A Grip on Sports: The Cougar football team shows up and shows out against PSU, though its fans seemed to take the week off

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We watched the Cougars on The CW yesterday. It seemed akin to the best of the Pac-12 Network broadcasts in years past. And we say that as a compliment. Better yet for its long-term prospects, Washington State looked like the best version of itself from years past as well.

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• When is WSU at its historical best? When the defense flies around and causes issues. When the offensive line holds up under pressure. When it has a running back who strikes fear in the hearts of the opponent’s linebackers, allowing the always-stacked stable of receivers more space to work.

The Cougs put most of those attributes on display in the new Pac-12’s first national television appearance Saturday. It was a pity, though, so few fans were in attendance to appreciate it.
Let’s take all that in order, shall we?

The defense had some issues, sure. But, as Ryan Leaf pointed out from his press box perch as the CW’s analyst, most were small things that could be fixed with drill work at practice. Case in point, the propensity of the Cougs’ defensive backs to be beat to the multiple jump balls Portland State quarterback Dante Chachere flung downfield. As Leaf saw it, a little work over the next week and that failing may be long gone by Texas Tech’s visit Saturday night.

The Red Raiders will offer greater challenges. Maybe. Their season began last night in Lubbock and came within a failed overtime two-point conversion by Abilene Christian from starting out on a loss. Still, the 52-51 overtime home win over an FCS school – as is Portland State – showed the Big 12 member is eminently beatable.

And has some issues defensively. Issues that may not be fixable with a few practice drills. Especially considering WSU’s offense has some weapons, even with a few injuries on that side of the ball.

The receiving corps is deep. Fast. The running backs have similar attributes and include a budding star in freshman Wayshawn Parker. Parker touched the ball nine times Saturday. Gained, on average, 16.4 yards each time he did. A 54-yard scoring run and a 52-yard touchdown catch-and-run skewed those numbers, sure, but they count too.

And the 6-foot, 200-pound Sacramento product counts in the “budding-star” category.

No matter how good the skill guys are, including the quarterback, the offensive line is what makes it all go. And this year’s group, after a slow start, did its job superbly. John Mateer, the new quarterback, took advantage, connecting on 10 of his final 11 throws en route to 352 passing yards, five scoring tosses and one 40-yard scoring run.

We didn’t see Tech play. We didn’t see the crowd in Lubbock. But there were 60,229 in attendance for the Red Raiders’ opener. And we will bet not many of them left before the finish. WSU listed 20,089 in Martin Stadium. Sure. And there was no more than half that when the game ended.

Yes, it was a blowout. And, yes, the opponent wasn’t the best. But Cougar fans love to blame others for their recent realignment woes, citing how faithfully they watch their team on TV. It’s true. WSU engagement in that regard is special. Visual images count as well. The typical college football fan who turned on The CW yesterday to see what Washington State was about saw an exceptional on-field performance. And a sad off-field one.

Half of that has to change next Saturday when Fox brings its crew to town. And we’re not talking about Jake Dickert’s team.

• We didn’t get to watch Idaho’s performance yesterday. No, it was not because we have Comcast at home, though that fact is true. Even if we weren’t cruising down U.S. Highway 101, following the trail blazed by Junipero Sierra and John Steinbeck long ago, we wouldn’t have been able to watch due to the carriage battle between Fox’s Big Ten Network and the cable behemoth.

We do, however, have satellite radio in the car. And were able to pull in the Oregon broadcast.

We understood the Ducks’ crew did not want to overly criticize the home team. That may have been part of why the trio – at least – of voices seemed all-in with their praise of the Vandal defense. The better they made UI seem, the more explainable Oregon’s struggles became.

But we believe their words were actually faithful and true. They were deeply impressed by an Idaho crew that dominated the interior, rarely missed open-field tackles and gave the third-ranked Ducks all they could handle.

We do have one question still, though. What is it about Oregon coach Dan Lanning and fourth down? He seems to have the luck of Toby Flenderson. Next time, or the next 173 times, Lanning might as well punt.

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WSU: We have the usual in-depth S-R coverage to pass along on a Sunday morning following a Cougar football Saturday. Greg Woods has his game analysis and a look at the defensive issues that cropped up. … Jacob Thorpe has a column about the importance of the performance as a measuring stick. … Theo Lawson talked with Mateer and listed him among the difference makers. … Tyler Tjomsland braved the heat and the crowd noise while documenting the contest visually. … Finally, we watched from our sister-in-law’s house in the Bay Area and put together the first TV Take of the 2024-25 school year. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his thoughts on Saturday’s play on the West Coast, including the Cougars’ performance. … The other Pac-12 member, Oregon State, opened its season with a home game against a Big Sky foe as well. The first half wasn’t what Beaver fans expected. The second half was, as Trent Bray picked up his first victory in charge of his alma mater with a 38-15 decision against Idaho State. OSU ran the ball effectively all evening, but especially after halftime. … Washington opened with a dominating 35-3 victory over visiting Weber State at home (though not on Comcast), giving Jedd Fisch his first as the Huskies head coach. UW ran the ball well, highlighted by Arizona transfer Jonah Coleman. But there were issues, too. … The Oregon final score may have been the most surprising of the day nationally but we know better, right? The third-ranked Ducks have some things to clean up. … John Canzano has his thoughts on the Ducks’ win. … California may have won the day, topping visiting UC Davis 31-13, but lost star running back Jaydn Ott to an injury of undetermined severity. … UCLA avoided a disastrous start to the season by rallying for a win over Hawaii on the road. … Arizona State had an impressive start to the season by handing Wyoming a 48-7 beatdown in Tempe. The defense was impressive. … The Arizona offense was impressive against overmatched New Mexico, sure. The defense? It was not the best in the 61-39 victory in Tucson. … There was an issue with the broadcast, though. … USC has a key game tonight in Las Vegas against LSU. … Stanford played well at times Friday night but coach Troy Taylor lamented the Cardinal’s inability to finish. … Colorado has a pretty special pair of stars. … In the Mountain West, Colorado State did not look as if it was ready for prime time in a 52-0 blowout loss at No. 4 Texas. … Utah State figured out a way to defeat Robert Morris 36-14 with former Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes leading the way after an injury. … Ashton Jeanty may be the best running back in the nation. He certainly was one Saturday in Boise State’s 56-45 win at Georgia Southern. … Fresno State gave Michigan a battle in Ann Arbor but fell 30-10. … San Diego State started slowly but pulled away for a 45-14 victory over visiting Texas A&M-Commerce. … UNLV made a statement with a 27-7 win at Houston. … Nevada got past host Troy 28-26. … Air Force broke in its remodeled stadium with a 21-6 win over FCS Merrimack.

Idaho: The Vandals didn’t win. The final score? Oregon 24, Idaho 14. That’s also the bottom line. However, UI’s performance won it many acolytes, we’re sure, especially those folks who decided to bet the underdog. We pass along the S-R’s story on the game as well as in-depth coverage from Oregon. That’s contained in the Pac-12 section just above. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the new-look Montana defense is still pretty good. It showed up late in the Griz 29-24 win over Missouri State. … Montana State is 2-0 after topping visiting Utah Tech. … Northern Arizona routed Lincoln. … Cal Poly opened the season with a 27-21 loss at San Diego.

Paralympics: Tekoa’s Susannah Scaroni won a silver medal in the T54 5,000 meters race in Paris. Madison McCord has this coverage.

Indians: Michael Prosecky had his best outing as a Spokane starter and the Indians earned a 6-2 win in their penultimate regular-season home game. Dave Nichols was at Avista Stadium to cover all the fireworks, as well as to see the postgame ones. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, the Indians are three games up in the second-half standings as Vancouver lost at Hillsboro again, this time 5-2. The Hops and Vancouver are basically tied in the season-long standings. … Everett and Eugene did not play last night in Oregon. The Ducks were in action at home.

Seahawks: Yes, Michael Jerrell is happy to have made the Seattle roster. But the rookie feels he has more milestones ahead.

Mariners: We have a couple who live across the bike path behind us. Their dogs are named Edgar and Griffey. At least that’s what we believe they holler when they want the two pups to come inside. And in our old fellow, Junior, and you have a doggone M’s-centric neighborhood. We’re pretty sure, actually, the three dogs would play better against the Angels than their human counterparts in Seattle. Dan Wilson’s guys suffered another gut-wrenching loss in a season off them in Anaheim, falling 5-4 on Mickey Moniak’s walk-off solo home run in the ninth. … Cal Raleigh and Wilson have a relationship that goes back years. Is that part of why Wilson is now the manager? Just wondering if his ascension to that spot will entice one of the game’s best catchers to sign a long-term extension. … Luis Urias is back on the roster. Will the M’s return to a platoon at third base? … The Mariners youngest top prospects are playing well at Everett.

Sounders: If there is one piece Seattle lacks, it is a consistent star who can score the huge goals. Jordan Morris is the Sounders’ closest representative of that but finishing in spectacular fashion is not his strongest asset. He needs help. His three main chances weren’t good enough last night in Portland, Timbers defender Juan Mosquera found the net himself in the second half and the rivals from the Rose City won 1-0.  

Storm: Jewell Loyd is a key piece of everything Seattle tries to do offensively. When she is struggling to hit shots, as she is currently, the offense sputters.

Reign: Seattle is playing better recently. A lot better. The Reign traveled to Louisville last night and rallied for a 3-2 win.

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• We have a question. Did the Spokane CW affiliate switch to the Oregon State game with about 5 minutes left, as we experienced in California? Or did it stay with the Cougars until the end? As we wrote the column yesterday, and thought about it later in the evening, we wondered if we should have woven in where we were more prominently. It shows the reach of The CW, and it may have highlighted an issue. One other road issue for us. Our mother-in-law, all of 90 years old, does not have Internet access at her home. We use our iPhone as a hotspot. Today, that made it tough to gather links. Until later …