TV take: Washington State’s path to the College Football Playoff? Keep winning, but that may not be enough.

It was bound to happen.

As Washington State took the Gesa Field turf late Saturday night, sporting a 7-1 record and a 21st-ranking courtesy of the College Football Playoff selection committee, the speculative whispers about a playoff appearance were bound to be heard.

Even before the Cougars’ first long scoring drive. Heck, even before the opening kickoff.

The CW’s crew of Ted Robinson and former Cougar quarterback Ryan Leaf addressed it, of course, with some banter back and forth. Banter that ended with Leaf opining on the how-WSU-could-make-the-playoffs question.

“All the Cougs need to do?” he asked, before giving us his answer. “Keep winning.”

They did that against the overmatched Aggies before 20,011 in Pullman, running away – literally – for a 49-28 victory.

But will it, and three more before the CFP committee decides its 12 teams on Dec. 8, be enough?

What they saw

• There was enough time during the disjointed second quarter to discuss the Cougs’ future prospects.

Robinson, correctly, wasn’t about to paint a rosy picture. The play-by-play veteran kept it real, focusing on the now instead of trying to project the committee’s final decision on a 12-team invitational. “They are in the mix,” Robinson said, “In November. Every game matters.”

That’s true. Unless the Cougars win out, they won’t be in the final mix. But even if they do, would there be a spot available?

Leaf spent quite a bit of time, after this one was out of reach, warning the Coug faithful about next Saturday’s late-night visit to New Mexico, where former BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall has the 4-6 Lobos playing their best ball of the season.

That is followed by the Pac-12 matchup in Corvallis, with 4-5 Oregon State still outside looking in at bowl eligibility. The final game is the easiest, a 2-7 Wyoming squad visiting Pullman.

“An 11-1 Washington State team is not going to be looked at the same as, let’s say, a 10-2 BYU team, unfortunately,” Leaf said in the fourth quarter.

• With the Cougar offense hitting on at least eight cylinders, Leaf spent a little time highlighting the difference in this year’s offense and the past, oh, say decade and a half.

His comments came following Wayshawn Parker’s 1-yard power run up the middle that gave the Cougars a 14-7 lead they would never relinquish.

The bottom line: The offensive line this season is better when Washington State pounds the opposition.

After laying the foundation for his argument, talking about the Mike Leach’s era, in which the line’s main job was to back up and pass protect. That era is long gone. And, as Leaf related, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is playing to the group’s strengths.

“The guys up front, they are a different breed,” Leaf said, after making sure to emphasis Arbuckle would love to throw the ball down field more often. “When you get to third and one or first and goal, they get low, they get push and they get their guy in the end zone.”

The Cougars’ rushing attack was as productive as it has been all season. The leader? The freshman Parker, who finished with 149 yards, 75 of them coming on the third quarter’s first play, giving WSU a 28-7 lead. Parker, however, did not appear late after being taken to the locker room with an ankle issue.

John Mateer also had a running score – and four touchdown passes, three to Kyle Williams – as part of his 38 yards rushing on 12 carries. The Cougars combined for 287 yards on 44 carries, a 6.6-yard average.

• The third member of The CW broadcast crew was former Portland State head coach Nigel Burton on the sidelines. But, after a pregame discussion, was not given the chance to add his defensive insights for three quarters. He did, however, interview Jake Dickert quickly at the start of the fourth quarter. An interview that ended with Dickert’s usual “Go Cougs.” And Burton, who played at Washington, answered with a “Go Cougs” of his own.

For whatever reason, from there to the end of the game Burton was featured prominently, including sharing the Parker news with less than 5 minutes left.

What we saw

• Yes, the Pac-12 is still singing hosannas for The CW, which stepped in late and gave the duo a spot on a network with national reach. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues.

The start of Saturday’s game certainly illustrated one. The network isn’t nimble. Not for lack of trying. But The CW doesn’t have, say, a CW2 for sports. Add in a lack of experience with switching networks when the previous sporting event – a NASCAR race was the culprit this time – runs long.

The handoff to NewsNation – also owned by the same ownership group – was clumsy. At 7:33, three minutes after the broadcast was supposed to begin, a crawl appeared on The CW the game would kick on NewsNation at 7:40.

A quick changeover didn’t result in watching Robinson and Leaf’s pregame thoughts. Instead we saw a taped news broadcast. It went on and on. Until, without any warning, the football pregame was on.

Fine. But, after eight minutes of action, the news show suddenly reappeared.

The game was back on The CW. Without a word.

Maybe it was a test of how quickly one could hit the return button on the remote.

• If you thought the Pac-12’s defections, and the ensuing loss of many of the conference’s officials to other pastures, would stop officiating issues, sorry. There were enough discussions, odd calls and replay overturns to fill an entire column.

That’s not an option, but Utah State interim coach Nate Dreiling showed his disgust, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a third-quarter Utah State penalty that, correctly, cost the Aggies a chance to stop WSU’s sixth scoring drive.