Going deep on first down
OK, we start today – and a little late, I apologize for that, but I was trying to run down the Rebekah Noble note lower in this post – with a link to Glenn Kasses' Cougar blog – and not because he has my name in the first paragraph!
No, because he asks a good question about the Cougs' opener with Auburn, and I want to see what people think. Really. Putting my name in the first graph, that's gravy. By the way, my guess: First play.
The Seattle Times' Bud Withers is in Pullman and he examines the WSU injury situation. There is one line in his story that stood out to me. "…when an all-league first-team player gets hurt, WSU may be dropping down to a backup who was honorable mention in the Greater Spokane League." Who is the honorable mention All-GSL guy he's talking about? I couldn't find a name later in the story. If you know, let me know.
Tacoma's Todd Milles also looks at the injury situation, which brings up a point.
It seems over the years, if the Cougars stay relatively injury free, they challenge in the Pac-10. Too many nicks, and the close games are lost. In other words, most seasons, WSU front-line players can play with anyone. But the Cougs just don't seem to have the depth the USCs and the UOs of the conference have. Which doesn't bode well for 2006.
UPDATE: The Vancouver Columbian did a story today on tight end Cody Boyd.
Switching gears, Rebekah Noble ran a 2 minute, 5.56 second 800 meters Wednesday, fast enough to qualify for Friday's final at the World Junior Track Championships in Beijing. Noble, a Rogers High graduate and a sophomore at the University of Oregon, finished third in her semifinal heat but had the fifth-fastest time overall. University of Florida freshman Shannon Leinhart failed to qualify for the final, running 2:07.67.
Now back to football. Dave Trimmer summarizes EWU's Tuesday's practice here and Jim Meehan has some Idaho stuff here, along with a couple of basketball notes.
UPDATE: Dave has posted a note about Wednesday's practice.
On the Husky front, let's start in Tacoma, where the TNT's Don Ruiz writes about the offensive line; Michael Ko of the Times writes about the return of Marlon Wood; in Everett, Mike Allende profiles kicker Michael Braunstein and blogs about, well this and that.
Sort of like what's above. We'll be back later with Seahawk stuff and, I promise, a Mariners' rant. Plus maybe something on the Shock.