A Grip on Sports: As the Cougars end a topsy-turvy, oh-so-close season with another bowl appearance, it is time to look back on their year

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The up, down and sideways Washington State football season ends today. In a bowl game (up). As a slight underdog against Utah State (down). In Boise, soon to be hosting Pac-12 regular season games (sideways). In honor of the group of Cougars who have endured the agony of another coaching change and too-many “what-ifs,” today’s column looks back at their 12 games, from worst to best.

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• As one might suspect in a 6-6 year – the same record as today’s opponent – there was a little of everything between the penultimate day of August until the penultimate day of November. Let’s take a look.

12. Oregon State 10, WSU 7 (Nov. 1): Nope, not even a 35-point Apple Cup loss – at home – can steal away this spot from the stinker in Corvallis. The Beavers (1-7) were so bad, they had already fired coach Trent Bray, who is reported to be headed to Pullman to serve as Kirby Moore’s defensive coordinator next season. But Zevi Eckhaus and the Cougar offense self-destructed all day, with a late first-half touchdown unable to offset its two turnovers and multiple other mistakes. As bad outcomes go, this was the worst of the lot. The first of two games against the two left-behind Pac-12 schools – the Cougs’ only CBS appearance – was decided when Jack Stevens missed a field goal attempt with 65 seconds left. From 31 yards out. Stevens missed just twice all season.

11. Washington 59, WSU 24 (Sept. 20): A crowd of 32,952 wedged itself into Martin Stadium hoping to see the Cougars upset the undefeated Huskies for the second consecutive season. And hope still lived entering the fourth quarter, with the home team down just seven points. Then 28 consecutive points happened. For UW. Bragging rights returned to the Wet Side.

10. WSU 13, Idaho 10 (Aug. 30): The first game of the Jimmy Rogers era, er, sojourn in Pullman signaled the trouble ahead. Rogers’ biggest decision was the wrong one, keeping returning bowl-game starter Eckhaus on the bench and starting Jaxon Potter. The Cougars won, sure, but that was the only positive. Idaho went on to finish 4-8.

9: North Texas 59, WSU 10 (Sept. 13): Rogers’ team took a 2-0 record on their first road trip, built on a defense that had yielded just 23 points. The Mean Green topped that by halftime – and then some. Mainly because Potter kept throwing the ball to the wrong team. His three interceptions, along with two lost fumbles, sabotaged the Cougar defense, directly leading to four touchdowns. The only reason this game didn’t rank higher? North Texas may have been the fourth-best team WSU played.

8. No. 18 Virginia 22, WSU 20 (Oct. 18): With less than 10 minutes left, the Cougars led a ranked Power 4 opponent on the road. Had controlled the Cavaliers’ offense much of the night. Had moved the ball when needed. The chance for a headline-making upset was right there. And then slipped away. Or it was given away. The Wahoos put together their first impressive drive to cut the lead to three. A flurry of false starts destroyed the next WSU possession, one that ended on a wildly poor throw from Eckhaus. The interception led to a tying field goal with less the 3 minutes left. The ensuing kickoff return was a botched trick, leading to first down on the Cougar 2. And the game-deciding safety. A crushing defeat.  

7: WSU 28, Louisiana Tech 3 (Nov. 15): Of all the wins, this was the most workmanlike. And highlighted the strong end-of-season run for the defense.

6: WSU 28, Toledo 7 (Oct. 25): A week after the awful loss in Charlottesville, the Cougars returned home, shook off the residue and dominated the Rockets.

5: No. 21 James Madison 24, WSU 20 (Nov. 22): The third and final chance to post an upset of a ranked team east of the Mississippi might have been the Cougars best. And they played one of their better games. Well, one of their better quarters. The second. Eckhaus’ biggest mistake of the year, a pick-six that started the quarter should have been a killer, but the defense gave up nothing and the offense had one big play – a 48-yard scoring toss to Tony Freeman – and one great drive – 11 plays, 67 yards – to build a 17-10 halftime lead. The second half, though, consisted of just three drives, one ending in a punt, one in a field goal and one on downs. JMU had only four drives, but two ended in the Cougar endzone and the last one ran out the clock.

4: WSU 20, Colorado State 3 (Sept. 27): The Rams turned out to be awful. But they were at home in late September and then-coach Jay Norvell’s team recognized their coach was on a hot seat. No matter. After CSU kicked a field goal to end the first quarter, this one was all Washington State. The Cougars ran for 172 yards, Eckhaus passed for another 189 and the defense kept coming up big when needed.

3: No. 4 Ole Miss 24, WSU 21 (Oct. 11): After the two blowout losses, no one expected much from the Cougars as they traveled across the nation for the first time. The Rebels’ ranking seemed warranted. Still does. But not on a beautiful Saturday in Oxford. The defense confused Trinidad Chambliss much of the game. The offense, with Eckhaus tossing two scoring passes, was efficient. But a two droughts – one in the second quarter and the other spanning the end of the third and the start of the fourth – turned out to be the difference. After falling behind after halftime, Ole Miss rallied to build a 10-point lead and held on.

2: WSU 36, San Diego State 13 (Sept. 6): Two aspects of this Homecoming win stand out even now. Potter was remarkable – 28-of-42 passing for 257 yards and three touchdowns against a strong Aztec defense. And the Cougar defense gave everyone a preview of what it could be, limiting SDSU to 3.6 yards per play. Being San Diego State, headed to the Pac-12 next season, finished 9-3 and had a shot at the Mountain West Conference title the last week of the regular season, this win was as good as it gets.

1: WSU 32, Oregon State 8 (Nov. 29): Well, as good as it gets except this one. The Cougars went into the final-game rematch needing a win to become bowl eligible. A win to earn Pac-12 bragging rights. A win to end Rogers’ first – hey, no one knew it would be his only – season on an upbeat note. And they delivered on both sides of the ball. A couple early drives stalled inside Beaver territory but Stevens came through. By the time OSU even came close to scoring, the Cougs were up 25 and the crowd of 24,806 – what was left of it anyway – was doing their bowl dance. Rogers’ team needed a win. It delivered in a big way.

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WSU: The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise kicks today on ESPN at 11 a.m. Spokane time. Or Pullman time, if you prefer. Whichever, it’s early. Greg Woods will be high above the blue turf to cover the game. He gets us ready with this preview, his two-minute drill and his pick on who will win. … Utah State comes in with the same 6-6 record but more coaching stability. But only because Bronco Mendenhall didn’t move on after one season, though he did just that to New Mexico a year ago. … We linked Greg’s story on Bray above. And link it again here. … Once again Colton Clark leads off his weekly summary of local NFL players’ performances with news about a former Cougar. This time, though, it wasn’t good news for Gardner Minshew. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner took a look at the winners and losers from the weekend’s playoff games. … Oregon State added to its offensive staff. … Oregon still has another CFP game to play, at least, but saw two players enter the transfer portal yesterday. … UCLA is beginning its transfer portal shopping. … USC wants to keep ones it has. … Arizona State kept the coach it has. … Finally, before you denigrate the Group of Five – soon to be Six – results in the CFP this season, remember the past.

• In basketball news, the Oregon women traveled to the Bay Area to meet old Pac-12 foe Stanford at the Chase Center. The Cardinal pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 64-53 win. … In the other game at the site, No. 19 USC held off California 61-57. … Washington dominated Pacific to end nonconference play. … Colorado and Arizona State opened Big 12 play in Tempe. The Sun Devils won. … The Oregon State men earned their first nonconference road win since 2019 with an upset of Arizona State. Could the loss destroy the Sun Devils’ NCAA chances come March? … Colorado is coming off its worst effort of the season. … USC introduced its new point guard in a rout of a fill-in UC Santa Cruz team. … San Diego State is facing a tough reality this season.

Gonzaga: The long-awaited matchup between Oregon, the school of Mark Few’s youth, and the seventh-ranked Zags, the school of Few’s adulthood, finally took place Sunday in Portland. The crowd disappointed Few – the Moda Center was just less than half-full – but the outcome didn’t. With Braeden Smith coming off the bench to lead the way – a team-high 21 points and seven assists – the Zags earned a 91-82 victory. Theo Lawson has the game analysis and teamed with the folks in the office on the recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan covered the story behind Smith’s best game as a Zag and has three takeaways from the win. … Dave Boling took a look at Gonzaga’s nonconference results and extrapolates what could be ahead in this column. … Tyler Tjomsland made the trip to Portland and has his usual in-depth photo gallery. … There is coverage of the game from Oregon as well. … The women were on the road at UC Riverside, not one of the Big West power teams. Still, the Highlanders (2-9) kept it close throughout until the Zags (8-5) pulled away late for a 68-62 victory. Greg Lee watched and has this coverage. … Back to the men, the Zags are ranked sixth in The Athletic’s weekly listing.

Idaho: Kolton Mitchell was my point guard for more than 75 games over three seasons of travel basketball, so there is little he does that surprises me. Certainly not his performance – 31 points and six rebounds – in the Vandals’ 83-80 nonconference overtime win at Cal Poly. His four-point play with 30 seconds left in overtime basically decided it. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the FCS semifinal in Bozeman was one for the ages. … In basketball news, the Weber State women won two games in a recent visit to Loyola Marymount. … Northern Arizona finished nonconference play with a home win over UC San Diego. … Portland State fell to visiting Portland 98-53 Sunday.

Seahawks: Even though the Hawks are the No. 1 seed in the NFC (currently) after their stunning comeback win Thursday, they still have questions to answer. … The 49ers clinched a playoff berth yesterday and didn’t even play. They are at the Colts tonight. … DK Metcalf is who he is. 

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• I was looking forward to a nice quiet week in the runup to Christmas. Then life happened. Today is packed. Again. So is tomorrow. Wednesday? Hopefully I’ll get everything done and be able to sit and breath. I feel a bit blindsided. Until later …