A Grip on Sports: Raindrops falling like pebbles on the roof last night meant today’s schedule was disrupted long before the sun came up

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Apocalyptic rain pounded the homestead late – and I mean just before midnight – last night. It rained so hard for so long I worried for our home’s infrastructure. But not as much, it seems, as our little dog. Donut was beside himself, unable to settle, always looking out the window, keeping his adult friends up until Thursday turned into Friday. Well into Friday. You know, today.

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• He’s sound asleep now. Was when I snuck out of bed around 5 a.m., tired, sleep-poor, a befuddled mass. All because a 20-pound ball of fur, for the first time ever, seemed terrified of water pounding on the roof.

He finally settled in as I scratched out a rendition of “My Favorite Things.” You know, the “Sound of Music” song Maria uses to settle the Von Trapp kids during a storm? The 1960s musical sensation? Featuring a former elementary school classmate of mine? Hello, is this thing on?

OK, it is a vague reference but my soft, soothing, off-key warbling seemed to work. To cover up the sound of the rainfall if nothing else.

Thank goodness it is Friday. And I don’t have to tax the precious few functioning brain cells too strenuously deciding what to write about. The subject is the same as it most Fridays. What to watch this weekend in the world of sports.

If you don’t use YouTube as your provider. In that case, sorry. You have to figure your own work-arounds to the mess with Disney, the Engulf and Devour of this era. And yes, that’s another movie reference, though it is 10 years younger than my first one. Before you know it, I might get around to the 21st Century.

When college football games are held on a Friday night. Between schools in the same conference even though one of them is located in Chicago and the other Los Angeles. What a world. What a way to spend your Friday, sitting in a saloon somewhere glancing up to see if USC has hung 50 on Northwestern (6 p.m. on Fox). And then getting back to pounding down the fried mozzarella.

Don’t get home too late. You want to be up in time to watch the Cougar flag wave behind Nick Saban’s head on College GameDay from Lubbock, Texas. It probably will be. For the 1,495,302th time. Or something like that. I lost count.

Why West Texas? The best college football game of the day (9 a.m., ABC) happens to be in the Big 12. Eighth-ranked (by the Associated Press poll) BYU, who somehow finds a way to win every Saturday, at ninth-ranked Texas Tech, who somehow enticed the most-expensive transfer class of the year to spend autumn battling the wind and winning games.

Not with the Air Raid offense. With an Iron Curtain-tough defense.

By the way, with no WSU game Saturday (it’s a bye week for the Cougars), there is some free time to use in other ways.

May we suggest putting some Iowa-corn fed beef on the barbecue and settling in for three hours of slobber-knocking football at 12:30 p.m.? Turn the TV to CBS, hunker down and watch sixth-ranked Oregon try to match blows with unranked – by A.P. but 20th in the College Football Playoff rankings – Iowa in what could be a CFP elimination game for the Ducks. At the least, it’s a litmus test for their toughness.

If college football isn’t your thing, then we have suggestions – and one question. Why not? The new world order finally drive you away? Or is it something else? Guess that’s three questions but they all asks the same one. And can be answered with this: It’s harder to be all-in when either your school was left behind or it wasn’t. Case in point for the latter, Nebraska at UCLA (6 p.m., Fox). Really? A conference game in early November with those two schools? Wow.

Let’s get back to some sanity. As in college basketball, which is still finishing up its first week of the season. Also in early November, which seems a tad premature – and throws a metaphorical wrench in the sanity machine. But maybe that’s just me.

Anyhow, Gonzaga hosts Oklahoma on Saturday night in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena at 7:30 p.m. It will be televised by ESPN2. I’m actually thinking about wandering downtown, buying a ticket in the rafters – I was about to write “buying a cheap ticket” but realized that probably wouldn’t be the case – and settle in for two hours of watching a couple of the NBA’s minor league teams compete.

But I probably won’t. The Laz-E-Boy is way too comfy. Besides, I have to save my energy for Sunday afternoon. When I can watch the NFC’s inevitable Super Bowl representative play.

You know, the winner of the L.A. Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers game (1:25, Fox).

What, you thought I was referring to the Seahawks and their home game with Arizona (1:05, CBS)? Nope. The ESPN talking heads keep telling my how good the Rams are. How plucky San Francisco is. How the Eagles will get it together. How much the Cowboys improved their defense at the deadline. How Baker Mayfield will lead the Bucs to a title. It is all I can hear these days.

Or I would be hearing. If I hadn’t switched to YouTube two weeks ago.

Thankfully, I didn’t. But a good friend did. I might just mention that at lunch today. And laugh.

Though, to be honest, I may be home. Catching up lost sleep.

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WSU: There may not be a football game in Pullman this weekend but there is an event in Spokane with a Crimson-tinge to it. Greg Woods has this story about the CougsFirst show at the Convention Center. It starts at 3 p.m. and includes a series of events aimed at getting alums to connect once more. … Isaac Jones wasn’t out of the NBA long. He signed with Detroit on Thursday. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, sure, the Cougs are off but that doesn’t mean we can’t pass along regional picks. We do, starting with Jon Wilner’s in the S-R. And then adding John Canzano’s from his website. … We link this Athletic story on James Madison for one reason. The Dukes are next on the WSU schedule. … And this story because John Mateer learned recently not every college town is like Pullman. … Putting together a balanced nonconference schedule is not easy for Boise State. … Topping the Broncos earned Fresno State Matt Entz a $50,000 bonus.  

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

– Northwestern at No. 20 USC (6 p.m. tonight, Fox): A day early? At least the Trojans didn’t have to travel. That excuse can’t be used.

– Colorado at West Virginia (9 a.m., TNT): West Virginia will start a freshman quarterback as well against the Buffs. He’s just played more than Colorado’s Julian Lewis.

– No. 6 Oregon at Iowa (12:30 p.m., CBS): Kinnick Stadium can be a nightmare for visiting teams. And it’s pretty easy to document it. … The Hawkeye offense is limited somewhat but it is big and physical up front.

– Kansas at Arizona (12:30, ESPN2): It’s homecoming in Tucson as both teams try to earn bowl eligibility.

– No. 24 Washington at Wisconsin (1:30, Big Ten): The Badgers will enter Saturday’s game knowing their head coach will be back next season. Wonder how the fans will react to that? … Do we have Husky-themed stories? Yes we do. We also can link this story about a freshman safety we linked yesterday when it was on the Times site. It is on the S-R’s today.

– Stanford at North Carolina (1:30, The CW): The Cardinal will have a new quarterback and, maybe, a little hope as they travel to Chapel Hill.

– Texas State at Louisiana (2, ESPN+): The Bobcats are determined to finish strong in their final non-Pac-12 season.

– California at No. 14 Louisville (4, ESPN2): The Bears believe it will take a fundamentally sound effort to upset the Cardinals.

– Nevada at Utah State (4:30, CBS Sports): The Aggies have won their last six home games.

– Nebraska at UCLA (6, Fox): One Bruin linebacker is back playing and he couldn’t be happier.

– UNLV at Colorado State (6:30, FS1): Not sure how I deleted this game from earlier but I did. We do have stories to pass along though.

– Sam Houston at Oregon State (7, The CW): Want a name? Any name to fill the open head coaching spot? How about the unemployed former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst. … Linebacker Skyler Thomas may be the best player on the Beavers’ roster.

– San Diego State at Hawaii (8, CBS Sports): The Aztecs are across the ocean today but their home attendance is in the news.

• In basketball news, Wilner takes a deep dive into the Big 12’s broadcast partners. There are almost as many of them as there are teams in the far-flung conference. … The Washington men started slowly but downed Denver 84-70. … EWU is next up for Colorado. … Arizona and its star Jaden Bradley is not happy with the point-guard award list. … The Colorado women opened their season with a win over New Mexico. … Stanford handled Santa Clara. … Third-ranked UCLA played much better against UC Santa Barbara. … Arizona topped UC Riverside by three. … In other news, we can pass along this sad story from UW, who lost a women’s soccer player to cancer this week.

Gonzaga: Yes, the Zags play Saturday night in the Arena. And Jim Meehan has a preview of the game which also looks ahead to other nonconference matchups to come. The main part of his story, however, is a conversation with an Oklahoma beat writer. … But our favorite today is from Theo Lawson, who examines the experience GU’s roster exhibits. It’s not an aberration, of course, with NIL funds allowing athletes to stay in the college sport longer, but the depth of the Zags’ age is a bit unusual, even with that in mind.

EWU: The Eagles’ football trips to the Montana schools recently haven’t been as productive as they would have liked. Dan Thompson has a look at how they have done in preparation for Saturday’s game in Missoula. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, one Griz player is doing double duty. … Northern Colorado is trying to change up things. … Idaho State would like to repeat what it did last week. … Sacramento State is in Portland to face the Vikings. … In basketball news, Idaho State ground-out a season-opening win at home. … Sacramento State’s new facility is an improvement.

Idaho: UC Davis was ranked sixth last week when it hosted, and lost, to Idaho State 38-36. That loss, to the unranked Bengals, put the Aggies’ FCS playoff hopes in a bit of jeopardy. Which means Davis will bring an 11th-ranking and some anger into the Kibbie Dome on Saturday. They’ll be met by an Idaho squad that has gotten healthier – and has some momentum coming off consecutive wins over Portland State and Northern Arizona. Peter Harriman has this preview.

Preps: The State football playoffs are set. And kick off tonight. Dave Nichols preps you for the prep games with this feature on the two Graham brothers, Nate and John, who have led Gonzaga Prep and Cheney High, respectively, into the postseason. The two are sons of legendary former Reardan coach Dan Graham. … Dave also has a preview of the weekend’s games featuring local schools. … Cheryl Nichols has the roundup of Thursday night’s playoff action in other sports.

Mariners: Are there options at third base available for the M’s in the free agent market? Besides Eugenio Suárez, I mean? Ryan Divish looks into that.

Sounders: If you want to watch the winner-take-all match with Minnesota on Saturday (1 p.m.), paying AppleTV is the best bet. But there are other alternatives.

Seahawks: He can say now he wasn’t worried about being traded. The deadline has passed. But Riq Woolen had to bite a few nails, right? … The new guy better be ready quickly. Sam Darnold and the Hawks’ offense can use his skills. … The rookies are playing well.

Kraken: If you are a Chiefs’ fan, you probably already know all the particulars contained in this story about Berkly Catton and the ticking clock he has with Seattle. After all, if the Kraken decide he needs more seasoning, he’s headed back to Spokane.

Reign: Seattle played its final regular season match in Orlando a week ago. The Reign stayed there this week as well. Why? Their playoff opener is against the same Pride.

Sonics: Remember Spencer Haywood? I do. And I also remember how he changed the face of professional basketball with a lawsuit. The 76-year-old would like the NBA to recognize that contribution in some way before he dies.

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• Happy birthday Linda. Hope you have a great day. And, to everyone else, have a great Friday as well. Until later …