After that briefer-than-expected hiatus, let’s get back to football

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The college basketball season had its early season moment in the sun yesterday. Now we can get back to football. Read on.

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• There were two-and-a-half major men’s games featuring area teams Friday, with Gonzaga’s court-shortened 20 minutes in Okinawa the half. The Zags were behind at halftime against a game Pittsburgh team, but who knows if that would have held – or even if that was true representation of the teams’ abilities. The conditions on the court were that bad from the get-go. You could see the players were unsure of their footing from warmups on, and the game itself seemed, at times, almost a basketball-esque version of ice hockey. It was the right call to end the game early. The question now is how many right calls were made in the second half in Starksville? It seems as if Eastern Washington coach Jim Hayford didn’t think there were enough. His team led Mississippi State by double digits early in the second half, by a half-dozen a few minutes later and then the roof fell in. The Bulldogs scored 20 consecutive points, Hayford earned a technical near the end of the run and Eastern opened the season with a 106-88 defeat. There was no such drama in Pullman as the Cougars showcased a bunch of new players en route to an 82-70 win over the Big Sky’s Northern Arizona. Now the Cougars have a chance to watch video, work on some things and spend a week fine-tuning their effort before their tour of the Big Sky continues next Friday when Idaho State visits.

• We’re used to this. The Montana/ Eastern Washington game today in Missoula is crucial to both team’s playoff hopes. That’s almost a given every year. What we aren’t used to, and haven’t been for a while, is Washington State’s game tonight in the Rose Bowl against UCLA is also crucial. Oh, both teams will participate in the FBS version of the postseason – bowl games – but the Bruins are still battling for the South Division title and a berth in the Pac-12 championship game. And the Cougars might hold somewhat similar hopes in the North if Oregon finds a way to upset Stanford today. It makes for a crucial mid-November Saturday for WSU, something that’s happened only a few times in the past decade or so.

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• WSU: On the hoops side of things, Sean Kramer filled in for Jacob Thorpe in Pullman last night and covered the men’s win. He has a game story and a blog post . … The women also opened their season with a victory . … Back to Pasadena, Jacob advances today’s game with a story on the higher expectations WSU is facing and also has four keys to the game. Jacob will have a morning post with links as well. … Stefanie Loh has a story in the Times explaining WSU’s rise this season. … UCLA has its keys as well and most of them are focused upon Washington State’s passing game , specifically the comfort-level of one Luke Falk. Though one looks at WSU’s defense . … ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog has its weekly mailbag and a look at the Bruin defense . … The WSU men finished fourth in the West cross country regional yesterday.

• Gonzaga: Though Jim Meehan wasn’t in Japan, he does have this story on the strange happenings. … The women had no trouble with an undersized Air Force team, winning 88-35 in a game that was even more of a rout than that. Jim Allen has a story and Dan Pelle provides a photo report . … Back to the men, BYU was able to open its season with a victory while new coach Lamont Smith and USD were routed 83-45 at USC . Not good.

• EWU: The Eagles gave MSU everything it could handle for most of the game last night, though the Bulldogs’ run was decisive. We have a wire story to pass along. … Much of the rest of the conference began play as well, with Weber State coming close vs. Utah State and Southern Utah giving Utah a battle. Montana picked up a big home win over Boise State. … On the football side of the ledger, Jim Allen has an advance of today’s all-important matchup in Missoula .

• Whitworth: We passed along the basketball story yesterday morning, so today we’ll focus on football. Tom Clouse has an advance of senior day, which should culminate in an easy victory over winless Lewis & Clark. … The volleyball team was eliminated from the NCAA Division III playoffs.

• Chiefs: Spokane traveled across the state and yielded three third-period goals in a 5-2 loss at Everett . … Tri-City began a long central Canadian road trip with a victory. … Portland rallied from a three-goal deficit to win 5-4 over Swift Current.

• Preps: The state volleyball tournaments are being held this weekend, with Chris Derrick covering the 4A and 3A while we have this roundup of the smaller schools . … Richland’s defense was too much for Central Valley in the state 4A football playoffs, and the Bombers won 30-3. Greg Lee has the story . … We also have this roundup of other football action Friday night.

• Seahawks: Great. Just when the Hawks need all hands on deck , following a bye week no less, Marshawn Lynch comes up with another injury and is questionable. … The Hawks and defensive end Cliff Avril won’t be facing the Cardinals’ backup quarterback this week.

• Mariners: Funny thing about qualifying offers. None had ever been accepted before. And then yesterday three were. However, the one we wondered about, handed out to pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma , was not accepted and the M’s will have to out-bid others for the right-hander.

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• That’s it for this morning. It’s going to be a long day, what with the Cougars starting at 7:45 and ending sometime tomorrow. At least I’ll be working for a while early tomorrow morning, taking your calls with Derek Deis on the postgame show. Until then …