A Grip on Sports: Today’s games, including the one in Boise, will be hard-pressed to top Friday night’s college football finishes

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Can we forget about realignment for a day? Quit pounding on the Pac-12’s choices the past 10 days or so? Just enjoy the football and the young men who play it? Too much to ask? OK then. You do you. We’re going to settle in and see if today’s games can match last night’s finishes.

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• We’re still trying to figure out how Washington lost 21-18 at Rutgers last night. Heck, the Huskies’ Will Rogers threw for more yards than the Scarlet Knights gained. And that wasn’t the only statistical marker they dominated. The ran up and down the field at will and never turned the ball over.

Oh, sure, everyone wants to point to the penalties. But six for 69 yards? There’s one professional offensive lineman in Seattle who can probably top that by himself. And we’ve seen many teams overcome such blunders, especially when they had more than 200 rushing yards.

Yes, usually reliable kicker Grady Gross missed two field goals, including a “Hail Mary,” 55-yard tying attempt as time expired. And yes, the penalties seemed to come at inopportune times, including a “what-a-great-play-I-have-to-celebrate-by-running-on-the-field” one at the end of the half. That unsportsmanlike flag resulted in an undeserved seven points for the Knights – in a three-point game.

But as Clint Eastwood once famously said before sending another bad guy to his reward, deserved has nothing to do with it.

One year after a surprising run to the national title game, UW is reverting to the mean. At the worst possible time, the Huskies first year in the Big Ten – even if Rutgers isn’t the first team one thinks of when thinking Big Ten football.

Call it karma or bad luck or, heck, just the vagaries of football. Call it what you want. Just don’t gloat. It happens to every football program in America. Except maybe Alabama.

• It’s pretty important for the ACC that the maligned conference, wrapped up in litigation with a couple of its own members, have at least one team stay in the national spotlight this season. Being the third-best football conference in the nation sounds fine but when you realize there are only four of the power variety left, it’s less impressive. Right?

Going into the weekend, the only school that could carry the ACC’s banner with any sort of pride was Miami. The Canes leader? That would be former WSU quarterback Cam Ward, who is playing pretty much as well as he did in Pullman early last season but is the odds-on Heisman Trophy favorite. And by pretty much, we mean the 300-plus passing yards and four touchdowns, sure, but also the two interceptions he threw last night as the seventh-ranked Canes faced a hype-catastrophe, if not playoff-elimination, game at home vs. Virginia Tech. In fact, they actually lost 40-38.

At least that was the score as the clock read 0:00.

But we all know the end is not the end. Not with replay. Not with the ACC needing so badly to prop up the Canes’ resume.

Did Tech’s Da’Quan Felton catch the game winner in the back of the endzone as time expired? That’s what was ruled on the field. And remember what it says in the rule book: “There must be indisputable video evidence for an on-field officiating call to be changed by the Instant Replay Official.” Indisputable.

Watching the scrum that was the final play, there is no way, by any definition, by any measure, the replay official – and anyone else who might have been involved – could term what video showed as “indisputable.”

Not if it takes six minutes to parse everything and finally come up with a decision. (The explanation from the conference office took a couple hours more.) A Miami defender was out of bounds and touching the ball why the ball was up for grabs. That makes it incomplete. But did that come before or after the catch was made? Are you sure? Indisputably sure?

What is indisputable is this: A completed pass is a huge blow for the ACC in the race for public acceptance as a major conference in these new times. An incomplete pass keeps Miami undefeated, keeps the Canes in the national title conversation. And keeps Ward front and center in the Heisman talk.

The call was overturned. Miami won 38-34.

• We’re not sure we will be able to sit in front of the television set tonight and write a TV Take. Not because we don’t want to or the late hour or we haven’t paid the cable bill. Our worries center round health.

We got poked yesterday. Twice. The flu vaccine in one arm, the COVID-19 one in, well, the same arm. Why have both feel like Mike Tyson used them for speed bags? But having to write one-handed – as is somewhat of the case this morning – is the least of my worries.

The rest of my body is beginning to act like a bunch of UW fans on social media. And my brain’s decision to get both shots at once is playing the role of Jedd Fisch. My right calf and left hamstring and the one shoulder that didn’t get poked are all complaining the only way they can: By sending painful reminders of our decision to the brain.

We’ll see how it goes today. We might be just fine. We might not. But at least you can count on us to be as close to the action as the FS1 announcing crew of Dan Hellie and Petros Papadakis.

B.J. Rains, who covers Boise State with a Bronco-based website, tweeted last night the crew will be covering the game from Fox’s Los Angeles studios. It’s the future – and the present – folks. And it’s one of about 107 reasons we really want to cover the broadcast.

Hear that sinuses? Quit bellyaching. That’s the stomach’s job.

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WSU: No. 25 Boise State has a Heisman candidate of its own. An old-school candidate. A running back. Ashton Jeanty. He’s the focus of the Cougar defense. And of Greg Woods’ preview story. … Greg also has the keys to the game and his pick. … Boise State may use starters tonight to bolster its special-teams play. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has a lot in the Mercury News today, including a mailbag that is full of expansion talk, most of it actually favorable to the conference. … He also passes along the weekly recruiting summary. … We can pass along an Oregon State mailbag from the Oregonian as well this morning. … Washington’s defeat, which we covered above, is not sitting well with Husky fans. We are friends with a few personally and others in the social media definition. None seem enamored of Fisch. … It’s a big day for Oregon. Night, actually, what with the 8 p.m. start time in Pasadena. The game with UCLA is the Ducks’ first in the Big Ten. The beginning of their grand experiment in a whole new world. John Canzano wonders if they will be more successful than, say, Texas A&M and Nebraska after they changed conferences. … Stanford is on the road this week. In South Carolina. Facing a Clemson team that stunk against Georgia and has been solid since. … After the amazing comeback win last week for Colorado, can the Buffs bounce back and focus on UCF? … New conference, same late start time for late-arriving Arizona, playing its first Big 12 game, and revenge-minded Utah. … USC expects its offensive line will play better this week against Wisconsin. … How many Big 12 games can Arizona State win? … In the Mountain West, the crud this week at UNLV, non-realignment division, is part of football’s biggest issue these days. The Rebels play Fresno State at the end of the odd week. … On the other hand, Georgia playing at Alabama, is the other side of the coin. … Hawaii is staying with the Mountain West, though the football-only Warriors don’t count toward the eight teams the NCAA mandates in a conference. They get to sell some of their home games to TV. And they are trying to leverage that due to the amount of gambling done on their games. … Air Force and Wyoming face off today in Laramie. The Falcons have not won their in a dozen years. … San Diego State gets its starting quarterback back from injury today. … New Mexico faces rival New Mexico State in Las Cruces.

EWU: Montana has never won on Eastern’s red turf. The Eagles haven’t won in weeks, three to be exact. Which streak ends today in Cheney? Dan Thompson tries to figure out in his preview piece. … The eighth-ranked Griz are ready to end their streak. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Idaho State expects a tough one as it welcomes in third-ranked Montana State. … Weber State finishes its nonconference slate by hosting McNeese State. … Northern Arizona travels to Sacramento State to open conference play. … Portland State tries for its first win, heading to Tennessee to face winless Chattanooga.

Idaho: The fourth-ranked Vandals have played a much-tougher schedule than most of its FCS counterparts. The tough tests continue tonight in Davis, as UI visits 14th-ranked UC Davis. The Aggies haven’t lost to Idaho under Jason Eck, nor anyone, actually, since the Vandals returned from the FBS ranks. Peter Harriman has more in this preview.

Chiefs: And he’s not done. Dave has this story on Spokane picking up a regulation road win, topping Wenatchee 6-3. The Chiefs host Tri-City in their home opener tonight at the Arena.

Preps: Landon Garner has been Ridgeline High’s starting quarterback for a long time. Long enough, in fact, to lead the Falcons into the postseason for the first time and, with 372 yards passing last night, move into second all-time in the GSL in that stat. He also led host Ridgeline to a 48-44 win over Shadle Park last night, the game Dave Nichols covers in today’s paper. … Colin Mulvany was on the sidelines and he has this photo gallery. … Greg Lee was out last night as well, at West Valley for the Eagles’ 39-10 win over Pullman. … Dave returns with a roundup of the other football games last night. … Wait. Don’t leave. Dave has another story. It’s on Central Valley inducting seven athletes and three teams into its Wall of Fame last night.

Seahawks: It’s looking more and more as if key running back Kenneth Walker III will play Monday night. He’s coming back from an injury. … Mike Morris may get a chance to play more today. … The offensive line needs to control Aidan Hutchison. If it can. Maybe playing faster will help.

Mariners: It’s doesn’t mean much in the way M’s fans would like, but Seattle rode Bryan Woo’s excellent start and solo home runs from Mitch Garver and Cal Raleigh to a 2-0 victory over Oakland at T-Mobile. … Turns out failure was an option for the Mariners this season. Despite a great starting staff and some touted postseason offensive changes. … No Macklemore during the seventh-inning stretch. But no “Louie, Louie” either. … Could Shohei Ohtani, who passed Ichiro’s Japanese-born stolen base record last night, actually win the National League’s Triple Crown? If he does, he’ll be the first since Ducky Medwick in 1937. Or was it “Tungsten Arm” O’Doyle for the 1921 Akron Groomsmen?

Storm: Being a rookie in the WNBA isn’t always easy.

Kraken: The drought is over, if there can be such a thing in the preseason. The Kraken stopped visiting Vancouver to win their first exhibition game.

Sounders: A playoff spot beckons. Seattle can secure one today.

Golf: What a turnaround. The Presidents Cup is tied going into today’s matches. The International team blew out the U.S. on Friday, winning handily in a couple matches and sweeping all five.

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• Ya, we had to walk around the back yard this morning. Just cleaning up, as we do each morning. Anyhow, we were quite slow. Not just 67-year-old slow. Turtle slow. Snail slow. Moving any faster was just not enjoyable. Hopefully, we feel better by 7 p.m. Until later …