A decently early day of college football

• Can you believe it? For the first time this season, Washington State is playing a day game. Well, the Cougars’ home game with 15th-ranked Arizona doesn’t start in the evening, at least. With the sun setting this time of year around 5:40, most of the second half will be played in the gloaming ( I just love that word ) and then darkness. Most people expect today’s game to be an offensive show but I’m not so sure. Why? Because that was the expectation last season, when the Cougars went into Arizona and won. The final score: 24-17. Not much of an offensive show. Yes, both offensive are better. And at least one defense isn’t – I’ll let you fill in which one. But still, college football players know the score. They know what expectations are. And that often ticks them off. The unexpected is the result. But that’s a bit nebulous, I know. How about this? Both teams are coming off bye weeks. An extra few days were there for the taking to shore up problems on defense, study film of the opposition, to scheme a bit more. Extra time always seems to benefit the defense, as offenses rarely change drastically. What you see on film may be tweaked a little, may be fine-tuned, but is rarely altered so radically as to make it unreadable. So maybe the over-under of 72.5 is a bit high. Then again, I quit betting long ago. Why? Lost too much.

• So, more importantly, who wins? If the Cougars are victorious today – the Wildcats are favored by just 2.5 points right now – it would be their first upset of a ranked team at home since defeating 16th-ranked Oregon in 2006. Yes, that was the last time they defeated a ranked team in Pullman. And they have only one other win over a ranked team in that stretch – last year at No. 25 USC, a team that really shouldn’t have been ranked. You can look back 10 football seasons, including this one, and those are the only Cougar wins over ranked teams. A victory today, then, would be pretty monumental. And, though, if everything falls WSU’s way, it could win, it doesn’t. This season Arizona has pretty much been finding ways to win tight games, the Cougars ways to lose them. It’s hard to see that changing in the next few hours.

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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe is safely back in Pullman after his quick sojourn to San Francisco. He has an advance of today’s game as well as the keys . He also has the starters for WSU and Arizona along with a blog post this morning with links. … The 24th-ranked Cougar soccer team picked up another win yesterday. … It’s Saturday, so we can pass along ESPN.com’s weekly Pac-12 mailbag as well as what to watch .

• Gonzaga: Zag guard Kevin Pangos is featured pretty prominently in this story about Steve Nash.

• EWU: The second-ranked Eagles are in Flagstaff, Arizona, home to Route 66 as well as a lot of wheezing while walking – at least that’s how I recall my visit there. Jim Allen has an advance of the game with Northern Arizona and, as an extra bonus, a morning post with links. … Cal Poly welcomes Montana in a key Big Sky game today while both Southern Utah and Weber State are hosting games.

• Whitworth: The Whits host Puget Sound this afternoon at the Pine Bowl. … Both the Whitworth men and women are ranked in the first Division III basketball polls, the men 17th and the women 20th.

• Chiefs: Spokane traveled west and lost 5-3 to the Seattle Thunderbirds last night. … Everett handed Tri-City a 3-1 loss last night in Everett. … Portland scored three times in the third period to defeat Prince Albert, 5-2.

• Preps: Gonzaga Prep continues to lead the GSL, as the Pups put the clamps on Lewis and Clark last night, winning 17-7 at Albi. Greg Lee has the story . … Earlier, Mt. Spokane handled Rogers, 43-14. … Jesse Tinsley has photographs from both Albi games. … Over in Idaho, Post Falls took an improbable 37-36 win over Coeur d’Alene when the Trojans scored on the last play and was successful on the following two-point conversion. Jim Meehan has the story as Post Falls makes the state playoffs. … Ferris somehow found a way past Central Valley, 14-10. … Colville hammered Deer Park, 32-14. Tom Clouse has the story . … Greg was also at the Idaho State 4A girls soccer tournament where Sandpoint earned a finals’ berth. … U-Hi swept Mead last night in volleyball, setting up a showdown with CV for the GSL title. Chris Derrick has the story . … We also can pass along a football roundup , and a roundup of other sports, including soccer. Central Valley won the GSL title with a win over Mead.

• Seahawks: The injuries decimating the Hawks have hit the kick-returning area, with Bryan Walters out . He’ll be replaced on punts by rookie Paul Richardson and on kick returns by Doug Baldwin . … Pete Carroll is really good when dealing with the media. … Pro Football Focus puts the game with Carolina into focus (I couldn’t resist, sorry).

• Sounders: Is today the day the Sounders finally win a big trophy? Could be. But Landon Donovan and the L.A. Galaxy stand in the way of the Sounders and 60,000 in CenturyLink celebrating. … The match starts today at noon . After it is over, the teams will find out who they play in the playoffs . … Sigi Schmid wasn’t too pleased with some comments by Donovan. … ESPN is reporting the Sounders have re-signed Obafemi Martins to a pretty hefty contract.

• Mariners: Looking back at 2014 , the M’s wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as they were without Chris Young. But is there a spot in the rotation for him next season? … The Royals’ deep pitching is asserting itself in the World Series.

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• We’re headed to Pullman today where it will be nice and warm before the game begins. By the time I’m headed home, though, it may be really windy. In between, there is a chance of showers and breezes. At least that’s what the National Weather Service is saying. You can ease the ride home by listening to Dennis Patchin and I talk about the game on the post-game call in show, available on East Side stations and the TuneIn Radio app. Until later …