Grip on Sports: It was a Saturday to remember – or forget – depending on which side of the Apple Cup you reside

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It is Sunday morning. Your fantasy team needs a win to get into the playoffs. You want to get to the games. So we will be quick. After all, there is nothing really important to cover, is there? Read on.

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• Actually, there is. But we aren’t feeling all that well – haven’t for the past couple days – and our schedule is packed until at least 5 p.m., so we are going to keep it simple today.

The Apple Cup was a blowout – again. The Zags face a tough, physical opponent this morning in Portland – again. And we can pass along links to every high school football playoff game in the area, to the Vandals’ loss in New Mexico and to a bunch of other items – again.

Enjoy.

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WSU: I’m not sure any Cougar fan anywhere enjoyed this Apple Cup. Not even the ones who bet on the Huskies. After all, the spread was just 10 points. And UW blew past that in the first half. Just like it did the Washington State defense. Theo Lawson was there, of course, and has this game story as well as stories about Mike Leach and the rumors about Tennessee, UW radio announcer Bob Rondeau’s retirement  and Dante Pettis’ early injury. John Blanchette made the trip up from Portland, where he and Jim Meehan have been covering Gonzaga, to put his perspective on the game. Jim focused on UW, with the Huskies shutting down Luke Falk, the difference makers and the injury-riddled Washington offense. He also has a piece on the importance of the Apple Cup to the UW players, which dovetails well with my right-after-the-game thoughts. … Tyler Tjomsland also made the Portland-to-Seattle trip and joined with Dan Pelle to blanket the game with their cameras. … From the other side of the mountains, the one-sided nature of the rivalry was the main topic of conversation along with Myles Gaskins’ outstanding day, Falk’s poor one and all the injuries. There are other subjects to cover as well, including Rondeau’s final game and Hercules Mata’afa’s ejection for targeting.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Stanford will represent the North in Friday’s title game. The two teams in the game, Stanford and USC, have one thing in common: They both lost in Pullman this year.

Gonzaga: An early Sunday morning game probably isn’t the best recipe for bouncing back from a tough, double-overtime loss. Or from an overtime loss, for that matter. But Texas and GU will have to try. Jim has a preview of this morning’s matchup between the schools in the PK80 in Portland. … Jim also introduces us to the Longhorns’ massive freshman and puts the Florida defeat into the pantheon of great Gonzaga games. … The women’s basketball team lost to DePaul in Las Vegas.

EWU: The playoffs got underway in the FCS, with Weber State rallying for a home win and Northern Arizona being blown out home by USD.

Idaho: The last FBS football season is about over for Idaho and it is ending on a sour note. The Vandals lost 17-10 at New Mexico State yesterday and used freshman quarterback Colton Richardson early on, meaning he can’t have a redshirt season. … The basketball team bounced back in Alaska, defeated Cal Poly 75-66 and finished third in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Whitworth: The Pirate men remained undefeated with a basketball win in Hawaii.

CCS: Volleyball coach Jenni Hull hit a milestone with the Sasquatch’s win Saturday.

Chiefs: Spokane was back in action at the Arena last night, made some changes in its power play and rolled past Regina 7-3. Kevin Dudley has the coverage.

Preps: Semifinal weekend in the high school football playoffs included some ups and downs for area teams. In the up category, Almira/Coulee-Hartline advanced to the1B title game, where it will face Sunnyside Christian. … Liberty won and will play in the 2B title game for the second consecutive season. Dave Nichols has that story. … On the down side, Central Valley lost to Richland 42-10 in a 4A semifinal, West Valley’s perfect season ended (Dave has that story as well) and Newport fell to Royal in a 1A game.

Seahawks: The Hawks are in San Francisco to face the woeful 49ers this afternoon. They will have another look up front offensively and may have to dig even deeper into their well of defensive backs. Whomever plays, Seattle needs a win to keep alive its NFC West title hopes.

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• We will be back later this morning with our TV Take from the Gonzaga game, which is always fun. And then we roll right into football and will have some thoughts on the Seahawks’ must-win contest with the 49ers. After that, who knows? Maybe 500 words on the state of our national discourse. Until then …