A Grip on Sports: Most every game has a winner and a loser but when it comes to playoff games, there always seems to be more of the latter

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It was an unusual Saturday, that’s for sure. But one thing that wasn’t? There were winners and losers. The unusual aspect? A lot more losers, even if the game results, as usual, split 50/50.

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• Over its last three games before Washington State’s visit, the Oregon State Beavers’ football team had scored, in order, seven, 13 and zero points – that last number coming in their fifth consecutive loss, a 28-0 shutout at then 2-7 Air Force. Let’s see, three and seven, carry the one … yep. Just what I thought. Hardly any. Add in the previous game against UNLV, when the Beavs put up 25, and the total is 45. In four games.

They scored 41 last night in Corvallis. Against the Cougars. And that total was enough – barely – to put Washington State atop my list of most-inept losers.

Can it possibly be true that the Washington State defense can be 41 points worse than Air Force, a team that’s yielded as many as 52 points in a game this season?

Can it possibly be true the John Mateer-led offense can score 38 points on the road and still lose?

Can it possibly be true WSU has given up 73 points in the last two road games – both hope-killing losses?

Yes, it all can be true.

The 38-35 defeat in the mountains of New Mexico a week ago pulled a Freddy Krueger on the Cougars’ wild dream of making the first 12-team College Football Playoffs. The second, last night in the Willamette Valley, buried all the good vibes they have been riding since the season opened. And could hurt them in recruiting battles down the road.

Make no bones about it. As the Pac-12 rises, phoenix-like, from the ashes, and grows into the West Coast’s leading conference, the Beavers and Cougars will be rivals. Rivals for titles. Rivals for bragging rights. Rivals for many of the same players.

Wait, that’s already true. Only the uninitiated didn’t really understand these schools’ football programs haven’t like each other for decades. There may have been bigger fish to pan fry in the past – Oregon and Washington come to mind – but the OSU/WSU matchups have been chippy for a quarter century. At least. Anybody who witnessed Mike Riley’s team scoring on a long touchdown pass in the final minutes to cap a 66-13 Corvallis rout in 2008 know it to be true – especially after the Cougars won 31-14 two years later on the same field and then celebrated nonstop from the field up the ramp to the locker room.

But Saturday’s loss, coupled with their left-behind status, showed college football’s realignment, while making the two land-grant institutions partners in some regards, haven’t made them friends. And nothing ever will.

• Another loser? Whomever thought it was a good idea for Washington State and Oregon State to play twice next season. How can the second game, to be played in Pullman four weeks after they meet in Corvallis, not be filled with emotional missteps? The teams have scuffled in the past with a year between meetings. Twice in a month? Expect that Allstate-commercial guy to make an appearance.

• CFP winner yesterday? Chaos. In the SEC, where Oklahoma defeated Alabama (Kalen DeBoer has to be in hot water, right?), Auburn topped Texas A&M in four overtimes and Florida handled Mississippi. In the Big 12, where four schools are now tied for the top spot in the standings, with one of them being Arizona State, picked to finish last as the season began.

• CFP losers? The selection committee, of course, who has to make sense of all that, plus figure out what to do with 10-1 Indiana, which lost 38-15 at Ohio State. Add the Big 12 to that list too, as Kansas’ 37-21 upset of Colorado make cost the conference their biggest draw – the Deion Sanders Experience – in the title game.

Another loser? Those in charge of maintaining order. I can excuse the Oklahoma fans of rushing the field a half-minute before their 24-3 win over the Tide was final, mainly because they were honoring their ancestors’ history. They are nicknamed the Sooners for a reason.

But the ASU folks seemed to be more than obliging of their fans rushing the field. Even though the game was not over – due to ASU coach Kenny Dillingham’s channeling of mentor Dan Lanning’s game management scenarios. It took a quarter-hour to determine BYU had a second to try a Hail Mary, put the goalposts back up and clear the field – sort of.

With the field ringed with ticked-off fans, is it no wonder there was no flag thrown on the Cougars’ last play, even though the Sun Devil defender grabbed and pulled down the receiver with an official within a couple yards of the play. I will include everyone involved in the winner category for making those intelligent decisions.

• At the high school level, the area can boast a lot more winners than losers. Too many to list here, that’s for sure.

But there are a couple that need to be singled out, starting with the Ridgeline volleyball team.

Why the Falcons? Because the group did something no other collection of Ridgeline athletes will ever be able to boast: they won the school’s first state title. A tough, late-night five-set win over North Thurston in Yakima got it done. It took two five-set wins, actually, for the Falcons to take home the 3A crown, with their day starting around the lunch hour with a semifinal victory over Seattle Prep.

If you are going to win the first title in school history, why make it easy? Difficult is more memorable.

It was also a winning day for the Freeman Scotties, who saw their football team move on to the 2B semifinals with a shutout of Onalaska. And their girls’ soccer team win its first state title, taking the 2B/1B crown with a 3-0 shutout against Mount Vernon Christian.

• Speaking of losers, it’s easy to put this guy – me – in that category this morning.

Thanks to the Sounders.

There was no way Seattle was getting past LAFC in the MLS Western Conference semifinals Saturday night. None. The last 10 times the teams had met? LAFC won eight of them. Draws were suffered – by everyone watching or playing – in the other two.

The West’s best regular season team was at home. The Sounders weren’t. And yet Brian Schmetzer’s team won 2-1. Proved us wrong. Made us, on this weird Saturday at least, a loser. At least it’s not an exclusive club.

Put LAFC in it. An own goal? And players whining after they “beat themselves?” OK. Maybe they did. I’m sure about a couple things. The Sounders are not complaining. And they will be playing for another conference crown.

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WSU: Truth is, I didn’t see all the Cougar game live. Watched the tape – or whatever you call the DVR memory – quickly last night. Greg Woods, however, was in Corvallis. Saw the defensive deficiencies in person. Has been watching them all season. And he lays most of the blame with the coaching staff this morning in his game analysis. … He also combined with the folks in the office for this recap with highlights and, on his own, put together the difference makers. … Jacob Thorpe, who covered the matchups when Washington State was in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, has a column about the rivalry. His thoughts were also echoed by Bill Oram in the Oregonian. … John Canzano also has his thoughts. … Speaking of the Oregonian, we can pass along Nick Daschel’s coverage as well as what was in the Corvallis newspaper and the Register-Guard. … There is a photo gallery to pass along, which I presume was Tyler Tjomsland’s work, but there is no credit to be found. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, I can pass along Jon Wilner’s mailbag in the S-R and his thoughts about Saturday’s results in the Mercury News. … The chaos of Saturday gave folks like Stewart Mandel and others a lot to write about. … There were two rivalry games last night. The USC late-game heroics were not to be missed, mainly because the Trojans have been doing just the opposite much of the season. Still, USC won 19-13 in the Rose Bowl. UCLA wasted way too many opportunities to feel good about the result. … The other rivalry? That was in Northern California. Cal, behind quarterback Fernando Mendoza, rallied past Stanford 24-21 to win the Big Game. … It wasn’t a rivalry game. But Colorado’s 37-21 loss at suddenly hot Kansas had that feel. And maybe even bigger stakes, at least for the Buffs. … There are little in the way of stakes left for Utah after its loss at 22nd-ranked Iowa State. Other than the Utes finishing the season with a healthy quarterback. … The Arizona State win ended in the weirdest way possible. But when the 28-23 final score was posted, the Sun Devils were one win away from a Big 12 title game appearance. … That win will have to come at Arizona, which lost 49-28 to TCU on Saturday. But the Wildcats would like nothing better than to destroy the Sun Devils’ CFP hopes. … In the Mountain West, Colorado State’s hopes of appearing in the conference title game opposite Boise State may be over after the Rams lost at Fresno State. … UNLV is happy that happened. … The Broncos didn’t play well but they won at Wyoming to move closer to a CFP berth. … Utah State pulled away from San Diego State and ended up winning 41-20. … Air Force has won three consecutive games after topping Nevada on the road. … The Hawaii faithful do not want a new athletic director but that will not matter. … In case you are keeping track, San Jose State’s volleyball team earned the second seed in the Mountain West tournament. Which means the Spartans will play either Utah State or Boise State in the semifinal. Both schools refused to play them in the regular season. Wonder what triumphs, the chance to play in the NCAA tourney or principles. … In basketball news, the second-ranked USC women couldn’t get enough stops and lost to No. 6 Notre Dame.

Gonzaga: It’s easy to get the impression Dave Boling has a soft spot in his heart for one Quentin Hall. Dave shares Hall’s story once more in this column that looks forward to the Zags’ Thanksgiving-time trip to Hall’s home, the Bahamas. … You know who has a soft spot in their heart for the Gonzaga program? The trio of ESPN analysts Theo Lawson talked with recently. Yep, Jay Bilas, Fran Fraschilla and Seth Greenberg are all aboard this season’s Zag train. … The women will face a highly motivated New Mexico team on the road today. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the Santa Clara men fell 71-69 to Stanford. … Saint Mary’s is still undefeated after an 80-66 win over Cal Poly.  

EWU: It may be sad, but also appropriate the last game of this season was a loss. A hard-fought loss in which the Eagles couldn’t stop their opponent – host Northern Arizona – enough to earn a win. The 30-18 defeat, as chronicled by Dan Thompson, left Eastern with a 4-8 overall record, their third consecutive losing season. … Dan also put together a notebook out of the loss. … The men’s basketball team fell 79-68 at Cal Baptist. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, second-ranked Montana State handcuffed No. 9 Montana’s offense and rolled to a 34-11 Brawl of the Wild victory in Bozeman. … Portland State walloped Northern Colorado 45-13 in the season finale for both. … Weber State rallied for a win over Cal Poly 28-17. … The Causeway Classic was just that, with fifth-ranked UC Davis winning a 42-39 shootout over Sacramento State. … In basketball news, both Northern Colorado programs picked up Saturday wins, with the women topping previously undefeated BYU.

Idaho: There wasn’t much doubt the Vandals were going to emerge from Pocatello with a win. That they would finish the regular season with a 9-3 record. That they will get a first-round bye in the FCS playoffs. Wait, as Peter Harriman tells us, that last one is still up in the air, despite UI’s decisive 40-17 win over host, and rival, Idaho State. … The Vandal men need to tighten up the defense after falling 82-67 to Southern Utah in San Diego.

Whitworth: The websites that list game results don’t ever tell us how. They only show how much. And the “how much” in Whitworth football’s case Saturday was eight points. The Pirates defeated visiting Pomona-Pitzer 21-13 at the Pine Bowl, to move into the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The opponent? No. 1-ranked North Central (10-0) of Naperville, Illinois. On the road. Greg Lee has all that covered in this game story. … Both basketball programs also won yesterday, each handling Cal Tech in Pasadena.

Preps: Yes, I have a story to pass along from Ridgeline’s late title win. It may not have made the paper on the doorstep, but it is available from the S-R website. … Dave Nichols also has a roundup of Saturday’s other prep action.

Chiefs: Spokane made it two consecutive wins on its road trip, topping the Vancouver Giants 5-1.  

Mariners: The story I passed along yesterday about letting four players walk? It is in the S-R today.

Seahawks: What home-field advantage? It doesn’t seem as if Seattle has much of one anymore. We’ll see if it is still a viable part of the franchise this afternoon when the NFC West-leading Cardinals visit. … I don’t pick NFL games. I leave it to the experts.

Kraken: The momentum gained with a dominating homestand? Gone in the aftermath of the L.A. Kings’ 2-1 victory, a result that means Seattle has lost five consecutive times away from Climate Pledge Arena.

Sounders: Jordan Morris made his presence felt in extra time, scoring the game winner with about a dozen minutes left to play.

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• There is a home-field advantage for the Hawks in one place. Our kitchen. The plan is to celebrate Seattle’s Asian connections with our Seahawk-themed meal. Not sure what Kim has planned but my stomach is ready. And sorry about being late today. There was more to cover than we could handle in four hours of work. Until later …