A Grip on Sports: We’re not always happy but we do love to go a-wandering around the world of college football

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Summer is about over, isn’t it? Not the calendar season, which runs a few more weeks. The freedom season. School is back in session all over the nation, though our little corner of it is slow to start in that regard. But before summer’s autonomy fades, we should wander a bit, don’t you think?

•••••••

• Not through the mountains or forests, exclusively. Though those places are on our map today. So are downtowns and coastlines and wheat fields. We will wander around the world of college football without ever leaving our chair.

• We start in Pullman, home of the Cougs and a place where we’ve always felt health is more important than just about any spot on the West Coast. A good indicator of the Cougars’ football success is how many games are lost to injury among the players on the school’s depth chart. That’s usually been more important on the defensive side of the ball.

That’s why we are posting a red-flag warning today. Coach Jake Dickert said Monday starting cornerback Jamorri Colson will miss significant time with an undisclosed injury. That news comes with one caveat, however. The position he plays has turned into one of the deepest on the WSU roster under Dickert.

Last year’s corner group featured a couple of NFL-ready guys. They didn’t get through the year unscathed. And yet the Cougars weathered the storm because relatively unknown backups, including Colson, stepped in and played well.

This season’s fill-in lottery lands on Ethan O’Connor, a redshirt freshman who performed well in camp. He’ll start in Colson’s spot Saturday.

• Being a college football player has always been a pretty pressure-packed profession. It is even more so these days. The increased burden includes playing well not just for yourself or mom and dad and the folks at home. Not just for your teammates and classmates and all the alums out there. The coaches. The trainers. That 8-year-old who worships the ground you walk on.

Nowadays, your performance may just determine the future of the entire university’s athletic program. Is that fair?

Heck, no. But think of this. When Washington State lost 24-17 to Portland State to open the 2015 season, one would have thought the sky was falling. That Mike Leach was a failure. That the team had no business wearing the crimson and gray. It was ugly. It was also one game.

WSU finished that season with nine wins. Went on to one of the better four-year stretches in school history, culminated with an 11-2 season in 2018.

There is more riding on this Saturday’s PSU matchup, though. The football team that can’t afford a slip. It’s important to the school itself. The purgatorial nature of the next two seasons ensures such.

The Cougars, along with Oregon State, need to attract eyeballs to The CW broadcasts. Win over the hearts and minds of football fans. Show its Power 5-or-4-or-Whatever-The-Number-Is-Now nature. Position itself for the future. A loss to the Vikings? At home? In the first CW Pac-12 game ever? It undermines that. Puts more weight on the Texas Tech game. The Apple Cup. On every week.

Talk about pressure. Undeserved pressure, sure. But it’s there.

• There is pressure in Cheney as well. You know how long it’s been since the Eagles strung together three consecutive losing seasons, something possible this year? The last time it happened, George Bush was president. Now, not that one. The elder one. Seems like ancient history, doesn’t it?

If Aaron Best’s team doesn’t turn it around this season, starting Saturday with a visit from another FCS school, Monmouth, then his coaching tenure could pass into history as well.

Ya, that’s a different type of pressure. And it has wandered into Cheney.

• More than 2,700 football players entered the NCAA’s transfer portal after last season, each after a fresh start, with the emphasis on the word “start.” If you took the trouble of relocating, earning less playing time would seem less than ideal.

But it happens. And it looked for much of preseason, that fate would befall former Idaho quarterback Gevani McCoy. McCoy left Moscow after two productive FCS years. His landing spot? Oregon State. The word out of Corvallis the first few weeks of camp? McCoy was not atop the depth chart. Until he was.

A late surge of good play earned the junior the nod as the Beavers’ starter against Idaho State.

•••

WSU: We shared the news about starting cornerback Jamorri Colson’s injury above. And linked Greg Woods’ story. We do it again here just so you don’t have to scroll up if you missed it. … Greg also has his first look at Portland State. … One more story from Greg. It’s about the depth chart Washington State released Monday. And all the “Ors” listed. Part of Leach’s legacy? … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner delves into the Big Ten’s football tiebreaker rules on the Mercury News website. What a mess. But it’s just another piece of evidence mega-conferences should not exist. … John Canzano waxes poetically about summers past then delves into questions in his Monday Mailbag. … Yes, Oregon State made its choice at quarterback. Trent Bray and the coaching staff picked McCoy, who won the job in the last couple weeks. … Another player who transferred in is now out. … Speaking of former Beavers, Jonathan Smith is at Michigan State, trying to pull that program out of a scandal that coast the former coach his job. … Recruiting never stops. Case in point today, Oregon State. … We have a favorite number. It was the one we wore whenever we had our pick. Today, the Oregonian’s numbers stories reached that number. We share the stories on No. 5 for Oregon State and Oregon. …We’re guessing the No. 7 is Will Rogers’ favorite. Or two. The former is what’s on his uniform. The latter is how many times he picked Washington out of the portal. … Oregon’s opener with Idaho is on Dan Lanning’s mind. A lot of other things are as well. … The Ducks are dealing with a lot of injuries. … Colorado has new coordinators on both sides of the ball. And a coach that may be fighting a losing battle with public perception. … One of Kyle Whittingham’s goals for Utah preseason camp was reached. The Utes suffered fewer injuries. Most importantly, Cam Rising is healthy. … Wilner returns with a look at Utah’s best games under Whittingham. … Arizona State is struggling with some key players out for its opener against Wyoming, a program with a new coach. … UCLA’s offensive line has a goal of keeping its quarterback clean against Hawaii in the opener. … Arizona’s depth chart for the opener against New Mexico has many Polynesian players listed. That’s by design. … In the Mountain West, Colorado State’s opener with Texas is a good chance for the Rams to be noticed by the Power 4 conferences. The Rams have lost a key player to injury. … A Boise State win would overcome a couple trends. … No. 54 is an important number for this Hawaii player. … Sean Lewis is still trying to figure out his San Diego State team as he coaches his first game for the Aztecs. … Utah State has more defensive depth than its interim coach believed. … It takes a certain mindset to play left tackle, a mindset UNLV’s starter displays. … The Air Force depth chart included a couple of surprises.

EWU: This is a crucial season for Best and his team. The two-year lull needs to end. And the schedule is favorable, starting with this Saturday’s opening opponent. Besides, in this era of transfer-portaling, the Eagles are relying on homegrown players. Dan Thompson looked at the depth chart and shared that nugget. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, it’s tough enough to be a college football player. One Montana cornerback is carrying an even heavier load than usual. … Montana State has to put the New Mexico win in the rearview mirror and get ready for Utah Tech. … Northern Arizona has rebuilt its running back room. … Cal Poly is doing the same with its secondary. … Sacramento State is focusing on itself before the season begins. … Northern Colorado found a football radio partner. … Finally, the architect of Northern Arizona’s distance success is stepping down at the end of the year. A replacement is already on campus.

Idaho: The Vandals open the season at Oregon. Third-ranked (in the FBS) Oregon. Peter Harriman has an interesting supposition. If the seventh-ranked (FCS) Vandals were to win and then the Ducks were to go on to win the CFP, could Idaho claim to be the nation’s best team if it won an FCS title? Sure, it could. Lots of teams have claimed national titles before.

Storm: Seattle needs to start winning. There was a perfect opportunity last night with Washington in town. But no. The Mystics won. … Sue Bird won too last night. Seattle announced her name is going on a street outside the arena.

Mariners: Tampa is in town. That means Jose Caballero is too. And he helped the M’s win, maybe even more than when he wore their uniform. His two-out error led to a three-run Randy Arozarena homer and, ultimately, a 5-1 Seattle victory. … The error came with Ryan Pepiot on the mound. He has an interesting story. … We linked this story about Lou Piniella before. It is on the S-R site. We link it again. … It’s possible the bullpen injuries have undermined this season more even than the offensive woes. No one is sure when a couple of key arms will be back. … Power rankings? We don’t have to show you no stinking power rankings. But we do.

Seahawks: We’ve watched the block that led to Uchenna Nwosu’s injury. Many times. Can’t determine for sure if it was on purpose, as one of our readers argued in an email. But if it wasn’t then Wyatt Teller, who threw the block at the back of Nwosu’s leg, isn’t talented enough to play in the NFL. … Top draft pick Bryon Murphy II looks to be a difference maker up front. … The NFL has been trying out electronic first down measuring. It’s not going to put it in place this season.

•••       

• We are going to be wandering the roads again. Family calls. All types of family, actually, something we will explain later. Anyhow, the kids will be here, house sitting, dog watching and yard maintenanceing (if that’s a word). At least they better be. We have to find a spot to watch the Cougars on Saturday. We’ll be back on the TV Take beat this transition year. We’re looking forward to seeing how The CW does the games. Until later …