A Grip on Sports: With M’s playoff hopes gone and the Seahawks playing Monday, there is more free time this weekend than we remember

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Each Friday the past six months or so, we’ve been assured of one thing: The weekend’s Mariners game would be of some consequence. Today? That is no longer true. As we map out our sports-viewing schedule, we don’t have to worry about the M’s and their playoff chase.

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• If you do want to watch the last weekend of the last year without a talented offensive roster – one can hope, can’t one? – then all you’ll need is Root, the franchise’s regional sports network. Tonight’s game, which includes an Oakland team that yesterday played its final game – ever – in the city by the bay, starts at 7:10 p.m. Saturday, it’s a 6:40 first pitch. The season finale Sunday afternoon begins at 1:10.

Then the A’s pack their bags and prepare for a future, first in Sacramento and then in, theoretically, Las Vegas. The M’s? Their future seems even less definite.

• We definitely have college football-watching plans for the weekend. Games we don’t want to miss include:

– Washington’s first Big Ten road trip, which is about as far as one can travel across this great land without hitting the other ocean. The Huskies (3-1) are in Piscataway, N.J., tonight to face Rutgers (3-0). Kick is scheduled for 5 on Fox, but we all know it won’t happen for at least 10 minutes beyond that.

– Kalen DeBoer’s first big home game, as his No. 4 Alabama team (3-0) hosts second-ranked and 3-0 Georgia (4:30 p.m., ABC). DeBoer can either take his place among Crimson Tide legends such as Bear Bryant and Nick Saban – for a week or so – or he can become just another Gene Stallings in the eyes of the Alabama faithful.

– We will be glued to FS1 at 7 p.m., and not just to assault our eyes with the blue turf, courtesy of 25th-ranked Boise State University (2-1). In what will be a Pac-12 Conference game in two years, Washington State takes its second consecutive 4-0 record on the road. Last year the offense fell flat in a 25-17 loss at UCLA, kickstarting a six-game losing streak. What happens this season?

– Speaking of UCLA, the Bruins (1-2) are somewhat in ruins in their first Big Ten season. And they host their toughest opponent yet – unless Indiana (4-0) and No. 14 LSU (3-1) are better than we think. No. 8 Oregon (3-0) is in the Rose Bowl, which is not unique in-and-of itself. But it’s a Big Ten game. And it starts at 8 p.m. on Fox.

– Other, less-heralded games that caught our eye include pound-it-out Wisconsin (2-1) at a 13th-ranked USC team (2-1) coming off a loss at Michigan (3-1) in which the Wolverines passed for just 32 yards (12:30, CBS); Stanford (2-1), which won its first ACC contest, traveling to South Carolina to face 17th-ranked Clemson, which has routed two opponents since being shut down by Georgia (4, ESPN); and, finally, Arizona (2-1) and No. 10 Utah (4-0) meeting again in Salt Lake City (7:15, ESPN). The #Pac12AfterDark vibes are strong in that one.

• The two local FCS schools, fourth-ranked Idaho (3-1) and Eastern Washington (1-3) each have their first Big Sky games Saturday. The Vandals are at No. 14 UC Davis (3-1), a game that is exclusively on ESPN+ at 7 p.m, while the Eagles host No. 8 Montana (3-1) on SWX at 5.

• You don’t have to carve out time Sunday for the Seahawks, as their game in Detroit is Monday night (5:15, ABC).

Too bad the free window won’t be filled with a game of some magnitude. Minnesota at Green Bay (10 a.m., CBS)? Yawn. New England at San Francisco (1 p.m., Fox 28)? Double yawn, unless the Pats play exponentially better than they did last week. Kansas City at the L.A. Chargers (1:25, CBS)? With Justin Herbert probably not playing, not even Taylor Swift’s presence can save this one.

The best bet, besides just watching Scott Hanson and the RedZone all day? The Sunday night game on NBC. Baltimore’s gantlet of a schedule continues as the Ravens host Buffalo at 5:20.

The WNBA semifinals begin Sunday with Las Vegas at New York on ABC at noon and Connecticut at Minnesota on ESPN at 5:30 p.m.

And, finally, the Presidents Cup is on. We watched a lot of the action Thursday but even this golf-on-TV-loving dude was a bit bored as the U.S. built a 5-0 lead on the first day over the World team. Even the usually inciteful nature of the crowd failed to materialize due to two factors: The home team made very few waves and Canadians are too nice. Anyhow, Saturday’s action starts at 9 a.m. and Sunday’s singles beginning at 10:30 a.m. It’s on NBC both days.  

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WSU: We could have spent this morning writing about the subject of Greg Woods’ piece today. The Tyler Hilinski-led 2017 comeback win over Boise State and the quarterback’s suicide four months later. We decided not to. We didn’t want to take away any of the focus from Greg’s story. Stop reading this and read it. It’s worth your time. … Boise State is looking forward to building a rivalry series with Washington State. … If you are back, we can pass along Jon Wilner’s thoughts on what he believes the Pac-12’s next steps in its rebuild efforts should be. … Also on the realignment front, would you agree with this premise? Think the Pac-12 and Mountain West should just merge? Or do you think the Memphis athletic director opened the door for the Tigers to walk through, as long as the Pac-12 comes up with a better deal? If Memphis bolted the AAC, would Tulane follow? And would it make the Pac-12 a can’t-miss destination for that school down by the Spokane River? … The Cougars season has led to a few positive national stories, including this one on the CBS Sports site. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Wilner returns with his weekly picks. … John Canzano has his as well. … Washington’s trip to New Jersey is a homecoming of sorts for a couple of the Husky coaches. … Not only is Oregon’s game late tomorrow against UCLA in the Rose Bowl, the Bruins and quarterback Ethan Garbers may have improved enough to give the Ducks a game. Will all the extra Big Ten money help them win? … After last week’s late win, Colorado had to travel across the country, brave a hurricane and then be ready to face UCF tomorrow. … When Utah and Arizona meet, both fanbases will have their eyes focused on the Utes’ Dorian Singer. He played for the Wildcats last season. … Hey, Alex Grinch will return to L.A. with Wisconsin. … USC coach Lincoln Riley will not talk about the Bear Alexander redshirt news. … In the Mountain West, Wyoming hosts Air Force this week. Wonder if the Cowboy student body will mention the extra money the conference is giving the Falcons? … UNLV also got a bunch of money. … Why did Hawaii agree with the revamped MWC deal? It does not help them much financially. … The same could be said for New Mexico. … San Diego State has a linebacker who will feel at home this week. … UNLV has a new starting quarterback. … Utah State has some questions about the move. … Colorado State will be leaving, even though the eighth Pac-12 team is still unknown.

EWU: Yes, as we said above, the Eagles host Montana on Saturday. And as we’ve mentioned before, the Griz have yet to win a game on the red turf. Dan Thompson has more in this preview. … Speaking of that red turf, the school has decided to go ahead with plans for stadium improvements, as long as the athletic department can raise another $7 million in pledges. That would give athletics $13 million of the projected cost of $25 million. The school administration would lend athletics the other $12 million with the expectation it be paid back through revenue and donations. Dan has all the details in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, as Montana State faces improved Idaho State, the Bobcats will rely on their defense. … Northern Colorado relies on its best running back. So does Cal Poly. … A Montana linebacker will have to sit a half this week. … Weber State just hopes to improve again this week. … Speaking of improvement, Sacramento State announced plans yesterday to build a new 25,000 seat stadium.

Idaho: Peter Harriman’s preview of the second-consecutive Vandal game on the road against a ranked FCS opponent is focused on one player, linebacker Mathias Bertram. The former walk-on is a leader on and off the field for UI.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a preview of this week’s big GSL games. But before he gets to that, he has some thoughts on Spokane’s new stadium, ONE Spokane Field. … He also has a roundup of Thursday action covering soccer, slowpitch and volleyball.

UFC: Charlotte McKinley has a preview of this weekend’s Spokane Submission Series event at Riverfront Park.

Seahawks: No one can argue this premise. The weakest position group Seattle has is its offensive line. That group will be tested Monday night. … So will the defensive line, which is dealing with injuries. … Kenneth Walker III has been practicing but whether he will play is unknown.

Kraken: Vancouver is in Seattle for a preseason game tonight.

Mariners: The M’s didn’t play yesterday. But their postseason hopes died anyway when the Royals and Tigers each rallied to win. We’ll do a post-mortem on the season at some point. Ryan Divish has a short one today in the S-R and Adam Jude has a longer one in the Times. … Here’s another one to pass along. … As we mentioned above, the A’s are done in Oakland. The stadium was outdated and decrepit but the fans didn’t deserve to lose the team.

Storm: Seattle has a couple free agents it must re-sign if it wants to keep its upward momentum.

Golf: As we mentioned above, the U.S. team was dominant Thursday at Royal Montreal.

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• We watch televised sports intently. Sometimes we’re even paid to share our thoughts about it. We have a tendency to poke fun at rules analysts, mainly because so often their analysis of replay reviews misses the mark. But we welcome their presence when they are good at the job. Like Mike Pereira. He should be. He was the first. Still the best. If you missed him last season, we can now share why he was not on your TV. Richard Deitsch’s story on The Athletic site covers his back issues, his pain, his doubt and his recovery. Until later …