A Grip on Sports: Geno Smith ran for a ‘personal’ win while local college basketball teams learned, and will learn, lessons as the week begins

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The DVR will be getting a workout tonight. Like Geno Smith and the 49ers, it’s personal. No, really. At least in my case.

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• It’s funny. Cute, actually. Professional athletes, paid handsomely to compete, needing to come up with trite clichés as motivation. Or to preen and posture on the sidelines after a big play. Whatever revs your motor, I guess.

Though it does feel as if a six-figure weekly paycheck, and the threat of it going away, should be enough.

How about both?

Seems the Seahawks brain trust came up with a brilliant idea over the bye week. Start pruning players who aren’t either exerting themselves to the limits of their abilities or just can’t do the job anymore. Send a message or two, aimed at the rest of the roster.

Did it work? For one week it just may have. The Hawks stopped the bleeding, stopped the 49ers (enough) and stopped losing to NFC West teams. All that courtesy of a Smith 13-yard touchdown run in the waning seconds of a 20-17 win in Santa Clara. Well, the run and a defensive performance that, for once, actually included the effort part. And more execution than has been visible for a while.

OK, George Kittle not playing helped. So did Nick Bosa’s second-half injury. But Seattle and its fans have seen enough injuries this season to have no empathy available. Nor should they. It’s the nature of the game and the league.

As is the only stat that really matters. Winning. After 10 games, the mediocre Seahawks have won exactly 50% of the time they’ve played. Same with the 49ers. Rams. The only NFC West outlier? That would be 6-4 Arizona, winners of four consecutive games. The Cardinals won again yesterday by not playing, seeing as they probably view San Francisco as their greatest threat.

It could the Hawks, though. We will find out this Sunday afternoon in Seattle.

• Those of us interested in local college basketball learned some things yesterday. And will learn some more tonight.

The lessons? Let’s see. Portland’s women will be good again. That’s one. Led by former Eagle (and Liberty High grad) Maisie Burnham’s 22 points and 11 rebounds, the Pilots handled EWU 74-62 at Reese Court. Though the Eagles are in a rebuild mode, they are usually a tough out at home.

Another lesson was taught in the second game of Sunday’s Reese doubleheader. Dan Monson’s guys fell to Cal Poly 82-78 in a battle of teams with new coaches. The message delivered by defeat? According to Monson, a veteran with many hard-earned lessons etched into his visage: “We got frustrated and went off on our own, and that doesn’t work.”

No, it does not.

Will it happen to the Gonzaga men tonight? The fourth-ranked Zags – they might be third by the time you read this – are in San Diego to play the frustrating Aztecs on their home court. Expect Brian Dutcher’s group, a little beat up but still a physical, defensive bunch, to slow the tempo a bit and see if Mark Few’s group fractures some. It’s probably something Few won’t mind finding out too.

Yesterday afternoon Few’s running mate at GU, women’s coach Lisa Fortier, found out some things about her nearly new group as well. Wyoming’s Cowgirls never gave an inch inside, limited Yvonne Ejim’s looks and quizzed the rest of the Bulldogs with a simple question: Can you beat us?

Turns out the answer was yes, though Ejim played well down the stretch, posted a double-double and GU won by double digits.

The same may be expected tonight in Pullman, where the Cougar men host Northern Colorado. But you never know. The Bears are always better than most casual fans expect. Not David Riley, though.

Washington State’s first-year coach has experience with UNC in his previous life as Eastern’s mentor. He knows how good the Bears can be. After all, the Big Sky Conference coaches picked them to finish third, which should be enough to get the Cougars’ attention.

• Oh, ya. The DVR. Can’t forget that. I have some outside-the-house commitments tonight. They mean I won’t be able to watch Monday Night Football. Or either men’s team in the area that have basketball games. Hence, the DVR. I’ll be playing catchup on the Zags and Cougars and Joe Buck.

Wait, catchup. Should I have typed “ketchup?” Not certain. Though I’m sure now fries sound like the perfect accompaniment to my late-night viewing.

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WSU: Though Oregon State’s offense has been struggling, so has the Cougar defense, especially against the run. It will have to get that worked out before the two Pac-12 teams meet in Corvallis on Saturday afternoon. That’s one of the lessons contained within Greg Woods’ look back at the New Mexico loss. … Despite the 38-35 upset, WSU remained in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. As the 25th-ranked team. Greg has that story as well. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly Best of the West rankings. The Cougars fell a couple spots. … John Canzano had some thoughts yesterday about the college football weekend that was. … There are many other thoughts on the same subject from all over the nation. … Oregon State came into the season with high hopes. And their new coach’s verbal support. Was the latter a smoke screen? If so, after a loss at Air Force, it’s time for Trent Bray to speak honestly. … Oregon remained atop the A.P. poll despite the tight win at Wisconsin. The Ducks have a week off before the rivalry game with Washington. … How long has it been since Utah was this bad? … USC has always had a confrontational relationship with the NCAA. That may be changing. … Arizona is trying to mix things up offensively. … In the Mountain West, Utah State is playing out the string in some ways. … San Jose State had a chance to post an upset of now-No. 12 Boise State on Saturday. But five turnovers killed that. … UNLV returned to the rankings at No. 23. … Colorado State is sitting outside the rankings despite five consecutive wins. … We totally understand the field storming at New Mexico. … Due to an injury, Hawaii is not sure who will play quarterback this week. … San Diego State is not sure what will happen in its last two weeks. … In basketball news, Washington’s men barely got past a UMass Lowell squad that was run out of McCarthey a few days ago. … The UW women lost in Missoula to a Montana team that also struggled against GU. … Oregon’s men are undefeated after topping Troy. … Oregon State’s women lost again, this time at Arizona State.

Gonzaga: Despite the injury issues and the roster turnover, San Diego State will feature two hard-nosed commodities tonight: defense and rebounding. That’s Few’s view and it’s hard to argue with. Theo Lawson has his preview of the contest as well as the key matchup and a Q&A with former KREM sports anchor Darnay Tripp, who has worked in San Diego the past six years. … There is this game preview from the area as well. … I actually wrote a game story yesterday. Haven’t done that in a while and it showed. Covered the women’s 62-51 win. … The women’s cross country team earned an at-large berth in the NCAA finals race. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s men handled Nebraska 77-74 in Sioux Falls, S.D., raising their record to 4-0.

EWU: Dan Thompson was in Cheney again Sunday and has the coverage of the men and women’s games. … Former Eagle teammates Cooper Kupp and Kendrick Bourne each caught touchdown passes in the Rams’ win over New England. That news leads off Ethan Myers weekly look at local players in the NFL. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, it is rivalry week in Montana. That is always a big deal. … So was Saturday’s win for the second-ranked Bobcats against No. 4 UC Davis. … A local product is earning more time with Northern Colorado. … In basketball news, the Montana State women picked up a home win over UC Davis. … Weber State lost to Utah Tech. … The Wildcat men lost in overtime to Hawaii.

Whitworth: Greg Lee was back at Whitworth on Sunday, a day after the Pirates were unable to handle Linfield and win the Northwest Conference title. This time there was better news, as the NCAA Division III football playoff committee gave Whitworth an at-large berth. The Pirates will host the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (8-2) at noon Saturday.

Velocity: Spokane Velocity FC’s run to the USL League One final match was special. The team’s performance in it, against Union Omaha was not. The host team won the nationally televised championship 3-0. Colton Clark has all the details in this story.

Seahawks: In the week prior to Sunday’s game, Smith said beating the 49ers was “personal.” And then the front office’s actions during the same time period made it clear the rest of the roster should feel the same way. Dave Boling looks at management’s actions, relates them to the past and the present and has a few opinions about what they mean in his column. … There are always grades. And observations. Lessons too. … Smith’s determination was a big part of the win. His legs too. … Will the win swing the season? It’s always been my opinion that the NFL is a week-to-week league. Don’t project too much on one game. … The center of the offensive line held up. … Ernest Jones is showing his worth. … The 49ers’ 5-5 record is causing consternation in the Bay Area. Nationally too. There is some thought the team’s goals will not be met. That the roster is old and over the hill.

Kraken: Shane Wright was benched during Seattle’s shutout loss to the visiting Rangers.

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• It’s a Monday. Again. Not sure we feel as poorly toward the day as we did when it marked the beginning of our full work week. But it’s still filled with weekend hangover material. At least this Monday isn’t darkened by another Seahawk defeat. Until later …