A Grip on Sports: Numbers don’t lie whether you are talking about Gonzaga or college football schedules

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Numbers can be so daunting sometimes. You know, like when you are trying to figure out a tip. Or taxes. Or Gonzaga’s recent winning percentage against middle-of-the-road opponents. Wait, that last one is easy. Since 2019, it’s 100%. Math is so simple sometimes.

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• Well, trying to figure out what Quad 1 or Quad 4 means is a mathematical conundrum, that’s for sure. The way the NCAA analysts rank games for their all-important NET ratings includes a formula even Sheldon Cooper would have trouble deciphering. If he were a real person. And if anyone from Texas really cared about college hoops.

Anyhow, we digress. The NCAA rates every game. Assigns it a value. That value depends on where the game is played and the opponents’ NET ranking. The system was instituted for the 2018-19 season. Since then, in Quad 1 games – the cream of the menthe, so to speak – the Zags are 38-14. That’s darn good considering Quad 1 games include home contests against teams in the NET’s top 30, neutral-site games against the top 50 and road matchups against the top 75 teams.

Against everyone else since then? The Bulldogs are 100-0. Yep. They have not stumbled against a markedly inferior opponent since before we before we took our first Covid shot.

With that in mind, it probably won’t surprise you to learn since February of 2014, Gonzaga has a 116-0 record in games against West Coast Conference opponents not named Saint Mary’s or BYU.

Of all the numbers Mark Few’s teams have put up this century, this run of dominance against the NCAA’s lesser lights might not rival the tournament streak or the runs of Sweet 16s for the headlines, but it certainly highlights one hard-to-achieve goal: consistency.

Few’s teams may flirt with disaster (in terms of a bad loss) occasionally. But they just don’t succumb to it. They haven’t in years.

• Wonder if the NCAA will institute a NET ranking when the football playoffs expand? Don’t. The organization has nothing to do with it, unlike the basketball behemoth. We will probably always have to wait on a committee to decide. A decision shrouded in secrecy. The sport’s equivalent of the college of cardinals.

But the group does utilize a bunch of numbers as well, and all of them are based on who you play and, to a lesser degree, where those games are located.

Which makes the revelation of a conference’s upcoming football schedule so important to schools with even a slight chance of participating in a playoff.

For everyone else? It’s all about the weekend. When your favorite school will be at home. When it will be playing nearby. When it will be far away.

Attending college football games can, at times, require D-Day-like planning – especially if your kids are of a certain age. Or you own dogs.

Washington State (and everyone else) learned their Pac-12 schedule yesterday. The Cougars knew when they were playing nonconference opponents Colorado State, Wisconsin and Northern Colorado. But when would Oregon State come to town? How about Colorado? The final trip to Los Angeles? Now we know.

The kickoff times? That’s, for the most part, a guess. It’s all up to the conference’s TV partners. But when and where, we’ve got it.

Let the planning begin.

• The weird thing about the Pac-12 football schedule? USC and UCLA are playing their final season in the conference before their underhanded move to the Big Ten. And, by underhanded, we are referring to the schools’ disingenuous conduct toward their brethren while negotiating to leave.

We were sort of hoping the conference would be petty this season with the football schedule. You know, a bye week in mid-November. Maybe another a week later. Lots of Friday night road games.

Instead, both received manageable schedule. The type that, for USC in particular, could help a CFP bid.

Washington, which just happens to be sticking around and quite probably has a better shot at the four-team tournament, seemed treated a bit rougher than the Trojans. The Huskies’ November – at USC, home to Utah, at Oregon State, the Apple Cup – seems especially brutal.

“Thanks for your loyalty. Now deal with this.”

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WSU: Of course, Colton Clark has all the football schedule news. It may be the latter part of January but football always takes precedence. … Don’t worry, however. Colton also has this basketball notebook. The Cougs have a tough road trip ahead this week. … Jon Wilner tells us in the Mercury News it’s time for the Pac-12 to finish up its media rights deal. Before another school leaves, basically.… Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, one player has fit in perfectly at Washington. … The Huskies are at Colorado, who hopes to get healthy against them. … The same can be said for Utah, who host the Cougars. … There was one game last night with Oregon handling California easily. … Oregon State has Stanford. … The biggest game tonight is at Arizona State, with the Sun Devils hosting No. 5 UCLA. … USC is in Tucson, facing No. 11 Arizona. … On the women’s side, we can offer a power ranking. … In football news, Wilner has his opinion about the schedule in the Mercury News. … We covered Washington above and have offerings from other schools. That includes California and Stanford, Oregon and Oregon State, Arizona and Arizona State, UCLA and more UCLA (USC? We have that above), Colorado and Utah. … The remodel of Reser Stadium is coming along just fine.

Gonzaga: The Zags have an opportunity to make it 101 – if that seems weird to you, check out the section on GU above – tonight when Loyola Marymount visits the Kennel. Jim Meehan has the preview as well as the key matchup. … Theo Lawson ranged a bit farther afield this morning, sharing the news Przemek Karnowski is a graduate assistant – at Arizona – and John Stockton having more to say about COVID-19 vaccines on a national podcast. Interesting pair of stories. … The GU women are still on the road, playing a morning game today at Pacific. Jim Allen explains the early start time in this preview. … He also has a story on two Zags continuing their quest for national honors. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara and BYU face off tonight.

EWU: Depth always helps. Well, talented depth helps. And the Eagles has that this season. Dan Thompson delves into how the bench has been a big part of Eastern’s success. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State and Weber State play tonight.

Preps: Sports always supplies inspiring stories. Dave Nichols’ piece today on Lewis and Clark High guard Vy Tran is another of them. Don’t miss it. … Dave also has a roundup of the rest of Wednesday’s action.

Seahawks: Jason Myers will be back kicking for the Hawks next season. And beyond. … Who are the team’s award winners? … His first playoff game taught Tariq Woolen some valuable lessons.

Kraken: As losses mounted in the first season, Seattle players and coaches held each other accountable. It might be the main reason behind this year’s success.

Sounders: Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan have signed long-term contract extensions.

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• There is sports news every day. Some days we yawn about it. Others, like today, pique our interest. Like today. We know where we are going to spend our birthday weekend this year. Until later …