Grip on Sports: As years rank, this one is pretty much on the top of the list
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Woke up this morning and realized something I should have realized long ago: There are three area teams in football and basketball ranked in the top 10 nationally. That’s pretty amazing. Read on.
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• It’s something that’s banged around in the back of my head for a while now, but it clarified itself when I was reading about the Associated Press basketball poll today.
There is Gonzaga, firmly entrenched in the No. 3 spot, just behind Duke and Kansas, two of the royalty of the sports since the days of Wilt Chamberlain and Dick Groat.
Flip the page and there are the Cougars, ranked eighth nationally in the AP football poll, ahead of perennial powers Ohio State and LSU and just behind such names as Oklahoma, Georgia, Michigan and Notre Dame.
On another level, but just as impressive, there is Eastern Washington, ranked third nationally by the FCS football coaches. Of course, one of the Eagles’ two defeats this season came in Pullman, which is one of those “good losses” folks talk about all the time.
Between those three schools, I’m guessing there are about 50,000 alums living in the Spokane area but the number could be higher. That’s just the figure I came up with counting sweatshirts in line at Costco yesterday.
For the next few days every one of those folks should walk around town with a smile on their face as wide as the Spokane River. The national acknowledgement of their school’s success may not last, but for now, it’s a good time to wear your colors with pride. And compliment your neighbor for their school’s success as well. That’s a Spokane thing too.
• Hey, we didn’t even mention Whitworth. The Pirates’ football team is undefeated and will host an NCAA Division III playoff game Saturday. The Whits are ranked 11th in one national poll.
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WSU: The regular season is winding down with the Cougars playing two schools that handed them losses last season. This week’s foe, Arizona, put up almost 60 on the Washington State defense. In his weekly media availability, Mike Leach explained how that happened. Theo Lawson has the story. … Theo also has a story on Gardner Minshew, his mustache and Burt Reynolds. … There is also this piece from Theo on last Saturday’s biggest play as well as his first look at the Wildcats. … Theo joined Larry Weir for the most recent Press Box pod. … Speaking of the AP basketball poll – and we did above – Theo is a voter. … Back to football, Arizona is happy to be coming off a bye before playing the Cougars.
Elsewhere in the Pac-12, as we get closer to the bowl season, the conference’s asinine rule about five-win teams doesn’t look as if it will matter. … Another of Chris Petersen’s former assistants, Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, heads to Washington to face his mentor. … Oregon finishes off the home season with an Arizona State team fighting for a spot in the Pac-12 title game. … Late last night a Denver TV station reported on Twitter that Colorado had decided to part ways with coach Mike MacIntyre at the end of the season. The Buffs, who have lost their last five games, host Utah this Saturday. The Utes are trying to win the South for the first time. … The self-titled Big Game hasn’t been recently, with Stanford having won eight consecutive times in the rivalry with California. … UCLA and USC meet in a game that really does pit former high school teammates against one another. There are a couple Southern California Catholic high schools that have supplied about two dozen players to both schools combined. … In basketball last night, Washington was able to hold off visiting San Diego by three.
Gonzaga: Never look a gift horse in the mouth and never criticize anyone for advertising in the newspaper. John Blanchette may not be critical, but he does point out the oddity of Santa Clara University buying a full-page ad in the S-R today. … Jim Meehan has nothing that strange, but he does have the news Rui Hachimura was named the WCC player of the week and a story on the basketball poll. … USF won easily yesterday while USD was giving UW all it could handle. … BYU is in a quandary over the Nick Emery punishment. … Pacific will play its first home game.
EWU: It was confirmed yesterday former Eagle Cooper Kupp has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the NFL season. … Around the Big Sky, the rivalry between Montana and Montana State will be as heated as usual this weekend. … Idaho State just didn’t get it done against Cal Poly. … Northern Colorado won just two games this season.
Whitworth: The Pirates dominated the Northwest Conference football awards.
Chiefs: Riley Woods is the WHL player of the week. … Portland has won five consecutive games.
Seahawks: As the Packers come to town, the Hawks are running out of time to make a run toward the playoffs. The loss to the Rams didn’t help.
Mariners: The crud hit the fan yesterday when recently fired high performance coach Lorena Martin accused the leaders of the franchise of racism in their dealings with Latino players.
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• Yes, these are good times in Washington State football. But it was just 10 years ago the Cougars were as low as low could be. In fact, the worst loss in school history came just over a decade ago. We will link a story later this week about that loss and how the players who participated are amazed and excited to watch WSU’s rise over the past few years. Until later …