Bloglander

Washington State's 20 seniors went out on a winning note. Eastern Washington came up short at home, as, inexplicably, did the Seahawks. Idaho lost a game and likely its senior leader, and Whitworth joined the Cougars in celebrating a quarterback milestone.


COUGS KEEP APPLE CUP RELEVANT
Luke Falk got "giveth, then taketh away" backward Saturday at Martin Stadium: his off-target throw late in the third quarter turned into Bobby Okereke's 52-yard pick-six, giving Stanford a 21-17 lead. But Falk, playing in his final home game, redeemed himself in the fourth quarter, orchestrating a masterful 11-play, 95-yard drive, capped by a 11-yard pass to Jamire Calvin that proved to be the game-winner in Washington State's gutsy 24-21 victory over the then-No. 21 Cardinal, as the Cougs improved to 8-2, 5-2 in Pac-12 play, knocked Stanford (6-3, 5-2) out of first place in the North Division, and finished 7-0 at home for the first time in school history.

Falk completed 34 of 48 passes for three touchdowns, and his 337-yard effort gave him 13,801 passing yards in his career, pushing him past Oregon State's Sean Mannion into first place all-time in the Pac-12.

The Cougars' defense came up huge against Stanford's Bryce Love, who entered Saturday averaging nearly 200 yards per game; Love raced 52 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter, but on his other 15 carries, a swarming WSU defense held him to just 17 yards.
The Cougs, who jumped six places to No. 19 in this week's AP top 25 poll,  hit the road for their last two regular-season games, starting Saturday at Utah (5-4, 2-4), followed by the Apple Cup in Seattle on Nov. 25, with the real possibility of the North Division title at stake.

Two weeks ago, Washington State responded to a resounding defeat on the road (37-3 at Cal) with an impressive victory at home (28-0 over Colorado).

Cougar fans hope they duplicate that narrative Saturday afternoon at Martin Stadium (12:30 pm; KAYU 28, KXLY 920 AM) against No. 21 Stanford in the final home game for 20 seniors: wide receivers Robert Lewis and C.J. Dimry, running backs Jamal Morrow and Gerard Wicks, offensive linemen Cody O'Connell, B.J. Salmonson and Cole Madison, defensive linemen Daniel Ekuale and Garrett McBroom, linebackers Isaac Dotson, Frankie Luvu, Nate DeRider, Dylan Hanser and Peyton Pelluer, cornerback Marcellus Pippins, safety Robert Taylor, nickel back Kirkland Parker, punter Mitchell Cox and kicker Erik Powell.

Oh, and quarterback Luke Falk.

Falk was uncharacteristically ineffective in the first half last Saturday night at Arizona, completing 13 of 23 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, throwing his final pass with a little less than six minutes left in the second quarter and the Cougs trailing 17-7.  With the Wildcats up 20-7, head coach Mike Leach opted to go with sophomore QB Tyler Hilinski, who drove WSU downfield, completing seven of eight passes for 59 yards and capping the scoring drive himself with a six-yard run. When the Cougs lined up for the first snap of the second half trailing 23-14, it was Hilinski, not Falk, under center, and WSU's all-time leader in nearly every meaningful passing statistic would be a spectator for the rest of the game.

With the Cougs unable to mount even a semblance of a ground game (17 rushes for 51 yards; meanwhile, Arizona shredded the WSU defense for 310 yards on 34 carries), Hilinski threw the ball all over the yard in the second half. Some of his numbers were impressive — 509 yards on 45-of-61 passing, with two touchdowns through the air and two more on the ground; he even guided the Cougs to a 27-23 lead early in the third quarter.

The weekend's sports action was kind of insane, thanks to unexpected blowouts (ouch, Cougs!), enthralling last-minute comebacks (we see you, Seahawks), and World Series games that make a mockery of the idea that baseball is boring. Here's what you need to know to chat around the water cooler at work today.

TROUBLE IN PULLMAN
Losing to Arizona in Tucson is anything but embarrassing. The Wildcats are one of the hottest teams in the Pac-12 — if not the entire country — right now, thanks to quarterback Khalil Tate's emergence as an offensive force. So Washington State fans shouldn't be too forlorn over going down 58-37 on Saturday night as Tate ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, and threw for 275 yards and two more scores.

What Coug fans should be worried about is how the win went down. The defense gave up 585 yards and gave them up in big chunks; the Cougs lost despite dominating the time of possession and gaining 646 yards themselves. And WSU coach Mike Leach, the alleged genius, introduced a quarterback controversy when he inserted backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who rallied the team, throwing for more than 500 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for two more scores, but also chucked four interceptions, including a vital pick-six in the fourth quarter that essentially ended any hopes for a win. The loss dropped the Cougs to No. 25 in the new AP poll.

Which Washington State team will show up in Tucson?

The one that rolled undefeated through the season's first six games, five at home (though wins over Boise State and USC in Pullman were close calls) and bounced back from its first loss with a dominant performance last Saturday against Colorado?

Or the one that was outplayed, outcoached, outschemed and outclassed in its one real test away from home, a 37-3 humbling at Cal two weeks ago? Last Saturday in Berkeley, Arizona hung 45 points on that Bears team in a one-point overtime win, the Wildcats' third straight in the Pac-12, with two on the road (Colorado, Cal) and one at home (UCLA).

It may not matter on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium (6:30 pm; Pac-12 Network, KXLY 920 AM) if Khalil Tate keeps playing at a superhuman level.

Arizona's surprising resurgence — the Wildcats, thought to be Pac-12 South cellar-dwellers, are 5-2, 3-1 in conference play — has been led by Tate, who's emerged in his sophomore season as the nation's top dual-threat quarterback, and it's not particularly close.

Arguably the closest thing that college football has seen to Michael Vick since his glory days at Virginia Tech almost two decades ago, Tate has gone through conference defenses like a hot knife through butter in October, racking up three consecutive Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week awards. That hadn't happened in nearly 30 years, since 1988 when the player was USC quarterback Rodney Peete and the conference was the Pac-10.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Tate's numbers are eye-popping: since taking over midway through the first quarter for injured starter Brandon Dawkins in Boulder three weeks ago, he's struck for 1,162 yards in less than three full games; 694 of those have come on the ground, including video-game numbers against the Buffaloes — 14 carries for 327 yards (23.4 yards per), a Football Bowl Subdivision record for a quarterback, and four touchdowns, on runs of 58, 28, 47 and 75 yards. He threw 13 passes, completing 12.

Washington State bounced back strong in Pullman after a week to forget, Eastern Washington's Big Sky winning streak ended at 12 at the hands of a new conference power, Idaho absorbed a big road loss and received a big check, and Whitworth got a major boost from its returning star, if only for a half. The Seahawks rode a stout defense and Russell Wilson's strong right arm to victory in New Jersey. Your Monday Morning Placekicker:


COUGARS MAKE A STATEMENT AGAINST COLORADO
Washington State's defense, shredded in last Friday's 37-3 loss at Cal that knocked the Cougars from the unbeaten ranks, made a powerful statement Saturday night at soggy, windy and chilly Martin Stadium: We're back.

WSU, which remains No. 15 in the AP Top 25 poll, pitched its second shutout of the season and first in the Pac-12 since 1994, methodically dismantling Colorado 28-0.

The Cougs, who bounced back from a week that saw them drilled 37-3 in Berkeley, then lose longtime athletic director Bill Moos to Nebraska, played without leading receiver Tavares Martin Jr., suspended after the Cal game. None of that mattered Saturday at Homecoming; WSU simply outclassed the Buffaloes. The numbers tell the tale: The Cougs outgained Colorado 406 yards to 174, including 194-80 on the ground and 212-94 in the air, as Luke Falk (17 of 34, 197 yards; 9 carries for 41 yards) shrugged off the less-than-ideal conditions, tossing scoring passes to Brandon Arconado and true freshmen Tay Martin and Renard Bell. Falk's 111th touchdown pass leaves him just five shy of Matt Barkley's Pac-12 career record.

"That was the worst offensive performance we've had since I've been a coach here," said Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre. "Mainly, they just whipped us." Mike Leach's succinct postgame assessment of his Cougars, compared to the Cal game? "Less pathetic."

Well, no one saw that coming.

That was the case last Friday night, when Washington State was not just routed but exposed in Berkeley, definitively knocked from the unbeaten ranks in a 37-3 loss that ranked with the worst defeats the Cougars have suffered in 42 trips to Memorial Stadium since 1924.

The numbers seemed fictional, but they were all too real: Luke Falk was sacked nine times and threw five interceptions, both career highs, and more than half of the Cougars' 13 possessions ended in turnovers: seven, to be exact. WSU saw two touchdowns — including freshman Renard Bell's return of the opening kickoff — erased due to penalties, averaged less than a yard per rush on 26 attempts, and was a woeful 4-for-17 on third down.

Cal had only beaten one Top 10 team in Berkeley in the past 40 years, but the Golden Bears did just about everything right against a WSU team that was outplayed, outschemed and outcoached, making a clear statement: We don't deserve to be ranked No. 8 in the nation.

And it was no less true two days later, when Bill Moos, WSU athletic director for 7½ years, with deep connections to Pullman in particular and the Pac-12 in general, bolted to become athletic director at Nebraska — a school where football is, and always will be, king — pulling up roots and leaving in the middle of football season for a school and a conference (the 14-team Big Ten) he lacks any ties to. Moos' base salary in Lincoln is $1 million per year, more than twice what he was making at Washington State.

In the space of less than a week, elements of doubt and uncertainty have crept into WSU's football program and athletic department. A 6-0 start that had Cougar fans dreaming big vanished, and coupled with the Huskies' debacle in the desert the following night, some of the shine — unrealistic though it may have been, in retrospect — is off the Apple Cup.

And there's a Colorado team coming to Martin Stadium on Saturday night, aka Homecoming (7:45 pm; ESPN, KXLY 920 AM) that rallied in the final minutes for an emotional win on the road — even if it was just Corvallis.

A couple of years ago, the Gonzaga women's basketball team went on a spirited run in the NCAA Tournament, taking two games on the road against Top 20 teams (George Washington and Oregon State) to earn a spot in the 2015 Spokane Regional. They battled powerhouse Tennessee into overtime before succumbing to the Vols 73-69.

With any luck, the Gonzaga women will find their way back to March Madness this upcoming season, because the NCAA Tournament is coming back to the Spokane Arena on March 24 and 26, 2018. The regional hosts three games over the two days, with the team making it out alive heading to the women's Final Four in Columbus, Ohio.

Whether or not Spokane's local squad represents, the regional guarantees excellent action from some of the best teams in the country, battling in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds. And you can get a jump on tickets right now with a special deal today through Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Tickets are just $50 for all three games for adults, and $35 for youth/senior tickets, available through this TicketsWest site or by calling 800-325-SEAT. You'll need to use the promotional code SPORTS to get access for the tickets.

As a bonus, everyone who buys tickets to the women's regional in 2018 will be placed on a priority waiting list to have the first crack at buying tickets in 2020 for the men's first- and second-round games coming to the Spokane Arena.

It was one ugly weekend for fans of the region's top-tier college football teams, with both Top 10-ranked Washington State and Washington falling in huge upsets, and Idaho blowing a big lead at home. At least Eastern Washington seems to have righted the ship after early-season travails. Let's break it down:

NOT EXACTLY COUGIN' IT, BUT REAL BAD
Correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm a relatively new transplant to the area, but "Cougin' it" means losing a game in the last minutes in a painful way that defies explanation, correct? So I guess we'll call what happened in Berkeley on Friday night as a good, old-fashioned ass-kicking, with the Cougs going down to the Cal Bears, 37-3.

Yes, 37-3.

A victory tonight in Berkeley would keep undefeated Washington State, the nation's No. 8 team, on the path to a potentially epic Apple Cup matchup. But the Cougars could face an unanticipated obstacle in the nationally televised Pac-12 North matchup with Cal at Memorial Stadium (7:30 pm; ESPN, KXLY 920 AM); poor air quality in the Bay Area resulting from Northern California's devastating wildfires.

After passing the season's first test away from home with flying colors (at least in the second half) in last Saturday's 33-10 win in Eugene, the Cougars (6-0, 3-0) play the second of five road games in their final seven contests; 3-3 Cal — which started promisingly, with non-conference wins at North Carolina and home against Mississippi under first-year head coach Justin Wilcox —  has lost all three of its games in the Pac by increasing margins and comes off a 38-7 beatdown at Washington last Saturday night, particularly notable for the Golden Bears' rushing total: minus 40 yards.

That's music to the ears of a Cougars defense that held the Ducks (who have a much better running game than Cal) to a paltry 2.9 yards per rush and just six first downs on the ground.

The Bears, who have surrendered an average of nearly 38 points per game in their three conference losses, couldn't do much to stop the Huskies on the ground or in the air, and it's hard to see how they slow down the Cougars, especially senior quarterback Luke Falk, who continued his assault on the Pac-12 record books in Eugene, throwing for three TDs, good for 19 this season (also the number of times he's been sacked) and 108 in his career, second in the conference all-time. USC's Matt Barkley holds the record of 116.

Eastern fans will see a familiar face on Cal's sidelines: longtime Eagles coach Beau Baldwin, who in his first year as the Bears' offensive coordinator and running backs coach, has yet to light a fire under the unit: Cal's offense resides at or near the bottom of the Pac-12 in nearly every offensive category. The Bears don't look likely to break out of their offensive doldrums against an Alex Grinch-coordinated WSU defense that's at or near the top in nearly every respective category.

And Greater Spokane League fans will see a familiar face on the Cal defense: inside linebacker Evan Weaver, who starred at Gonzaga Prep. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound sophomore has appeared in all six games, starting three, and led the Bears last week at Washington with six tackles, two for losses.

Last November, Falk strafed Cal for 373 yards and five TDs as the Cougars routed the Bears 56-21 at Martin Stadium, only their second victory in a dozen games vs. Cal, both in the Mike Leach era.

Rafael Devers, the 20-year-old Red Sox rookie third baseman who belted a two-run homer Sunday as Boston (temporarily) stayed alive in Game 3 of the American League Division Series against Houston, then hit an inside-the-park solo homer in the ninth inning of today's series-clinching Game 4, is the third-youngest Red Sox player to appear in the postseason.

The youngest? Ken Brett, the second of the four baseball-playing Brett brothers — John, Ken, Bobby and George — who pitched for the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series, tossing 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief against the St. Louis Cardinals, and at age 19 became the youngest player to pitch in a World Series game.

George, the youngest Brett brother, is a first-ballot Hall of Fame third baseman who spent his entire 21-year career with the Kansas City Royals. You might be more familiar with Bobby as a longtime Spokane resident and owner of the Spokane Indians and Spokane Chiefs.

Ken, a first-round pick out of El Segundo (California) High School in 1966, less than 10 months before making his major-league debut in the middle of a torrid, four-team American League pennant race, pitched in relief in Games 4 and 7 of the World Series vs. St. Louis.

Known as "Kemer," Brett was far from a flash in the pan, pitching three more seasons in Boston and playing for the Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Twins, Dodgers and Royals over the course of a 14-year major league career; he was George's teammate in Kansas City for the final two seasons.