A Grip on Sports: The Cougars move one step closer to a bowl bid, though that last one won’t be easy to scale
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Watching a Saturday of college football these days seems designed to highlight the great divide in the sport. On one hand, every game featuring a school with a number before their name is breathlessly described as some sort of playoff elimination game. The rest? Bowls are mentioned. Maybe.
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• Oh, wait. There is a third option. Ohio State. The defending champions are playing on such a high level these days as to be almost ignored. But have no worries. The Buckeyes will re-appear to the nation’s view Tuesday, when the top team in the latest College Football Playoff rankings are announced. And again later this month when they try to solve their issues with that “school up north.”
The rest of the 135 FBS schools? Either they are in the CFP conversation or they’re not.
Washington State is in the latter group, which is just fine considered the position the Cougars are in, vis-à-vis their peers across the country. Still in limbo, so to speak, with the birth of the new-look Pac-12 less than a year away. A new coach. New players. And one win from a bowl berth with two games to play.
Which is just fine considering all the words in the paragraph above.
This is how Jon Wilner saw the Cougs place in the sun after Saturday’s 28-3 win over visiting Louisiana Tech. Writing in his Saturday Night Five column in the Mercury News, Wilner finished up with this:
“Given the circumstances in Pullman, with the new coaching staff and overhauled roster and Independent schedule, a postseason berth – even with a 6-6 record – would make the season a resounding success.”
No truer words have ever been written.
Ensuring a bowl berth will be difficult next Saturday, when WSU flies across the country to play a ranked team for the third time this season. It’s back to Virginia, where 9-1 James Madison awaits in Harrisonburg.
And the final chance? In Pullman, Nov. 29, when Oregon State comes to town.
It will be the second time the two Pac-12 schools have met this season. And the second time they will face off with the Beavers fresh off a revitalizing bye week.
Where do Coug fans file their complaints about this largely overlooked faux pas?
In the first contest, the bye played a role in the Beavs’ 10-7 win. Playing their fourth consecutive week, three of them on the road, two against teams ranked in the top 20, Washington State wore down in the second half.
On Nov. 29, the Cougars will be coming off another daunting 5,000-mile road trip – I’ve made it before and it’s not easy to get to the Shenandoah Valley from the Palouse – having faced the most physical team in the Group of Five.
The Beavers? An extra few days dissecting the Coug offense and defense before the short trip across the mountains.
It would be so in character for Jimmy Rogers’ team to push the Dukes to the brink this Saturday. To have that bowl berth within their grasp. Similar performances have highlighted the Cougars’ first two contests east of the Mississippi. Maybe this time they’ll break through. Make the finale against the Beavs immaterial.
And become, for a few hours at least, the top story on SportsCenter.
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WSU: Two positive factors emerged above all of the good vibes in the relatively easy home win Saturday. The offense line welcomed back two injured starters. And the defense once again shut down the visiting team. Just those two items alone would be enough to give the faithful reason to rise from their Gesa Field seats and applaud. But there were more, all of which Greg Woods covers in his analysis of the Cougars’ fifth victory. … Greg also worked with the folks in the office on this recap with highlights. … Before this one was over, Greg had this story on receiver Devin Ellison leaving the team. … Colton Clark put together the difference makers. … Tyler Tjomsland was on the sidelines for this photo gallery. … We knew Washington State’s Solomon Kipchoge and Rosemary Longisa were headed to the NCAA cross country championship, after each won in their respective Regional races Friday. What we found out Saturday is the men’s and women’s teams each earned at-large invitations as well. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we linked Wilner’s Mercury News mailbag yesterday. It is on the S-R site today. … We also linked his Saturday Night Five column above and do so again here. … John Canzano shared some thoughts before the games kicked off yesterday. … There were winners and losers this week. As always.
• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, with the latest Associated Press rankings and listed chronologically. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.
– Arizona 30, Cincinnati 24: The Wildcats came up with their biggest win of the season.
– Tulsa 31, Oregon State 14: The Beavers lost but a star may have been born.
– Arizona State 25, West Virginia 23: The Sun Devils came up with a tight win and Kenny Dillingham expressed how tightly he was bound to the school.
– New Mexico 20, Colorado State 17: The Rams came up just short in their upset bid.
– No. 17 USC 26, Iowa 21: Rain in Southern California? Yep. Though it was not enough to stop the Trojans. Neither were the Hawkeyes.
– Texas State 41, Southern Mississippi 14: The Bobcats earned their first conference win.
– No. 15 Utah 55, Baylor 28: The Utes needed a spark. And Byrd Ficklin stepped up.
– Washington 49, Purdue 13: The Huskies did what was expected. They dominated. Even with the backdrop of the speculation about their coach’s travel plans.
– UNLV 29, Utah State 26 (2OT): Special teams can decide outcomes. They did in this one.
– No. 1 Ohio State 48, UCLA 10: The Bruins were in over their head. And did not even have their starting quarterback available.
– San Diego State 17, Boise State 7: Canzano was in Snapdragon last night to watch the Aztec defense dominate a beat-up Boise squad in a driving rain.
– Fresno State 24, Wyoming 3: It rained in Fresno as well but it also did not slow the Bulldogs.
• In basketball news, the eighth-ranked USC women fell to second-ranked South Carolina.
Gonzaga: The hard-fought win in Tempe featured a homecoming for former Sun Devil Adam Miller. The wing started slowly but came through in the second half. That, and Mark Few’s response to it, is the focus of Theo Lawson’s usual rewind of the contest.
Idaho: The Vandals were this close to handing Sacramento State a crushing home loss. But the Hornets converted two fourth downs – one of 12 yards – on their final drive and scored the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds remaining to earn the 23-20 decision. … In basketball news, the Vandal men led by 10 at halftime but fell 75-67 at UC San Diego while the women posted a four-point victory at home against Southern Utah.
EWU: Coming in to his team’s game at Roos Field, Northern Colorado coach Ed Lamb worried his team was broken. And, being this is college football, there was no way the Eagles were going to help them fix it. They didn’t. Especially, the Eastern secondary. They shined in the 27-7 victory, EWU’s fifth of the season. Dan Thompson has this game story and a notebook focused on the seniors who made their final appearance on the red turf. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, No. 3 Montana State started slowly but put it together to race past visiting ninth-ranked UC Davis. … Second-ranked Montana pounded host Portland State and will meet the Bobcats with the conference title on the line. … In basketball news, the Montana State men lost at the buzzer against host Boise State. … The Montana women lost their third consecutive game.
Whitworth: All the Pirates needed to do was top visiting Puget Sound on Saturday to earn the Northwest Conference title and the automatic NCAA Division III playoff berth that comes with it. They accomplished that and more in a 59-31 victory. Ethan Myers has the game story.
Preps: It’s been an efficient, impressive and undefeated season for Gonzaga Prep thus far, culminated Saturday in the Bullpups’ 42-0 romp over Curtis in the State 4A football playoffs. Luke Pickett has the coverage. … West Valley’s long winning streak came to an end at Lynden, 28-14. That leads off the long roundup of other State playoff action. … Greg Lee was at the Polo Grounds yesterday to cover the Nike Cross Regional. Mead’s boys finished third, one point from a national qualifying second-place spot. They may still earn a national berth as an at-large entrant.
Chiefs: The second road game on back-to-back nights are tough no matter what. That helps explain Spokane’s 7-1 loss to the Kelowna Rockets.
Zephyr: The Dallas Trinity came into Spokane on a four-match skid. But they scored first and went on to hand the Zephyr another loss, this one 2-0 at ONE Spokane Stadium.
Seahawks: There was sad news for Hawk fans Saturday on the eve of the team’s showdown at the Rams. Hall of Fame safety Kenny Easley died at age 66. … Just down the road from where Easley attended college at UCLA, Seattle will try to move atop the NFC West by themselves this afternoon. Dave Boling explains why this is the most-important game yet for Mike Macdonald in his short stint as Seahawks coach. … There is more to share, not only on Easley’s death but on today’s game in SoFi Stadium.
Kraken: With the starting goalkeeper injured, it was up sot his backup to help Seattle earn a win over the Sharks.
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• Sorry for the truncated nature of today’s report. This Sunday is packed. So packed, in fact, I’m pretty sure there will be no time to watch RedZone. Until later …