Morning links: So, about Rutgers …

The WSU players and coaches are sworn not to look past their next opponent. We’re not players or coaches, so let’s talk about that Week 2 opponent …

Rutgers is having some problems. Some really serious problems. The situation in Piscataway was bad at first, when coach Kyle Flood was accused of having inappropriate contact with a faculty member in an attempt to influence a key player’s academic grade.  It got a lot worse yesterday when five players were arrested .

The local writers at NJ Advance Media (NJ.com/The Star Ledger) have been dominating this story from the get-go, so we’ll pass along some of their work.  Steve Politi, a columnist I’ve always found to be fair and discerning, says that Rutgers must fire Flood. Many fans agree with Politi, and the school may be able to dismiss the head coach without paying his contract. There are too many articles to pass along here – NJ.com had more than 20 yesterday, alone – but they are all collected here if you want to read more.

Obviously, these off-the-field issues could have a big impact in what should be one of WSU’s most important games this season, especially if the coach gets fired. The game at Rutgers could very well be the fulcrum to WSU’s season: Win and WSU likely starts the season 3-0 and in great position to get to a bowl game. Lose and the Cougars probably have to beat a Top-25 team to finish .500 and play in the postseason.

That’s enough about WSU’s second opponent, in today’s paper I have a story about the Cougars’ first opponent, Portland State, and the financial issues that drive and FCS team to take on an advantaged foe. Yesterday, I skipped WSU practice to help out with our coverage of Idaho’s loss to Ohio. Even though it has nothing to do with WSU, I’m going to pass along my notebook from that game because these are my links and I do what I want.

I hope you got a chance to check out our college football preview section in yesterday’s paper. Included in the section was a story about left tackle Joe Dahl , as well as key storylines for WSU this fall.

In other Pac-12 news …

— Arizona won its game against UTSA, but it may have lost the Pac-12’s best defensive player.

— It wasn’t always pretty , but for the second consecutive season the Utes beat Michigan .

— Colorado once again looked like a team that isn’t ready to move up in the Pac-12 during a loss to Hawaii .

— Tomorrow, Chris Petersen returns to Boise as Washington takes on the Broncos in Boise. Plus, Oregon State takes on Weber State.