A Grip on Sports: Two divided by one equals one heck of a busy Saturday evening for some of us

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What’s in a number? In a lot of ways, nothing. If you are speaking about college football. A ranking number? Upsets happen. A ratings number? With Disney and YouTube in a dispute, will today’s really capture everyone who is watching? But if you want to have something to hang your Cougar sweatshirt on, try the numbers two and 12. One’s obvious. The other?

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• Let’s start with obvious, shall we? After all, Captain Obvious and I went to elementary school together. Obviously. That’s where I first learned two is twice as good as one. Or should be.

Maybe not in college football, though. Playing a team two times in a season just isn’t done. Too few games, too many choices. Unless you happen to be Washington State and Oregon State, the only two leftovers from what was once a glorious amalgamation of 12 Western schools.

The two become one today on the turf of Reser Field. Then will do the same at Gesa Field in Pullman before the month is finished. The 4:30 p.m. game on CBS goes up against the seventh game of the World Series. The Nov. 29th game, the actual Pac-12 conference matchup on The CW, will battle the elements – more than likely – and possibly such great rivalry games as USC vs. UCLA, Florida vs. Florida State and, sorry, Oregon vs. Washington.

The timing, and scheduling, could have been better for Teresa Gould’s only two reps in 2025. Though, in less than a year, such things will only be footnote in a Wikipedia page you pull up on your iPhone.

Still, numbers matter in this case. The winner today, whether it ends up being 1-7 Oregon State – though 1-0 since former Cougar defensive coordinator Robb Akey took over as interim head coach – or 4-4 WSU – the four defeats coming against teams with a combined 27-5 record – has bragging rights. For four weeks.

What do all those numbers mean? Not as much as whatever shows up on the big board in Reser around 8 p.m. tonight.

And less than what 12, as in Pac-12, means to these programs.

They are the keepers of a flame that was lit more than a century ago in a downtown Portland hotel. The only survivors of a war of financial attrition. Two acolytes who refused to hide their candles under a bushel, as the rest of college football demanded of them.

For that, they have every right to call themselves the Pac-12, whether there are two of them or eight, as will be the case in a year.

DNA test football programs all over the nation and the results will show you most of them are mutts. The search for a forever home led Ohio State from the Ohio Athletic Conference to the Big Ten long ago. The same with Alabama, which left the Southern Conference for the SEC during The Depression.

Besides, the Big Ten these days has 18 members. The Big 12? Sixteen. The Pac-12 can have two. Or eight. Or whatever.

What’s in a number? Name recognition. That’s it. Until the scoreboard begins to display crooked ones. Whomever has more of them this afternoon in Corvallis will tell you how important those are. With their smiles.

• There are two other numbers that interests me tonight. The two TV channels, 102 and 103 on my Comcast box. The first one, KREM in Spokane, will carry the Cougar game starting at 4:30. The second, KAYU, will have the World Series, with first pitch by Max Scherzer coming sometime around 5:10. The two contests will overlap. Though I want to watch both live.

Will I be able to? Well, every classic story involves a journey of some type. A physical one, like in “The Canterbury Tales” or “The Stand.” They also might include an emotional journey as well, as in “The Graduate” or “Billy Madison.” My journey tonight? It will be more of a quest for affirmation I still can control my mental abilities well enough to focus on two TVs and keep the concurrent narratives separate for however long they overlap.

I’m betting on myself.

You? It would probably be a good idea to put November’s food budget on me failing miserably.    

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WSU: Of course Greg Woods has a preview of this evening’s game. He also has the keys to success and his pick. Spoiler alert: He thinks it will be a low-scoring game with the Cougars winning. … Proving once again football recruiting never stops, Greg also has a story on the Cougs’ mining the junior college ranks once more. … Matt Calkins wants to know if there is any hope left for the two Pac-12 schools. … If you have questions about the Beavers, I can pass along a few answers. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his usual Friday mailbag in the Mercury News. … The national schedule today seems a little weak. Which means there will be at least two unexpected upsets. Upsets that will impact the CFP rankings next week. … We linked this Mike Vorel column yesterday on Jedd Fisch and Washington. It is on the S-R site today. … The Huskies have a bye but there are other Big Ten games going on. … The UCLA/Rose Bowl lawsuit is still national news. It should be. The Bruins still look like the bad guys in this debacle. Though a judge may not want to intervene at this point. … Oregon’s bye week doesn’t mean there isn’t a mailbag to pass along. … There are a lot of football coaching vacancies, including at Colorado State. Have the Rams already picked their guy? … Texas State has today off, having played Tuesday. But it still suffered a loss this weekend.

• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games today, listed chronologically. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.

– Arizona State at Iowa State (10 a.m., TNT): The Sun Devils started the season as defending Big 12 champions and with high hopes. All are gone now, what with star quarterback Sam Leavitt out for the season.

– Pittsburgh at Stanford (12:30 p.m., ACC): The Cardinal are setting a trap for Pitt, a school that may just be looking ahead. But are they good enough to spring it?

– Fresno State at Boise State (12:30, FS1): The specter of a looming bye week is a good way for the Bronco coaching staff to ensure effort today. A possible extra day off, anyone?

– No. 15 Virginia at California (12:45, ESPN2): There seems to be a desire for Cal football to become decent to really good again. A win today would be a big step toward that goal.

– Arizona at Colorado (4, FS1): The matchup in Boulder is intriguing on many levels. Are the Buffs as bad as they looked last week? Is Arizona ever going to win on the road again? Could both coaches see this as a litmus test of their programs?

– Wyoming at San Diego State (4, CBS Sports): The Aztecs will put a five-game winning streak on the line. The Cowboys? A chance to spoil SDSU’s run to the Mountain West title game.

– No. 23 USC at Nebraska (4:30, NBC): Despite having earned a large contract extension, the Huskers’ Matt Rhule has yet to lead his latest school to a win over a ranked team. If that streak ends today, then the Trojans’ hopes for a special season are done.

– No. 17 Cincinnati at No. 24 Utah (7:15, ESPN): The Cougar flag is in Salt Lake City this morning. That’s never been in question. There is a big one, though, for the Utes. Do they really have a team that can’t beat the better ones in college football? … I’m guessing Alex Smith, the guest picker, went with the Utes.

• In basketball news, ready for Washington’s men to start their season? Then read this. … One player’s injury is another’s opportunity. That’s been the case at Oregon in the preseason. … Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd sees injury reports as only helping the gambling industry. I seem them as helping fans of his program. … Will California actually be better this season? … Kyle Smith and Stanford have a big hole to fill in the lineup. … UCLA’s Mick Cronin needed a point guard. He found a good one. … The Colorado women should be strong on the boards. … How will Arizona be, as the Wildcats welcome a new coaching staff?

Gonzaga: Around the WCC, with the Zags leaving next summer and Grand Canyon having bailed before its tenure even started, the conference needed another member. The West Coast now extends to Denver. Or at least it will July 1, 2026. …The Oregon State women are the favorites this season. They still have a chip on their shoulder though.

EWU: The Eagles host soon-to-be-no-longer-a-Big-Sky-member Sacramento State today at 1 p.m. Want to know the most-important things to watch? Dan Thompson has you covered. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, third-ranked Montana has some unfinished business against Weber State. … Fourth-ranked Montana State travels to Greeley to face Northern Colorado. … Sixth-ranked UC Davis hosts a struggling Idaho State group. … Portland State is still looking for its first win as it travels to Cal Poly. … In basketball news, the Montana State women are coming off their best season ever. … The men are trying to bounce back from a bad one.

Idaho: What the heck happened in Flagstaff on Halloween night? If you want to know, about the only place you can find out is here, with this story on the Vandals’ wild and wacky 35-32 overtime win over the 19th-ranked Lumberjacks.

Preps: With last night reserved more for ghosts and goodies, there was a light GSL football schedule on tap. At least the game at ONE Spokane Stadium, between North Central, coming in trying to assure itself a postseason berth, and winless Clarkston, included a few treats. For the Bantams, at least, who earned their first victory, 21-7. Dave Nichols has the coverage and also includes the rest of the Friday contests around the area. … Colin Mulvany has a photo gallery from ONE Spokane Stadium as well. 

Mariners: Adam Jude sat down and typed out a story listing five things the M’s need to do in the offseason to make the next season a special one. If the organization hits better than .200 on his suggestions, I will be shocked. … The same can be said about Ryan Divish’s thoughts as well. … I was also shocked by a couple of things last night in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win: That centerfielder Justin Dean didn’t panic when a Blue Jay fly ball lodged under the padding in the ninth inning; and Toronto’s Addison Barger did, failing to freeze on a line drive with the game in the balance a few pitches later. … Shohei Ohtani is going to end up in baseball’s Hall of Fame. So will Scherzer. The two will start tonight’s deciding game. … The Dodger victory Friday also featured Mookie Betts getting a key hit, something that hasn’t happened recently.

Seahawks: Yesterday I linked this Times story on Mike Macdonald and Bobby Wagner. It is on the S-R site today. … Why does it seem injuries run in packs for certain positions? … There is a lot to watch tomorrow night. … Sunday’s opponent, Washington, seems to be in flux at the moment, even with quarterback Jayden Daniels returning this weekend.

Sounders: The franchise is looking for help to build a soccer specific stadium. Seems a little weird to me considering how many fans they attract to Lumen Field.

Kraken: This story is music to my ears. Sorry.

Reign: AI is all the rage. Even in women’s pro soccer.

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• A buddy of mine switched from DirectTV to YouTube TV a week or so ago. Wonder if he will have trouble today watching football? Disney and YouTube are at an impasse concerning carriage costs. It will be resolved at some point. But when? That’s always the key question for ESPN fans. Until later …