A Grip on Sports: WSU holds off Washington to win the first September Apple Cup on a day when everything seemed wacky, weird and fun

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We watched a lot of football yesterday. Not as much as we would have liked, sure, but a lot. We watched some baseball. A smidgen – love that word – of golf too. And we have thoughts on all of it – plus a word or two about what we may see today.

•••••••

• What a weird, wild, wacky Apple Cup. We will stay with that theme this morning. Short, quick thoughts on the Cougars’ 24-19 win at Lumen Field.

• What a strange final possession for UW. A long pass. A long run. With time running out, 9 yards from victory. A done deal? Only if you hadn’t watched the rest of the game.

As aggressively as Washington State (3-0) is defensively, the Cougars also did a decent job of clamping down on UW when the Huskies got inside the 30. As in, once there, Washington stalled. Every time.

The Huskies one touchdown – yes, only one – came on a 31-yard throw from Will Rogers – once Gardner Minshew’s high school replacement – to Giles Jackson when the Cougs’ coverage busted. After that mistake less than 8 minutes into the game, WSU forced four Grady Gross field goals on the Huskies next four red zone trips.

• The fifth? The weird final UW possession. Jonah Coleman stuffed behind the line. An incompletion. A crosser to Denzel Boston, who really didn’t fight to get into the endzone, instead going out of bounds at the one.

And the fourth-down call – after a time out – Jedd Fisch will rue from here to whenever he heads to the NFL. A sprint option with Rogers – not the fleetest quarterback that appeared in the game – to the short side. Cougar ball.

• Even then, WSU was stuck at its goal line. Two runs that made Fisch use his final time outs. With 62 seconds left, John Mateer induced an offsides. And then another one. Game over. Washington’s final two mistakes in a game in which the Huskies had way too many.

• The officiating crew – as far as we can tell, from the Big 12, which must mean the two schools decided neutral site, neutral crew – threw a lot of flags. Most of them (16 in fact) on the Huskies. As is always the case, there were incorrect ones. And egregious penalties missed. None of the missed calls, however, decided the outcome.

• It might have been Peacock’s field microphones were set to whisper mode, but we never really felt the crowd was all that loud. Until the final couple minutes.

• We regret some of the things we wrote yesterday in our TV Take. We were not nearly critical enough of Colt McCoy’s performance. We also don’t regret it all that much. We cut the guy some slack for a reason.

McCoy, who worked the game for Peacock, is new at being a football analyst. He has the pedigree. The experience. He’s got holes in his game, sure, but his past in the game – as a quarterback – shows a history of improvement. He got as much out of his talent in college and the NFL as he probably could. We’re guessing he will do the same as he gains more experience in this profession.

That’s not something we’ve seen from everyone who takes on the role.

• Only four Cougar coaches in history have won more Apple Cups than Jake Dickert’s two. And only one of them, Bill Doba, ever posted a winning record in the rivalry game. Warning to Dickert: Doba was run out of town despite his 42-35 win in Seattle in 2007.

As long as we’re examining coaching records, Dickert’s two wins against the Huskies on the Wet Side is as many as Doba posted. And more than any other WSU coach.

• Another thought on Dickert. Brock Huard, who played for the Huskies, had this to say about the Cougar coach last night on Twitter: “Jake Dickert gets as much out of his personnel as anyone in CFB & has for years.”

About as good a compliment as you can give a college football coach.

• We picked it. No, not the Apple Cup winner. Here is what we wrote yesterday morning about the game:

“(It will be) a physical battle. Hatred-filled. Lopsided, sure, but the intensity has never been diminished due to it. It just made victory – for WSU – sweeter and losses sourer – for UW. We expect the same today. The equivalent of a fist-fight on every play. Guys flying around, fans screaming, snow … wait, no. Not that last one. Instead, a great game with state-bragging rights on the line.”

Then again, we weren’t going out on a limb, were we?

• Idaho might be really good folks. Really good. Though 17th-ranked Albany lost a lot from last year’s team – the Great Danes won in Moscow en route to the FCS semifinals – it still has talent.

The fourth-ranked Vandals dominated anyway. Won 41-13. While using a banged-up Jack Wagner – the backup – at quarterback and having lost two starting offensive linemen in last week’s win at Wyoming.

• Eastern Washington might not be good. Again. Two down years were supposed to be followed by a bounce-back one. So far, that hasn’t been the case. The Eagles opened with three FCS schools. After Saturday’s loss at Southeastern Louisiana, they are 1-2. Now comes their FBS game, Saturday at the Mountain West’s Nevada.

In an ironic twist, however, the Wolf Pack might not be even close to the best team on Eastern’s schedule. They are 1-3, with their only win coming over winless Troy.

• We won’t be making any predictions about the Seahawks’ game this morning in New England. We don’t have to. We’re not a prognosticator, though we occasional play one in these columns. That only happens, though, when we feel as if we have something of a handle on what will occur.

Even after watching the Hawks’ win over Denver last week, we’re still not sure of much. The offensive line is porous, sure, we’re confident of that knowledge. The defense will be aggressive, fly around and make plays – good and bad. We’re sure of that too.

The outcome? Not a clue.

• We do know what we are doing for our yearly culinary tour of the Hawks’ schedule. If you don’t know, we have a tradition in our home. Whomever Seattle plays dictates the menu for the game, whether it be lunch – 10 a.m. starts – or dinner – 1 p.m. games. Today, with the game near Boston, we are going with lobster mac and cheese. And, if we can find them in a store somewhere in the short time between when we get done here and kickoff, Boston crème pies for dessert.

• We don’t have much confidence the M’s can catch Houston in the A.L. West. They are, after all, five games back in the loss column with only 13 games left. But as we were lamenting their fate, and focus upon it, the wild card race opened a bit. Minnesota is struggling. The M’s are not. They are three games out in that chase, though the Twins hold the tiebreaker so it is really four.

If Minnesota finishes 7-7, Seattle must be 10-3 to pass them. And hope Detroit, nestled between Seattle and Minnesota in wild card geography, wins nine or less.

• The U.S. built a four-match lead on Friday’s first day of the Solheim Cup, putting Europe in a tough-to-overcome 6-2 hole. Saturday that pit didn’t grow. But the European team still will have to stage an epic comeback in singles to dig out of the 10-6 deficit. The first team to 14.5 points – Europe can win with 14, as it holds the tiebreaker – takes the competition.

•••

WSU: The S-R adjusted to the September Apple Cup by doing what it has done for years in November. Cover the heck out of the game. Greg Woods has the game story and difference makers. Former Cougar beat writer Jacob Thorpe has a column. Theo Lawson, another former S-R Pullman reporter, examines the final UW possession. Tyler Tjomsland caught everything visually in his photo gallery. The folks in the office kept up and put together a recap with highlights. And we did what most of you did, watched on our TV, passing along our thoughts as the game ended. … We also have this story on Mateer from the Times’ Scott Hanson to pass along, as it ran in the S-R. … John Canzano has some thoughts on the Apple Cup as well. … Christian Caple, another member of the S-R’s Pullman alumni, has his column on his website. … Mike Vorel credits the Cougars as most in Seattle want to discuss the Huskies’ issues. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his Saturday Night Five column in the Mercury News. … The S-R ran his mailbag as well. We linked it yesterday in the Mercury News. … Stewart Mandel includes WSU in his weekly Athletic roundup. … Oregon State had ninth-ranked Oregon at home. Reser Stadium was sold out. Actually, people were standing. And the Beavers couldn’t keep up, as the Ducks and Dillon Gabriel finally played like people expected before the season. The 49-14 rivalry win was bad news in Corvallis. … Canzano has his thoughts on the wipeout as well as the Pac-12’s future. … With their 31-10 home victory over San Diego State, the Cal Bears will enter ACC play next weekend 3-0. … Travis Hunter may just be a Heisman contender. He played like it in Colorado’s 28-9 rout of host Colorado State. The Rams were not very good according to Jay Norvell. … In another matchup in the mountains. Utah, without Cam Rising, still figured out a way to top Utah State. … UCLA looks to be in for a long Big Ten season. The Bruins fell at home to Indiana. … Arizona is still dealing with the bad loss on Friday. … In the Mountain West, WSU’s opponent Friday night, San Jose State, is 3-0 after the host Spartans topped Kennesaw State 31-10. Watch out for receiver Nick Nash and quarterback Emmett Brown, the latter a Washington State transfer. … Wyoming lost again, this time to visiting BYU in a blowout, 34-14. … Will Boise State play its home opener next week? The Broncos have Portland State scheduled. See the Big Sky section for more. … Auburn pulled away in the second half to top New Mexico. … Air Force did not have it in its road loss at Baylor.

EWU: We’ve always been of the mind Eastern’s defense is the key. After all, the Eagle offense has a history of spectacular play. Saturday, the offense disappeared after halftime. And Eastern Washington lost 28-24. Dan Thompson has the coverage. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, we haven’t heard of this before but Portland State’s home game with South Dakota was canceled. The Vikings are in the midst of a whooping cough outbreak and couldn’t play. It became national news. … Montana bounces back and routs visiting Morehead State. … Northern Colorado fell 24-22 on a last-second 54-yard field goal. … Weber State had a chance to win on a late field goal, missed and fell 17-16 to Lamar. … Idaho State had an awful start and an awful 52-28 loss at No. 10 North Dakota. … UC Davis picked up its first road win. … So did Northern Arizona. … Cal Poly picked up its first win of any kind this season. … Sacramento State defeated Nicholls State handily as a local group looks toward an FBS future.

Idaho: Albany put together a solid drive to start the game. Then came up when it missed a short field goal. No one knew it then, but the game was over. Peter Harriman tells us how UI corralled the Great Danes and won 41-13.

Whitworth: The Pirates built a seemingly insurmountable lead Saturday at the Pine Bowl. Then seemed heck-bent in the second half in proving it was thus. It was, but the 31-19 victory over Eastern Oregon wasn’t what Rod Sandberg wanted after a 31-0 halftime lead. Greg Lee shares all that and more in this story.

Preps: Dave Nichols had a busy Saturday. First up, he gathered all his thoughts about the second week of Washington’s football season in his usual feature, Friday Night (High)lights. … He also put together a roundup of Saturday’s action.

Indians: Dave’s other assignment? Spokane vs. Vancouver at Gonzaga U., with the Northwest League title on the line. Who got the big hit that keyed the Indians’ championship-earning 3-2, 10-inning victory? Well, no one. Instead, Kyle Karros got hit big. With the bases loaded and the score tied. What a way to end a long, tough slog of a season. With a hit batter. Baseball. Wow.

Velocity: If you spent Saturday evening at ONE Spokane Stadium hoping to watch a lot of scoring, sorry. You were disappointed. If you, however, wanted to watch a tough defensive match, you got your wish. Spokane and South Georgia Tormenta FC played a scoreless draw. Colton Clark has the coverage.

Zephyr: Justin Reed has an interesting story on Taryn Ries, who grew up on this side of the state and played her college soccer at Portland.

Seahawks: The Hawks have injury issues. … We refused to pick a winner in today’s game. The L.A. Times’ Sam Farmer has to. It’s his job. He picks the Hawks.

Mariners: We mentioned the M’s above. Randy Arozarena’s ninth-inning line drive to left fell, another midseason addition, Victor Robles, raced home and Seattle topped the Rangers 5-4. …  Harry Ford has done something historic this season. … Edgar Martinez is helping Julio Rodriguez in a big way.

Sounders: The MLS playoffs are just around the corner. Seattle has yet to prove it can play with the league’s best when its opponent is at full strength. Is today, against Sporting Kansas City, the day?

Storm: The WNBA playoffs are also just around the corner. Seattle needs to be the best version of itself to make a run. Can the Storm step up? 

•••       

• We pushed the envelope this morning. Mainly because we are, in a lot of ways, a single parent to two dogs and a cat for the next month or so. They demand a lot of time in the morning. Time we don’t have. Not if we want to get everything covered by 9 a.m. We didn’t. But we will (and did) go back and add everything as soon as we could. Until later …