It’s time for Cougars to give home fans something to celebrate

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s a college football Saturday. All over America folks are settling into their stadium seats, or their easy chairs, preparing to spend the day rooting for good ol’ State U. Read on.

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• Three weeks into the college football season and there is no consensus. Oh sure, we know where the best team is located – Columbus, Ohio – but that’s about all we know. What’s the best conference? No one, not even the vaunted SEC, seems to want to wrest that title away as its own. Who is the best player? We won’t know that even after the Heisman Trophy is handed out in December, mainly because we never do. What stadium has the best fan experience? Now that’s a question that has about 104,382 answers – and we’re not referring to butts in the Big House seats. Just about every school lays claim to the “best’ fan experience, mainly because the “best” fans are from every school. Except maybe in Pullman. I will say this. The ones who were still in their seats deep into the fourth quarter a couple weeks ago may not be the “best” – a subjective term for sure – but they are the toughest. Their team, a member in good standing of one of the Power 5 conferences, we getting beat by an FCS school. It was, and had been, pouring rain. It wasn’t warm. Ninety percent of the student fans had left. The atmosphere was not only damp, it was downright debilitating. And yet they stayed. Soaking in the liquid sunshine until the game ended in Portland State’s favor. Now that’s tough. There may have been less than 10,000 of them, but I’m sure Ray Lewis would tell you he would go into battle with them. The few, the proud, the die-hards. Instead of bitching about the 20,000 or so who bailed on the team, WSU supporters online should be honoring those who stayed. The deserve it.

• Tonight, when the Cougars host Wyoming, the challenge will be different. There is no rain in the forecast. In fact, it’s supposed to be downright pleasant. So there’s that. The question is, will the 30,000 or so in attendance watch a win? It hasn’t happened all that often recently in Martin Stadium. Actually, it’s been more than a year since the Cougars have won in front of their home fans. If it gets round about 9 p.m. and the Cowboys are staying in this one, let’s hope no one bails, whether it’s just to get a six-pack in early or to beat the traffic home.

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• WSU: Yes, it’s game day. That means Jacob Thorpe has an advance , of course, but a lot more. He’s got projected starters for the Cougars and the Cowboys . He has a 2-minute drill . And he has a quick summary of the participants. … The Casper Star-Tribune has its game coverage here as well as a story on Wyoming native Mike Leach’s offense. … Stefanie Loh has an advance of today’s game in the Times. … It’s Saturday so that means we have the mailbag from ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog. … The Pac-12 season begins with a bang with new rivals USC and Stanford meeting in the L.A. Coliseum. … Ranked UCLA faces ranked BYU in Rose Bowl battle. … Utah is on the road at Fresno. … Arizona hopes to continue its recent non-conference trend. … Washington hosts Utah State today and Christian Caple has you covered. … Oregon plays Georgia State and all eyes are on Vernon Adams’ index finger . … Oregon State should get a home win over San Jose State. … California could have a coming-out party today in Texas. … Arizona State got the conference started last night with a win over New Mexico.

• EWU: It’s a big day in Cheney, with the Eagles hosting Montana State in a matchup of ranked FCS powers. Jim Allen has the advance . … We also pass along the Bozeman Chronicle’s keys to the game for Eastern and the Bobcats .

• Idaho: The Vandals are hosting Wofford , an FCS school. Will the lower division go 2-0 in Palouse visits this season?

• Chiefs: Spokane lost to Tri-City in the second-to-last preseason game. (And, yes, I successfully fought the urge to use the term “penultimate.” At least I did for a while). … Portland got past Everett.

• Golf: It’s Saturday so that means Jim Meehan has his summer-time golf column . This week he examines the oncoming end of the anchored putters.

• Preps: We’ll start at Albi, where Greg Lee covered the matchup of two 2-0 schools, Gonzaga Prep and Mead. The Bullpups came out on top easily, 30-7. … Central Valley also played at Albi, defeating host Lewis and Clark 21-3. Greg has that story as well. … Jesse Tinsley has a photo report that covers both games. … Tom Clouse was in the Valley where U-Hi improved to 3-0 with a 48-0 rout of Ferris. The Saxons are 0-3 and have yet to score this season. … Coeur d’Alene held off visiting Moses Lake 17-14. Jim Meehan has the story . … We can also pass along a roundup of other action.

• Seahawks: The Hawks’ starting center, Drew Nowak , is a newbie – and a lifelong Green Bay fan . But this is one game he wants the Packers to lose. … Doug Baldwin has had a singular vision that’s paid off. … Should the Hawks go to the hurry-up more often? … This columnist thinks the Hawks need to trade Kam Chancellor. Maybe to Arizona? … Pete Carroll is ready for the weekend.

• Mariners: Don’t look now, but the M’s are as close to a wild-card spot as they’ve been in a while. Of course, they will probably lose now that they seem to have a chance. They pulled within five games of the second wildcard spot thanks to a 3-1 win at Texas last night. … Taijuan Walker is with the team but whether he will start again this season is still not decided.

• Sounders: This season the Sounders are the hunters and the Vancouver Whitecaps are the hunted. The two meet today in Canada in a huge match for both. It’s just the start of a series of big matches between the teams.

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• If you are up around 9 or so tonight and have some mad Internet skills (or are just driving home from Pullman), you can listen to my voice, which is somewhat akin to Vin Scully’s. I mean his gardener’s voice. Not Vin, heck no. But I understand his gardener has some nasally pipes just like mine. Anyhow, I’ll join Derek Deis on the call-in show following the radio call of the Cougar game. And I’ll try to keep it civil, though that’s not always easy. Until then …