Grip on Sports: It was a near-perfect college football Saturday, until it wasn’t

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Washington State rolls in Pullman. Eastern Washington rolls in New York City. Whitworth rolls in the Pine Bowl. And Idaho … well, the Vandals led by nine in the fourth quarter. Read on.

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• It was a good Saturday for college football in these parts, up until the final few minutes in Kalamazoo.

The Cougars are 3-0 for the first time since 2005, on the cusp of being 4-0 for the first time since the glory days of 2001. They are 1-0 in Pac-12 play.

Eastern destroyed Fordham some 2,600 miles from here, but the sigh elicited by a school-record-tying 10 sacks and almost as many touchdowns, could be heard in Cheney. In the Eagles’ athletic department offices.

Whitworth shut out La Verne, a team that was 1-0 against Northwest Conference foes coming in. And the Pirates scored more than a half-hundred points.

Only the Vandals’ tough finish – Western Michigan scored the final 18 points for a 37-28 win – marred what could have been a perfect day.

• Perfect is a relative term in a lot of ways. Take the result in Pullman. Yes, the Cougars thundered Oregon State. But they started slowly again, which led to some angst – and to this John Blanchette column.

John covered another area that made it less than a perfect day: The anxiety-inducing injury to Jake Luton, the former Idaho quarterback who had to be carted off the field in the second half. Oh, and the Cougars also lost their leading tackler, Peyton Pelluer, to an undisclosed injury.

That’s one of the tough parts about football. Even good days can have bad moments.

In Luton’s case, it seems as he was alright. A Oregon State spokesman relayed the news later in the evening he had been discharged from the hospital. That’s another win on a day full of them.

• The Mariners didn’t win yesterday, losing an early game in Houston, 8-6. With Minnesota losing at Toronto, the M’s didn’t lose any ground in the wild-card race – they are still 3.5 games out with 13 games left – but the Angels are getting hot again and are now 2.5 games ahead of Seattle as well.

As the days grow shorter, so does the Mariner hope.

• The Seahawks have a bye today. Well, the closest thing to it in the NFL these days, a home game against the 49ers.

To wit, I was walking into Panda Express this week and a young man was kind enough to hold the door for me. He was wearing a 49er baseball cap.

I thanked him for holding the door and added, in my usual smart-aleck manner, “but I still hope your team loses Sunday.”

He laughed and said “don’t worry, they will.”

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WSU: There is plenty to get to here so we won’t waste anymore of your time. Theo Lawson leads off with his game story and a great sidebar on the two Florida receivers leading the way. (As an aside, Tavares Martin Jr. on the postgame show compared he and Isaiah Johnson-Mack to Dwayne Wade and LeBron James; is there a more South Florida comparison ever?) … Theo also had stories early on Robert Lewis’ injury and the Cougars honoring Freeman in an understated way. … We linked John’s column earlier but we’ll do it again here. … I also have a quick column I wrote for right after the game. Yesterday I included four takes, though only three made the paper. … The fourth was on Luton’s injury, which Jim Allen covered in this story. Jim also had stories on the running game, the defense and the difference makers. … Tyler Tjomsland took care of the visuals with his photo report. … A talented guy back in the office pulled together videos of the scoring plays. … Stefanie Loh was back in Seattle yesterday but she put together some thoughts in the Times about the game. … Kerry Eggers was in Pullman and has some thoughts about Oregon State. … The Beavers are 1-3 and reeling a bit. I’m sure, however, OSU fans are glad they never have to face Luke Falk again. And that Luton is OK.

Around the Pac-12, we learned a lot yesterday. For one thing, San Diego State better pay its electric bill next time. … Speaking of the Aztecs’ win over visiting Stanford, the light failure in San Diego came at an opportune time. But the Cardinal have their own power outages to worry about. … California is playing with more power than it has in years – on both side of the ball. The Bears are 3-0. … So is Washington, but that was expected. Dante Pettis is a punt-return beast. Fresno State is anything but beastly. … Oregon is also undefeated and the Ducks defense is playing well. Both of those were not true often last season. … Colorado wrestled down Northern Colorado yesterday and now is itching to host UW in an early Pac-12 North/South showdown next weekend. … Utah had no trouble with a San Jose State team that is taking its lumps this season. … The best game of the night, north of San Diego? That would be USC’s double-overtime win over Texas. It was tougher than most expected. … UCLA went on the road without some key defensive players and it showed in the Bruins upset loss at Memphis. … Arizona State was also on the road and couldn’t stop Texas Tech. … Arizona won Friday, easing the noise a bit before conference begins.

EWU: It took three games, but Aaron Best’s team handed him his first victory as a college head coach. And the Eagles did it in dominating fashion. Jim Allen put together this notebook from a few thousand miles away. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, there were a couple of non-conference games between conference foes, the most noteworthy coming in Portland. UC Davis handled Portland State easily, which doesn’t bode well for the Vikings. … Montana may have won easily but the Griz also lost their quarterback to a gruesome leg injury. They host Eastern Washington next weekend. … Southern Utah can’t be a surprise anymore, not after the Thunderbirds defeated No. 18 Northern Iowa in their home opener. … Weber State edged Sacramento State in another non-conference game. … The best win of the day for the Big Sky came in Reno, where usual conference also-ran Idaho State held off Nevada for 30-28 upset. The Wolf Pack travels to Pullman next week. … No. 10 North Dakota got run by South Dakota, 45-7, on the road.

Idaho: Western Michigan’s rally ruined what could have been a great day for the Vandals.

Whitworth: It was a great day at the Pine Bowl as the Pirates rolled to a 53-0 rout of the La Verne Leopards. Ryan Collingwood has the story.

Preps: Saturdays aren’t usually all that crowded this time of year but we can offer roundups of volleyball, girls soccer and cross country action from yesterday.

Chiefs: Spokane’s last preseason game was a win in Kennewick.

Mariners: The Astros are a better team than Seattle. They’ve proved it over and over again down the stretch as the M’s try to make the playoffs. … Keeping Safeco Field in shape takes work.

Seahawks: Though the Hawks should win today, how they play against the lowly 49ers may be more important than the final score – unless they somehow lose. That would be disaster. San Francisco hasn’t won in Seattle since 2011. … Jimmy Graham is talented. But he probably isn’t Seattle’s savior.

Sounders: With Jordan Morris out, the Seattle attack is a bit strained. The Sounders didn’t lose in Dallas yesterday, but their scoreless draw didn’t help them in the MLS standings. … Portland didn’t pick up any points yesterday, losing 2-1 at Real Salt Lake. … L.A. lost again, this time 4-0 to Toronto. … Colorado earned a draw.

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• A Sunday after a decent night’s sleep. Not sure how I feel about that. Odd, that’s for sure. And strangely tired. Nap time soon? Probably. Though I’ve really wanted to see “Wind River.” And take a long walk in the woods. And there’s always yard work. Plus the Hawks. It’s also a good day to barbecue. Maybe there won’t be time for a nap. Until later …