Grip on Sports: Holiday Bowl result shouldn’t completely color Washington State’s season

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Let’s be clear about one thing. When a school wins its bowl game, its fans see it as a harbinger of glory to come. But when it loses, there is an immediate dismissal of the result, a denial of meaning due to the odd nature of the game. There’s a bit of a dichotomy there, but a lot of truth as well. Read on.

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• Of course, we are referring to Washington State this morning, after its 17-12 stinker of a loss to Minnesota in last night’s Holiday Bowl. But were also only using Washington State as an example of a universal truth, though “universal” probably doesn’t apply to places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama or Columbus, Ohio.

For most of the rest of the college towns in America, it does.

Bowl games either are the be-all and end-all or they are not. It’s that simple. And it all derives from the scoreboard.

Take the end of last season, for instance. When the Cougars defeated Miami in snowy El Paso, it was seen as a burst of energy for the offseason. And beyond. Maybe it was. But the momentum lasted until, I don’t know, the middle of the first quarter against Eastern Washington? After that, eh.

Two losses later, the season was toast, right? Then the Cougars put together what could rightfully be argued as their best stretch of football ever, winning eight consecutive games and opening the Pac-12 with seven consecutives wins. That’s the first time they’ve ever done the latter, though, to be fair, for a lot of years back before any of us were born, the conference schedule barely had seven games.

Then came the end of the season pratfall, including last night.

The Cougars faced six tough games this season, seven if you include 9-4 Idaho, which wasn’t playing all that well went it visited Pullman. Of those games, they won two. And, yes, in that latter total we are including Idaho.

Two three-point losses to Eastern Washington – and FCS semifinal loser – and Boise State – which was blown out in its bowl game last night – were respectable.

The last 10 quarters, not so much.

The second half of the Colorado game, the entire Apple Cup, last night. It was football against good teams played poorly. The offense struggled. The defense, stellar most of the Holiday Bowl, wasn’t good in Boulder or against Washington.

That’s not a recipe for winning.

But it also shouldn’t be a recipe for pouting.

Eight wins is the new six. Remember when Washington State went through a decade “hoping” to get to six wins and a bowl game? Then end up with five, or four or, in the awful years, two?

We do. You probably do too.

The bottom line has been raised. Six regular season wins would disappoint right now. That’s a good thing – and could also be a bad thing if and when it actually happens.

Cougar fans want more. They saw glimpses of glory this year and liked it. So next year, eight wins will be expected.

That number was reached in 2016. Could it have been nine or 10? Should it have been nine or 10? Sure to both.

Mike Leach talked about being upset five times this season. He was close to being right. The two season-opening losses should have left everyone upset. They were there to be won. The two regular-season-ending losses came to better teams. Those were not upsets.

(By the way, neither were many of WSU’s wins. Stanford may have been the only team the Cougars defeated they weren’t better than. Which makes that game the highlight of an 8-5 season.)

And what about last night? It was an upset too, but not in the way you think.

The Cougar offense looked befuddled most of the game. Minnesota, playing with a makeshift secondary (a handful of key players were suspended), gave Luke Falk and company enough different looks to confound one of the Pac-12’s best offenses.

The bottom line in this one: WSU was outcoached. No big deal. It happens to everyone some time or other. It happened to the Cougars in San Diego.

No matter how often Leach and Falk says they were ready for everything the Gophers did defensively, the game tape says it’s not true. There is no way Falk is that bad reading defenses – especially if he expected them. He was surprised. Often.

Which is a tribute to Minnesota and its staff – and its players.

What does it mean? Like last year’s bowl win over Miami, not a lot. It’s one game.

And it may have convinced Falk he’s got more to learn. That the NFL should wait. That he should stay one more year in Pullman.

If that happens, Cougar fans will be able to look back at the 2016 Holiday Bowl as a win. An upset, sure, but a win.

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WSU: Of course, Jacob Thorpe was in San Diego, along with photographer Tyler Tjomsland. While Tyler supplied an in-depth photo report, Jacob did his thing, putting together a game story, and then covering all the bases, including Falk’s reticence to talk about his future, Leach’s thoughts on whether the Cougars were ready, the key players, key moments and the scoring. John Blanchette wasn’t in San Diego, but he does have a column on the game and how it fits into the Cougar season. … Being it is a bowl game, there is coverage galore, including Stefanie Loh’s game story in the Times and a column from Matt Calkins. There is coverage from the Union-Tribune as well, including stories and a column. … ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog has a game story and a piece on Gabe Marks, who played his last game in crimson last night. … Lost in the bowl hubbub, the Cougar women’s basketball team opened the Pac-12 season at No. 9 UW last night and got run out of the gym.

Elsewhere in Pac-12 football, Utah takes up the conference mantle tonight against Indiana. … Alabama may be the best team ever. Could be. But that will have to wait until the playoffs are over, including the game versus Washington. … Colorado has a new guy calling its defense. … USC embraces all the cool things that go along with playing in the Rose Bowl. … The Pac-12 basketball season opens tonight, with the biggest game on the opening-night schedule also the biggest game in the history of the Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon hosts No. 2 UCLA. … Arizona and USC head into conference play with targets as well. … Being the games are starting, there are a lot of overviews of the conference race available for your enjoyment.

Gonzaga: Speaking of overviews, Jim Meehan has one on the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the WCC. The Zags open conference play tomorrow night at the Kennel versus Pepperdine. … Jim Allen has the same for the women, who will start conference play on the road. … The Zags are the favorites in the men’s race, again, with BYU one of the contenders. The Cougars will be without one of their experienced bigs, however.

Chiefs: The Christmas break is over and the Chiefs, last in the U.S. Division, began the second half with another loss, this one at Seattle. … Tri-City handed Portland a road loss. Vancouver did the same to Everett.

Preps: Gonzaga Prep’s boys went on the road and picked up a win at Richland. That game leads our roundup of basketball action from yesterday.

Seahawks: With the injury to Tyler Lockett, the Hawks made a roster move yesterday. And they will have to rely on the much-maligned Jermaine Kearse more. That doesn’t seem to bode well.

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• Another season of doing the Cougar postgame call-in show is over. And I will say, the folks who called, on the whole, were a lot nicer. Which probably doesn’t make for good radio (insert laughing emoji here). But it does make my life easier. And it is all about me, right? Now it’s time to focus on hoops. How does that sound Cougar fans? (Insert crying emoji here.) Until later …