A Grip on Sports: There just isn’t enough time in a Saturday to broadcast every great college hoop game without keeping us up until after SNL starts

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There are two parts of college football you can count on in December. The coaching calliope may slow but never seems to stop. Bowl games will control the TV schedule. And Army vs. Navy demands at least a little of just about everyone’s time.

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• Wait, if I’m counting correctly, that’s three parts. Appropriate I guess. Like a field goal. And appropriate because I messed up the math. As I did every December in school. Back then I could use the excuse I was distracted. Visions of sugar plums – whatever they are – dancing in my head and whatnot.

No such problems these days. I still don’t know what sugar plums are – Google’s AI dude tells me they are some sort of traditional hard Christmas candy, which doesn’t help much – but I can count on a calculator to help me with numbers and such. And I can count on the number next to each college basketball team’s name to tell me if a game this weekend is worth watching. There are a number of good ones.

Though I am with UCLA coach Mick Cronin in one regard. Starting a Saturday showdown between two of the top three West Coast basketball programs at 8:30 p.m. is silly. Or dumb. Or just plain lazy. Take your pick.

Yet that’s when ESPN has penciled in the start time for the battle in Seattle – lowercase these days – between eighth-ranked Gonzaga and Cronin’s 25th-ranked Bruins. I say the 8:30 start is “penciled in” because the self-proclaimed world leader in sports television has a full slate on Saturday, all slotted in two-hour windows.

Like subway trains, one runs late early in the day – a given considering only blowouts usually finish in 120 minutes anymore – and every other game gets pushed back. A late start in the GU/UCLA matchup seems a given. Though after a certain point the ball is tipped and there you are, you’re running for your life – to get to ESPN News.

Saturday afternoon’s schedule on ESPN is stacked up like LAX on a holiday weekend. Memphis at No. 11 Louisville at 12:30. No. 19 Kansas at North Carolina State at 2:30. Indiana at Kentucky at 4:30. Top-ranked Arizona – the third member of the West Coast triarchy – vs. 12th-ranked Alabama from Birmingham at 6:30.

Then, and only then, do the Zags and Bruins get their moment.

Can someone call me to make sure I’m awake?

On second thought, don’t. You might interrupt my enjoyment of the first bowl game of the season. And the last Los Angeles Bowl. The swan song for the bowl will be held at that storied college football venue, SoFi Stadium (5 p.m., ABC).

There is no more iconic scene than the sun setting over the San Gabriel Mountains, though the hundreds of folks at the game won’t experience it, thanks to a roof. In the land of sunshine and oranges.

The final traditional LA Bowl matchup? Washington, which more than likely would have finished second in the old Pac-12 (and been deep in the running for an at-large CFP berth if the conference were still around), against Boise State, which will be one of the cornerstones of the new Pac-12 in 2026.

But the Huskies helped kill the West Coast’s somewhat-golden cow and, if they roll over the Broncos as they did their other two new Pac-12 opponents – WSU and Colorado State – this year, they may just lose their coach to deeper-pocketed Michigan. Good times.

The other football games this weekend? The FCS playoff quarterfinals are on. At least three of the games, including second-seed Montana State hosting Stephen F. Austin tonight (6, ESPN) and third-seed Montana welcoming South Dakota to Missoula (12:30 p.m., ABC) Saturday.

The aforementioned Army-Navy game? That’s on CBS at noon Saturday.

Of course, the NFL dominates Sunday, with the Seahawks hosting the new favorite team of the AARP set, the Colts, at 1:25 p.m. (CBS). Phillip Rivers came out of retirement – at 44, which is more than a decade before even I bailed out of the 9-to-5 rat race – to quarterback a team that has gone through a couple of more mobile QBs already.

At the same time, SoFi is back hosting the NFL, as it should, with the Rams, tied with Seattle atop the NFC West, hosting somewhat-disappointing Detroit on Fox. I’m guessing most of the 12s will switch over during commercials to send good vibes the Lions’ way.

Need more? Let’s see, there is bedlam at 10 a.m. Saturday in the form of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State meeting on the court – and on Fox. And if you want to see what all the fuss is about concerning 8-2 Santa Clara, the Broncos meet Arizona State at 4 p.m. that day on TNT.

Maybe Cougar fans would rather check in on former coach Kyle Smith in that time slot. His Stanford squad is at San Jose State on CBS Sports. The next day Cougs can check out this year’s team as they visit USC (4:30 p.m., FS1), though the 9-1 Trojans are favored by as much as 8.5 points over David Riley’s 3-7 group.

But just maybe the math doesn’t add up. At least this one time.

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WSU: Jacob Thorpe, who followed the guy who followed me in Pullman for the S-R, has his thoughts on the Cougars’ next football coach. … Greg Woods’ transfer portal tracker has a couple new names. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has a column in the S-R this morning in which he explains why a lot of what the Pac-12 has to do before the 2026 football season is on hold. It has to do with CFP expansion still being debated. We’re guessing Notre Dame’s exclusion this year will ensure more teams eligible for the next one. … Wilner also has his picks in the Mercury News for this weekend and the first round of the CFP. … One reason Indiana is better this season? Quarterback Fernando Mendoza left Cal for the Hoosiers. And he may win the Heisman Trophy. … Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes said during his coaching search the new person would be paid among the best in the Pac-12. JaMarcus Shephard’s contract shows that wasn’t true. … Shephard and the Beavers are filling in their assistant coaching staff. … James Madison’s new coach is familiar with many of Oregon’s coaches. Can that help the Dukes next weekend? … A former Colorado assistant believes a new one will help the Buffs’ offense immensely. … How will the new private equity plan impact the fans of Utah’s teams? … Sam Leavitt is leaving Arizona State. Where could the quarterback land? His favorite receiver, Jordyn Tyson, is leaving as well. For the NFL. … Arizona suffered a big loss Thursday. Its general manager is off for Arkansas and more money.

• In basketball news, Oregon’s men will be missing at least one starter against UC Davis. … Colorado is playing well but its attendance is dropping. … San Diego State is finally back in the win column. … This is sad news. Former Stanford star and longtime NBA player Jason Collins has glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, one I know well as it claimed the life of my father-in-law 20 years ago. Collins does not expect to survive.

Gonzaga: Braeden Smith transferred to GU from Colgate a year ago, agreed to redshirt as Ryan Nembhard used his last season of eligibility and seemed poised to fill Nembhard’s role this one. Appropriate, considering the similarities in their games. But that plan was upended a bit with the late addition of Spanish import Mario Saint-Supery to the Zags’ point guard corps. Theo Lawson spoke with Smith recently on how the changed dynamic is working out for him and the team. … Theo also has a story on Cronin’s comments about the start time. We linked it above and here as well. … Dave Boling, who wrote a book about Gonzaga’s rise to national prominence, has a column today on the blue-blooded nature of the program in 2025. … Looking ahead to Saturday’s game in Seattle, Jim Meehan touched base with an UCLA-based reporter for this Q&A. … It looks as if UCLA point guard Donovan Dent is finally starting to round into the form he displayed last season at New Mexico.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Portland State has settled on a new football coach. The Vikings have hired Central Washington’s Chris Fisk, who has been successful at the Division II school. So successful in fact, I know one Seattle-based sportswriter who is in mourning right now. … A former Montana quarterback is back in Bozeman, this time playing for Stephen F. Austin. … In basketball news, the Idaho State men lost the battle of the boards to Utah Valley and lost the game. … Southern Utah, which will be in the Big Sky next season, is playing at Washington tomorrow.

Preps: Dave Nichols headed out to Central Valley last night. He covered the girls and boys non-league games between the Bears and Gonzaga Prep. Colin Mulvany also has a couple handfuls of photos from the girls’ game. … We also can pass along a roundup of Thursday’s other action. … The top boys high school recruit in the country is playing at Rainier Beach in Seattle this season.

Mariners: We linked this Seattle Times’ story on the M’s top prospects yesterday. It ran in the S-R today, so we link it again. … The MLB will back on NBC next season. The network hopes it is for longer than its three-year deal.

Indians: A former mainstay with Spokane about six decades ago, Bart Shirley, died recently in Texas. Jim Price has his obituary.

Seahawks: Is facing a 44-year-old quarterback just out of retirement a gift or a curse for Seattle? … Are the Hawks encouraging Sam Darnold to run more? Is that a good idea? … Not all NFL players make millions. … There were a couple roster moves Thursday.

Storm and Reign: How did Seattle become a cornerstone for women’s professional sports in the U.S.? It was not easy.

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• I’m worried. About my backside. I’m not sure it is up to spending 12-plus hours encamped in my old leather Laz-e-Boy. But that seems to be a possibility tomorrow. Luckily, I have something somewhat physically taxing planned for Sunday afternoon or the entire weekend may just resemble Jabba the Hutt’s dance party. Without Princess Leia, of course. Until later …