A Grip on Sports: This labor of love travels from Las Vegas to Florida to Pullman to Atlanta and a lot of places in-between

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Never really quite sure if working on Labor Day is a slap in the face of all those workers who struggled to put labor on an equal footing with management. Or an homage to their dedication. We’ll go with the latter and get to whatever it is we need to cover in the world of sports. Then take the rest of the day off.

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• The biggest overreaction following the first week of the college football season? The criticism everyone overreacts way too much to the results. What else should everyone do? Poo-poo them? That would be an overreaction of a different sort.

Look, losing in Week One is just as important as losing in Week 12. Either one can cause a Blue Blood to lose their spot in the four-team playoff. … Oh, right.

The playoffs have expanded. Twelve teams. Guaranteed spots for a handful of schools. A bunch of at-large berths available.

Besides, losing in a conference championship game never disqualified any Blue Blood from making its way into the former invitational. It was never about crowning a true national champion. It was about TV ratings. And money. Goodness, a lot of money. For everyone.

That won’t change. Why do you think USC and LSU were playing in Las Vegas last night? That’s right. Money.

And why did the Trojans win? Lincoln Riley was able to spend lots and lots of money on a defensive coordinator that actually can coach – though by hiring UCLA’s former guy, Riley saved USC relocation expenses.

Coaching matters in college football. A lot. D’Anton Lynn can coach. Showed it in the NFL. Showed it at UCLA. He will be a head coach someday. For now, though, he’s doing what many so-called experts thought was impossible. Making sure a Riley-coached team can, you know, actually tackle. And stop someone. When it’s really important.

The Trojans did that last night. More than once. Enough, in fact, to allow USC quarterback Miller Moss, the poster boy for staying at one school and developing, to win the game. Well, Moss and – we’re only guessing here – a highly paid receiving group. See, all of your questions about anything to do with college sports are answered by that one word. Money.

USC has enough of it. To win. So, too, does Ohio State. Georgia. A bunch of other schools. We’re sure when the 12-team playoff field is announced in December, 11 of them will be among the top 15 or so of richest programs.

Sure, that’s something of an overreaction. But not after just one week. It’s been a couple years in the making. And we would bet that farm near Palo Alto it’s true.

• Want a great example? We give you Cam Ward, Heisman candidate.

Washington State fans know Ward’s strengths. Weaknesses. He gave them two years of often-praise, often-maddening quarterback play. Then left. Eligible of the NFL draft, he made the right decision. Take the University of Miami’s money. Improve his draft standing. Maybe win a game or two, a trophy or two, along the way. The former happened Saturday, as the Hurricanes swamped Florida in The Swamp. The latter is all over websites this morning, as Ward’s name is being mentioned in the same sentence with college football’s premier award.

He threw for 385 yards. Hit on 25 of 34 throws. Tossed two touchdown passes. One interception. Ran for another 36 yards when the game was tight early. Did what was needed.

Good for him.

And good for Ward for standing up for his former conference.

“It wasn’t,” answered Ward when asked after the 41-17 Miami win if Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville was the loudest place he’s played. “I played at USC. USC wasn’t packed, but it was louder than this. I played at Oregon and it was louder than this. The Pac-12 is misspoken for. That’s where I believe real football is played. Coming from Washington (State), Washington is one of the loudest environments I’ve played.”

• We watched Sunday as the final important PGA Tour event of the year finished up. Missed Scottie Scheffler’s shank, but saw as he threw darts down the stretch, rolled in putts and ended up winning the Tour Championship by four strokes.

And then heard the annual complaints about the staggered start in Atlanta, in which the person ahead in FedEx Cup points begins 10-under, and everyone else has varying deficits to overcome.

Collin Morikawa actually had the best weekend, shooting 22-under, but was unable to make up the six shots he spotted Scheffler. Words like travesty and phrases like a mockery of the game floated through the ether that is social media and sports talk.

We once agreed. Not anymore. And it was an argument by PTI star Tony Kornheiser on his podcast that changed our mind. In a recent conversation with the Golf Channel’s Steve Sands, Kornheiser decried the system, saying something to the effect other sports don’t spot teams runs or points in championship games. Why should golf?

He’s right in that regard. The score is always even. But that’s it.

It hit us as we were listening. Every sport, college or pro, rewards regular season performance in some way. Major or minor. Baseball has always skewed its postseason schedule toward teams with the best records. So too does pro football and basketball. The Super Bowl may be at a neutral site, but the games to get there, the AFC and NFC championships, are played at home. Or away.

Heck, even the one-and-done, neutral-site NCAA basketball tournament is seeded in such a way as to try to get the best teams to the Final Four.

Golf doesn’t have a home-field advantage. Everyone plays the same course. And the Tour doesn’t have match play. Won’t. Seeding isn’t an option. If the regular season is important, then there has to be some reward.

The two-shot lead the top player enjoys is akin to getting to play at home. He’s earned it. Now, one can argue having a 10-shot lead over half the field or so is too much. But saying the format, on its face, is an outlier among professional or college sports is disingenuous at best.

• One other thought. Is it silly to make a distinction between professional and college sports these days? Aren’t both, in most regards, professional?

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WSU: As is the case every Sunday, Greg Woods posted on the S-R’s website his rewind of Saturday’s game. He focused on the positives and highlighted a few negatives. Or, to put it simply, the offense and defense, respectively. … The two-team Pac-12 is bailing out of its football scheduling agreement with the Mountain West after one season. The home and home promise of playing Boise State, et al? That’s not happening. Jon Wilner and John Canzano reported separately Sunday the agreement will not be renewed. The Pac-12 is examining other options. Each of the two schools need six games to fill out the 2025 football schedule. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, we mentioned USC’s last-second 27-20 win over LSU above. The 23rd-ranked Trojans needed it. Badly. And the 13th-ranked Tigers? It’s been half a decade since they have won the first game of the season. … A carriage dispute with DirecTV? ABC is dealing with it. Someone at the network should call Larry Scott. … Every week of college football features some wacky stuff. … Oregon State can still run the ball. The Beavers showed that Saturday. … Washington’s win could be a jump-start for the season or just another memory in a tough one. … The result was OK for third-ranked Oregon. How the Ducks played in their win over Idaho was not. Up next? Boise State. … For Colorado to be successful, the defense has to come through. … For UCLA to be successful, Ethan Garbers has to play better than he did Saturday at Hawaii. … Arizona State earned top grades for its win over Wyoming. … The new athletic director has changed Arizona sports. … In the Mountain West, Utah State believes in itself. … San Diego State seems to have found the right quarterback. … In this case, is late better than never? We found a story on Nevada’s Saturday night 28-26 win over Troy. … Next up for Jay Norvell and Colorado State? A visit from Northern Colorado.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, recruiting never stops. At least for Montana. … Despite a 2-0 record, Montana State still has questions to answer. … Though Idaho State lost at Oregon State, there were positives. … UC Davis needs to take better care of the ball.

Indians: The Avista Stadium part of Spokane’s season is over. Ended Sunday with a 1-0 win over Tri-City. The Indians’ part of the Northwest League postseason will be held at Gonzaga University. Dave Nichols has that and more in his game story today. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Hillsboro scored six times in the bottom of the ninth to edge Vancouver 9-8. … Eugene topped visiting Everett 6-4.

Chiefs: Spokane finished up training camp with its Red and White scrimmage. Dave Nichols was at the Arena and has this coverage – as well as a conversation with Berkly Catton.

Paralympics: The Inland Northwest continued its run (and jump) of success in Paris, with EWU grad Jaleen Roberts winning a silver medal in the T37 women’s long jump. Madison McCord has this story on the local athletes’ success Sunday.

Seahawks: Which position is strongest now that the roster is ready to go? … If you want to know how others see Lumen Field, we have you covered.

Storm: The post-Olympic break stretch of poor play continued yesterday in Connecticut. Seattle fell 93-86 to the Sun.

Mariners: Speaking of poor play, we give you the M’s. Another tough loss to the Angels, another game lost to Houston in the standings. Bryce Miller melted in the Anaheim heat, Julio Rodriguez made another boneheaded defensive decision and the Angels took advantage in a 3-2 victory. … The bullpen has two more arms.

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• It seems like a good day to play golf. Or to at least hit some balls. We may just do that. It is a labor of love, right? Or hate. Until later …