Overcoming a big win

The Cougars face a different sort of challenge this week, the challenge of putting a big win behind them and resisting the urge to dwell on a big win. The bookmakers are projecting a close game between WSU and California on Saturday; WSU is a 4.5 favorite but that would be a pretty slim margin in a game where the winning team may need to score 50 or more points.

Here at SportsLink we’re totally focused on Cal and we’ve got a First Look at WSU’s opponent as well a notebook that notes some differences between the Air Raid and the Bear Raid.

More links are after the jump.

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— Yesterday the Cougars had their weekly media availability and we’ve got video and transcribed highlights of Mike Leach’s remarks.

— CougCenter’s Jeff Nusser admits he may have been too quick to declare WSU dead on Saturday.

— Bud Withers asks if this is group of quarterbacks is the best in conference history, and includes plenty of analysis from CBS NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang .

— Cal’s coach is supportive of tougher academic standards .

— The Huskies have a bye week, so we’ll switch to basketball. Washington added another four-star prospect to what is shaping up to be Lorenzo Romar’s best recruiting class.

— Arizona expects to have Samajie Grant back against Oregon.

— Todd Graham explains ASU’s struggles on defense .

— In case you hadn’t heard, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota is deadly outside the pocket .

— Oregon State’s best receiver is anxious to get back and cure OSU’s anemic passing attack .

— Does Stanford need to find a lead running back ?

— UCLA cornerback Ishmael Adams is as good on special teams as he is on defense.

— USC feels a lot better about its running game.

— Utah is in a somber mood and has to get ready to face the Bruins.