A Grip on Sports: Yes, the Cougars’ win over Idaho was not as impressive as the school’s football fans hoped, but we experienced another win Saturday night with a deep Cougar connection

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It was a pretty eventful Saturday. For me certainly. For you probably. For Lee Corso and Arch Manning definitely. All due to college football. Unless you are one of those folks who live and die with the regional MLB team. Good luck with that in September.

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• Where should we start? The personal or with something a lot of people on this side of the state take very personally, Washington State football?

How about if we can kind of combine them? Would that work?

The most-uplifitng Washington State-related performance I experienced yesterday? It was turned in by former WSU basketball coach Kyle Smith.

Turns out Smith officiated the wedding Kim and I attended Saturday night. And, yes, I appreciate the irony of writing “Kyle Smith” and “officiated” in the same sentence – without including the word “criticized” anywhere.

Mainly because there was nothing to criticize.

Smith was officiating the marriage of one of his former managers, and one of my former players, Ethan Kramer.

Smith did a great job. Short, winning, funny – yes I know those are words many of us associated with the coach during his time in Pullman – and played to the audience. The term “once a Coug, always a Coug” was uttered at one point, followed by applause and Smith expressing how much he and his family missed the area.

As for Ethan and his bride Natalie, also a Cougar grad? They are destined for success.

I knew that about Ethan long ago, when he was in seventh grade at Riverside Middle School. And became part of a group of eighth graders I coached that included Post Falls’ Colby Gennett, St. George’s Danny Rigsby and Shadle Park’s Zach Krotzer (more on him in a moment), among others.

Of all of them, I was most confident Ethan would end up a basketball coach. He had that type of mind, personality and, most importantly, the understanding coaching was, at its core, about servitude.

Ethan moved to Pullman for high school, as his mother became an assistant superintendent for the school district, a position from which she recently retired.

Though he played high school hoops, Ethan knew he wasn’t going to move on as a player. So, while majoring in broadcast journalism at WSU, he became a manager for the men’s team.

A well-respect manager, as witnessed by the number of former players, including Isaac Jones, in the audience or in the wedding party.

But in one way I was wrong about Ethan – thus far. He’s not followed the path so many do these days, from the manager role to grad assistant to college coach. He’s chosen a different path, using his WSU degree in Fargo, N.D. as a multi-media reporter and weekend anchor at KFWR, an NBC and Fox affiliate.

He’s still coaching, though. We shared a table with one of his co-worker, Harrison Pray, who used the word more than once in describing the friendship and work relationship.

If the basketball bug, bites, though, there seems there will always be a spot at Stanford. Or wherever Smith is at the time.

• OK, you’ve been waiting patiently. How do you feel about Saturday’s football game on the Palouse?

If you are an Idaho fan, encouraged I bet, despite the 13-10 Washington State victory. First-year coach Thomas Ford had the Vandals ready on both sides of the ball.

Ready for what? For dominating up front.

UI was the more physical team. The defensive front, which includes the sixth season for the aforementioned Krotzer, part of a front seven that made life miserable for the rebuilt Cougar offensive line – and completely destroyed the running game.

How much so? Twenty-two carries for three yards. Forty-six yards in losses, thanks in large part to Isiah King’s19-yard sack of Julian Dugger after a bad snap and a couple of blown-up runs. Not good.

The lack of running game – and Idaho’s front – put pressure on the surprise quarterback starter Jaxon Potter. The redshirt sophomore was surprisingly good considering. His passing stats were fine – 23-of-30 for 208 yards, WSU’s only touchdown and no interceptions. But he didn’t show he is all that adept at escaping trouble and turning it into a positive, something his UI counterpart Joshua Wood did well with 101 yards rushing.

To counter Potter’s less-than-ideal mobility, Jimmy Rogers, making his WSU head coaching debut, turned to Dugger in the second half. The left-handed transfer from Pittsburgh showed his speed, but only to run into a phalanx of Vandal defenders walling off the line of scrimmage. And with the Cougars seemingly on the verge of putting the game away in the second half, Duggar was inserted after a turnover deep in Vandal territory. Three plays gained just five yards, though, and instead of WSU getting into the endzone, it settled for Jack Stevens’ 30-yard field goal. And opened the door for Idaho to tie it in the final two minutes.

Give Potter and the Cougars credit though. Despite some hiccups, they marched down the field, got within Stevens’ range once more and he supplied the winning field goal from 32-yards out and three seconds left.

For the 12th-ranked (FCS) Vandals, there was no upset to celebrate. But hope for the future? Certainly.

For the new-look Cougars? Film from which to teach. Experience from which to draw upon. Knowledge of what to fix. And a 1-0 record, the first time a new football coach could say that since Bill Doba took over two decades ago.

That’s not nothing. Even if the Washington State running game was.

• We told you yesterday in our last paragraph we would have Whitworth news today. And we do. Even if the Pirates don’t begin their football season until next week.

How did we accomplish that remarkable feat? Thanks to our friend Dave Boling, who wrote about a mutual friend, Mike Sando.

You may know Sando’s NFL work – he may be journalism’s most well-known NFL quarterback expert – for ESPN and The Athletic.

We know Mike the same way Dave does: We worked together for the S-R some 30 years ago. Back when Dave could eat an entire day-old large pizza and Mike, well, all of us really, could not.

Dave has a column today about Mike. About Mike’s life work – he once held the same role at the S-R I would years later as Washington State’s beat writer. And their almost life-long friendship. The column should not be missed, especially if you use Mike’s ratings to draft your fantasy quarterback.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Whitworth connection? Mike is a proud graduate of the school up in the wilds of North Spokane. He is also certainly the only graduate with stints at The Spokesman-Review, The News Tribune, ESPN and The Athletic on his resume.

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WSU: Rogers was honest about his assessments after the game. We’ll give him that. Calling the running game “embarrassing” probably put him in the same camp as the 28,243 at Gesa Field and the uncounted number watching on The CW Network. (As an aside, after watching much of the Cougar game and some of the Oregon State one, the Pac-12 tradition of awful officiating is alive and well – and needs to be fixed by next season.) Greg Woods did what S-R beat writers always do, wrote a game story, had a pregame breaking news piece on Potter and put together, along with the folks in the office, the recap and highlights. … Colton Clark chipped in with three instant reactions. … Tyler Tjomsland did his usual excellent job with the photo report. … And thanks to Ethan’s wedding, I didn’t have to dwell on The CW’s issues, which was about on par with the Cougar running game. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his Saturday Night Five on the Mercury News website (it includes some thoughts on WSU and OSU) as well as his mailbag on the S-R site. … John Canzano started with Ducks on Saturday, then traveled to Corvallis to watch the Beavers play like the 1970s versions. … There were some opening-week games with huge import on the narrative of the season, including defending champ Ohio State corralling Steve Sarkisian’s Texas offense and making life difficult for Arch Manning. There is some New England Patriot/Peyton Manning reference to be made here but I’ll leave it alone. … The other big ones? The Florida State quarterback was right in June. Nick Saban wasn’t around to save Alabama. Kalen DeBoer wasn’t up to the task and neither was the Tide defense. … LSU salvaged something out of the weekend for the SEC, going to Clemson and riding a great second half to an opening win. … The Lee Corso tributes were exceptional. Made my sister cry. A lot of others too, I’m sure. … Colorado learned Friday night it has to be more physical. And Deion Sanders may have learned some things as well. … Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 results from Saturday, listed chronologically. It also includes any game in which mining news about turned out to be nearly impossible. And the Texas State game. If you’re wondering, the lack of Bobcat information this week was not for lack of trying. Well, yes it was. I forgot they are headed to the Pac-12 next season. And failed to look for pregame coverage. But don’t worry. After doing a search today, I’m pretty sure I would not have had to inform you about any stories.

– No. 7 Oregon 59, Montana State 13: Yes, the Bobcats are an FCS program. And the Ducks should have rolled them. But MSU is a good FCS team, we think, and the 46-point rout in Eugene was impressive. … So was former UCLA quarterback Dante Moore’s performance in his first UO game. … The Duck mascot’s entry onto the field? Not so much. … Montana State has one thing going for it. A lot of room for growth.

– Texas State 52, Eastern Michigan 27: The Bobcats scored seven touchdowns in the home rout.

– Utah State 28, UTEP 16: Bronco Mendenhall made his return as a Beehive State head coach a successful one, though he was quick to point out areas the Aggies need to improve.

– USC 73, Missouri State 13: That’s how the Trojans are supposed to perform against an overmatched team, though 73 points is above and beyond the expectations.

– Fresno State 42, Georgia Southern 14: The Bulldogs were not perfect, especially early on. But Fresno figured it out and rolled to even its record.

– No. 11 Arizona State 38, Northern Arizona 19: The fact the Sun Devils won is no surprise. The margin might be a little. And the crowd, a sellout, certainly is. … Could anything be learned from the opener? Other than ESPN’s streaming service needs help?

– California 34, Oregon State 15: Could it be that Cal has a quarterback? That really hasn’t been the case since Sonny Dykes skipped town. … Everyone associated with the Beavers seemed to be disappointed last night, starting with second-year head coach Trent Bray. … OSU’s new quarterback looked a lot like last year’s quarterbacks. … The start could have been better.  

– Arizona 40, Hawaii 6: The second Brent Brennan season opened much better than the first.

– Washington 38, Colorado State 21: The Huskies and Rams traded first-half punches. The second half? That was mostly UW, and that allowed year two of Jedd Fisch’s tenure to start on a positive note. … Some problems that cropped up last season, though, were still around. … The stars, like Jonah Coleman are there. But is that enough for Washington to be successful? … There are always UW grades. … And instant impressions. … Husky fans can be as bitter as anyone. … So can columnists. A lot of them. … CSU’s Jay Norvell lamented the second-half execution.

– Utah 43, UCLA 10: The Utes’ defense was as it has been, usually, for the past couple decades. The offense? The arrival of Devon Dampier has made it look totally different. And the Bruins paid the price for last season’s win. … Will DeShaun Foster, only in his second season, end up playing a price?  

EWU: The Eagles defense did its job in large part. As was the case last season, though, the offense struggled. Dan Thompson was in San Antonio and has a game story from Eastern’s 31-21 loss to fifth-ranked (for now) Incarnate Word. … Dan also has a notebook. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, Portland State is 0-2 and has been outscored 111-0 after BYU’s 69-0 rout in Provo. … Northern Colorado topped Chadron State 17-3, the first home win for coach Ed Lamb. And this is year two of his tenure. … Idaho State dropped another road game, though the 46-24 decision at Southern Utah was less hopeful than the opener in Las Vegas. … Weber State also got rolled on the road. It was in Virginia at James Madison, a place Washington State will visit later. … UC Davis has a game that counts. The Aggies rallied late and got past host Utah Tech. … Sacramento State’s new Go-Go offense did not at South Dakota State, as the Jackrabbits picked up a 20-3 win. … Cal Poly went to San Diego and routed the Toreros 41-17.

Idaho: We had our thoughts above. And linked the game story et al in the WSU section.

Indians: Spokane has one home game left this season. Tonight. I’m sure Dave Nichols will be there. He was at Avista last night as the Indians squandered a four-run lead and fell 9-6 to Tri City.

Velocity and Zephyr: The Zephyr traveled to Washington D.C. and did not lose. They earned a 2-2 draw with the D.C. Power. The Velocity was not as successful, dropping a 1-0 decision at One Knoxville.

Mariners: Speaking of not being successful that describes the M’s on the road recently. And in Cleveland the past two days. Saturday, playing in front of the Fox national audience, they had their second consecutive disappointing loss, 4-3 to the Guardians. A quick question: If Seattle fades from the postseason picture in September, does Jerry Dipoto keep his job? He’s changed managers last season, was allowed to add salary at the deadline in this one and still may come up short. … Playing in Cleveland against his brother is hard on Josh Naylor. … Dylan Moore already has a home run for Texas.  

Seahawks: We linked this Times story about Jason Myers and Hawaii’s kicker yesterday. It is on the S-R’s website today. … Sam Darnold’s season will be intriguing. Can’t argue that.

Storm: Seattle seems to have snapped out of its funk. The Storm ended a home losing streak with a Saturday win over the Sky.

Sounders: Messi and Miami in Seattle. A tournament trophy on the line. Tonight.

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• We are finally done. More than fours hours after we started. I need a vacation from college football already. Thank goodness one is coming up. Until later …