A Grip on Sports: The Cougars kick off the 2023 season in Colorado with a cloud hanging over their future

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is an old saying about money talking and something else walking but it’s not true. Can’t be. The something else can’t walk. It just sits there, adding an excruciating odor to the nearby world. Which makes the saying perfect in relation to college football’s realignment and the sport’s first full week of competition in 2023.

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• Yep, all the realignment news will add a stink to this weekend. This season. The next decade. And it could get worse, depending on what happens with the local Pac-12 school and its cousin in the Willamette Valley. We’ll see. And smell.

But today, September’s first Saturday, we have games to watch. It’s amazing to us how many times we’ve read recently how folks couldn’t wait for the games to begin so it would overpower, like some sort of Super Glade, the odor of the past few months.

Really? Not sure there is enough air freshener at the local Target for that.

Be honest. When Washington State takes the field this evening in Fort Collins, to take on the Mountain West’s Colorado State, you can’t tell me you won’t be thinking about how this could be a conference game for the next few seasons – and compare the two programs from that perspective. It’s only natural.

The same preview of things to come will happen in Ft. Worth this morning, when Texas Christian University hosts Colorado in what, next season, would be a Big-12 game. If the two teams play, as the Big 12 will become a 16-school conference. That’s way too many to contain in an eight- or nine-game conference schedule.

Then there’s Oregon’s game with Portland State today. Will that be just like the Ducks facing Rutgers in a Big Ten matchup, except the bus ride for the visitors wasn’t preceded by a 6-hour plane trip? Heck, the competition afforded the Ducks might be similar.

Every game this year will be tainted a bit by the future’s aroma. The changes coming down the interstate at 80 miles per hour can’t be ignored – as much as the average fan might want to. The future will be different. No debate there. And there seems little debate among those who cover the sport it won’t be better. We read opinions from all over the country after the two Bay Area schools joined a conference whose headquarters is more than 3,000 miles away. The basic point. College athletics has forfeited its soul and football games won’t be the same devil-may-care events they have been for more than a century.

Embrace it? Sure. What choice do we have? But make sure you hold your nose while you’re doing it. You don’t want the stench to seep in so deep as to rot your brain.

• We heard that. Your snide comment about the stench rotting our brain already. You’re probably right. Heck, it’s kept me from focusing on the really important thing. How the Cougars will do today.

We have to admit we haven’t studied the Rams as well as we should have – or as well as we dig into the Cougars’ usual first opponent. But after watching Washington State dismantle Colorado State last season, winning 38-7 in Pullman, we would have to believe the Rams have pulled a Colorado or something to their roster to post an upset. Or have the altitude – 5,003 feet – impact the Cougars more than expected.

Now, will WSU cover the 10-point spread (down from 11)? That’s not something we worry about. But, sure, why not? It’s your money, not mine.

• One last thought about this week. Money is at the taproot of all the realignment, right? Schools want it, the networks have it and a deal with the devil has to be made. But how do those networks get their money? From all of us. Through subscriber fees. And what happens when the middlemen, the cable providers, don’t want to subsidies such things anymore? Chaos.

If you are a Charter Spectrum customer, you might have turned on your TV this morning ready to watch Lee Corso put on some silly mascot head this morning. And discovered you can’t. (Personal note, this happened to my sister who is held captive by Charter at her mega-retirement village – no, not Del Boca Vista, but the California version.)

Disney and the cable company are in a disagreement about carriage fees, so the Mouse pulled all its networks on Aug. 31. No big deal to many but to college football fans? Calamity. Horror. Anger. Rioting? Maybe.

Pulling Lee and Kirk Herbstreit from the airways is a good way to start a revolution.

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WSU: We’re sure Greg Woods knows everything you need to know about CSU, and passes it along today. We begin by passing along his overall preview of the game, and then head to his keys to a Cougar victory. Does he believe they will win? Yes, he does. … We have a section to follow about all the realignment news from yesterday but we link Theo Lawson’s news story here, as he covered for Greg yesterday while the latter traveled to Colorado. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, we have more on the Colorado State game, including how to watch. … And we can pass along some views on what’s ahead for WSU and Oregon State as the realignment calliope continues to turn. … There was one game last night featuring a conference school. Stanford traveled to Hawaii, got off to a fast start and won the first game with Troy Taylor as head coach, 37-24. … Washington faces a sneaky-tough assignment today, even though it is at home. Boise State has a lot to prove this season. … Oregon State and its new quarterback don’t play until Sunday (at San Jose State) but we have a mailbag to pass along. … The OSU quarterback’s brother might have an instant impact for Oregon, which is one of those fun facts. … California open at North Texas today, with the Bears featuring a bunch of new faces. … Deion Sanders’ first game as Colorado’s head coach is just not regional news. It’s national. The Buffs have a tough assignment with TCU. … Utah not only handled Florida, the Utes are getting healthier. … The USC defense has to play better against Nevada or the yelling about Alex Grinch will get louder. … UCLA hosts Coastal Carolina tonight. … We can pass along a report card on Arizona State’s win. … New-look Arizona has high hopes entering tonight’s game with Northern Arizona. … In realignment news, we broke the Cal/Stanford move yesterday but we have a lot more to offer, much of it from Jon Wilner in the Mercury News. After eight of the conference schools bailed, the Bay Area pair held little in the way of leverage if they wanted to remain with a Power 5 home. Thus, the alliance with the East Coast and miles and miles of travel. By the way, not all of Stanford’s sports will play in the ACC. … Other subjects to cover include how the changes impact basketball, SMU’s long game finally paying off, winners and losers and the most-successful Stanford coach ever holding to the company line. Oh, and the death of the Pac-12. … We don’t want to overlook the other big change, the transfer portal.

Gonzaga: There is some news on this front, with GU announcing dates for the men’s Kraziness in the Kennel (Oct. 7) and the women’s FanFest (Oct. 14). Theo has the first story.

EWU: Dan Thompson gets you ready for the game against North Dakota State in Minneapolis with three things to watch. If you do want to watch the game from an NFL stadium, you have to have access to ESPN+, starting at 12:30 p.m. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, if this was basketball, there is no way Butler would be playing in Missoula. But the Bulldogs visit Montana in football. … Montana State hosts Utah Tech with a roster full of returning players.

Indians: Dave headed down the hill after the high school football game and covered Spokane’s game with Everett. The fireworks show was scheduled for after – and we can testify we heard it – but the Indians supplied some during in the 10-1 victory.

Preps: High school football began in Washington yesterday, with school, at least in Spokane, not set to start until Tuesday. Anyhow, Lewis and Clark and Ferris met at Hart Field for a true South Hill battle. Dave Nichols was there and has this story of the Tigers’ 40-6 victory. … Freeman held its first game on its new turf field and made it a success, defeating West Valley 27-20. Steve Christilaw has that story. … We can also pass along a roundup of other games. … Finally, Riverside had players who could not play Friday night because they didn’t have enough practices in due to the recent wildfires. But the Governor’s office stepped in and overruled the WIAA, allowing the players to participate in the 35-8 win over visiting St. Maries. It seems health guidelines designed to alleviate the risk of injury are just as flexible as college conferences these days. Dave and Colin Tiernan combined on the story.

Mariners: There were no fireworks in New York for the M’s on Friday. Just a bunch of misfires with runners in scoring position. Logan Gilbert made one bad pitch, Andres Munoz a couple of them in the eighth and Seattle fell 2-1. … Can Julio Rodriguez win the American League MVP award? … Dominic Leone adds a veteran presence to the bullpen. Hopefully, he’ll add some shutdown innings as well. … Pete Woodworth guides the successful pitching staff.

Seahawks: It’s probably not a surprise Jamal Adams won’t be playing in the opener according to Pete Carroll.

Sounders: The Timbers, who recently made a coaching change, visit Seattle, whose fans are grumbling about their coach, today.

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• Our eldest son was born on the day after Labor Day in 1984. Kim appropriately went into labor on Labor Day, held off until after the Rams’ Monday night loss to Dallas and we made it to the hospital in time for a long night of delivery. Whenever our son’s birthday falls on the holiday weekend, like this year, we make it a three-day celebration. Filled with football and baseball and whatever else might be available. Sports, man. They creep in everywhere around our house. Until later …