teams – other than Bowling Green, Texas A&M and Western Kentucky – have even attempted. Want more? OK, he’s passed for 3,052 yards already, that’s more passing yards than 67 FBS teams finished with last season.

But is Halliday a candidate for the Heisman Trophy? At least one voter seems to think so. USA Today publishes an anonymous survey of Heisman voters (sports journalists and former winners) asking who they plan to vote for, and Halliday received a vote for third place.

Jacob Thorpe