A
GRIP ON SPORTS • A decent, but not spectacular, Saturday on tap for college
football? Maybe someone decided to ask the government for some help. You know,
inject some drama with a flyover or something? What, a four-hour flight ban is
your solution? Talk about unintended consequences.
•••••••
• We kid, of course. But the FAA’s ground
stop for the nation’s airline service certainly infused a little uncertainty in
Friday’s pregame runups, didn’t it? And put college football teams’ travel
plans in the spotlight.
As in flying the day before the game.
As far as we can remember – and, sorry, we’re
not digging through travel records to confirm this – that wasn’t the case when
we were trudged up-and-down the West Coast every-other-week covering the Cougar
football team. Of course, that was two decades ago. Nothing has changed in
college football since then, has it?
Ok, nothing has stayed the same – except the
importance of not turning over the ball. So why should travel itineraries be unaffected
by the revolutions?
Every conference office in America had to
deal with travel issues Friday. Not just for football but for any sport that
requires getting on an airplane to compete. Which means all of them in this era
of no-longer-regional leagues.
Decisions had to be made on, pardon the pun,
the fly. Some seemed reasonable. Others not so much.
• In the latter category we give you Ole Miss
playing a football game at Oklahoma. On Sunday. The Sooner athletic director
would rather risk Greg Sankey’s wrath than meekly agree to such a disruption of a home game in Norman. Or the TV rating fallout. Whenever the SEC decides which
network it can induce into carrying the game.
But, hey, Ole Miss still has an outside shot
at a CFP berth. The conference office wants to make sure the longtime-member maximizes
that and doesn’t rebel. Let’s ease the travel burden. Oklahoma is a new kid.
Let the Sooners deal with the angst.
The protection of CFP-maybe teams also seemed
to be on the Big 12’s mind. Second-seeded Utah, in line for one of the four
byes, only has a couple-hour flight to Tucson this morning. But the game was
pushed back three hours. Arizona State, out of any CFP discussion, has to fly from
Phoenix to Tampa. But the game with USF was only pushed back two.
Yes, we are well aware game-time changes are
impacted by other games. By TV network orders. By a hundred other
considerations. But all we are saying anyone who thinks conferences didn’t give
the better teams special consideration hasn’t been paying attention. Today,
yesterday or the past few decades.
• Football and basketball teams that charter
to games are one thing. Another? Officials, who mainly travel with the rest of
us in overcrowded air buses (or Airbuses). There must have been some disruption
there. And gives everyone some convenient cover today when the inevitable
mistakes are made.
And then there are the myriad of Olympic
sports athletes who are competing this weekend. A lot of long hours at airports
are in store. Though they are more used to it than their pampered revenue-raising
(and NIL-receiving) cousins.
• By the way, we’re not sure all the
game-time changes will make it into your cable guide. Or any other place you
rely on to plan your sport-viewing day. Luckily we don’t have to DVR anything
today. And, with the predicted rain, don’t have to leave our man cave (AKA, the
family living room) for any length of time. We can settle in and let the large
rectangle shine on us morning, noon and #Pac12AfterDark.
• Speaking of that last thing, it sure seems
as the AfterDark magic still lingers in no-longer-Pac-12 places.
Like Boulder, where lackluster – at best –
Colorado fell behind early then roared back to upset 14th-rankedHouston. Or the Rose Bowl, home to so much of the Pac-12 history.
Fourth-ranked UCLA needed a Lazurus-lite revival for quarterback Ty
Dieffenbach – he suffered a shoulder injury late in the first half that kept
him in the locker room into the third quarter – in the second half to hold off recently hot Illinois 22-14.
By the way, referee Chris Coyte revived
another Pac-12 tradition in that game.
The longtime official, now working in the Big
Ten, at one point seemed to forget to announce a penalty before starting the
replay review, which made determining whether there should have been a flag off-limits.
His interaction with the replay command center made it clear he wanted to. Nope,
rules are rules, no matter how silly they seem.
Then there was the debatable adjudication of
the final Illinois possession. It was so rife with issues Illini coach Brett
Bielema turned about 17 shades of red as the clock wound down. He was so
animated, we’re guessing the stadium’s EMTs were put on stroke alert.
It’s nice to know, in this ever-changing college
football world we live in, some things don’t change.
•••
WSU: Yes, Colorado State’s travel plans were
thrown for a loop by the nationwide ground stop. But we can attest Greg Woods
had already made his pick – he has the Cougars earning win No. 2 – before the
extra-added distraction. … Greg covers the travel issues and has a preview of the game. …Washington State comes into tonight’s game
1-8 overall, 0-5 in conference play. Colorado State is 3-6, 1-4. The game will
still start at 7:30 p.m. and will be carried by the CBS Sports Network. … The Wazzu cross country tradition continues, with Solomon
Kipchoge and the Coug women writing another chapter Friday at the NCAA West
Regional in Sacramento. Kipchoge won for the third-consecutive year and the
women finished second, qualifying for nationals. … It wasn’t easy but the WSU women’s basketball team got past visiting Southern Utah 72-69 at home. … Here are the other Pac-12 football
games today, listed chronologically:
–
Fresno State (5-4, 2-3) at Texas State (5-4, 3-2), (1 p.m., The CW): The
Bulldogs had trouble getting to San Marcos, even though they left Fresno before
the flights were stopped. They had to land in San Antonio instead of Austin, which
induced a little scrambling. Now they will try to scramble past the Bobcats.
– Oregon
State (5-4, 3-2) at No. 17 (No. 24 CFP) Boise State (8-1, 5-1), (3, USA): The game? That seems to be secondary to what is happening as we type. College GameDay is broadcasting from Boise. … With their quarterback officially sidelined, the Beavers’ hope for a win may just depend on how well the defense stops the run. … OSU was late getting to Idaho. … John Canzano is in Boise to witness what the ESPN
presence means for the school and the conference.
– Utah
State (4-5, 3-2) at San Diego State (4-5, 3-2), (6:30, USA): The Aggies arrived a little late but they made it. Now they have to worry about quarterback Stone Saunders and the Aztecs.
• In basketball news, Utah State’s men hit a bunch
of 3-pointers in a 120-82 win over visiting UC San Diego. … Colorado State has another tough game on tap today. … Colorado faces off with Providence. … No. 12 Arizona picked up an important win at Auburn, topping the Tigers 80-69. … Arizona State also won again. … The Oregon women won in
Maine. It was close. Maybe they were already anticipating how tough it could be to travel home. … UCLA headed home from Arizona with a dominating win Thursday.
• Elsewhere in football around the West and
the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly mailbag on the Mercury News website. …
There are plenty of good games to watch today. … Despite travel issues, and
ensuing later start time, the stakes remain the same for Washington today at
Michigan State. The Huskies basically must win to keep bowl hopes viable. … Michigan
avoided the travel problems by getting to Eugene early. Now can the Wolverines
avoid problems against the revitalized Ducks? … Before Friday’s win, the main
point of discussion in Boulder seemed to be how much it would cost to run off Deion Sanders. … California seems to be healthier as the Bears face Virginia on the
road. … UCLA and coach Bob Chesney are close to a contract extension. The Bruins don’t want him in Ann Arbor or Tallahassee next fall. … No. 18 USC has a lot of unknowns at ninth-ranked Indiana this afternoon.
Gonzaga: The 14th-ranked Gonzaga men host
undefeated LSU today at the Arena (12:30 p.m., USA). As Theo Lawson relates in his preview, the Tigers may not have the attention of the Associated Press poll
voters, they certainly have Mark Few’s. After all, a couple of LSU’s court-eligible
transfers seemed to be on GU’s radar too. … Theo also has his usual key matchup, which highlights one of many Tigers with NBA aspirations. And one of
the Zags’. … The nation’s flight issues didn’t impact most of the LSU roster,
which was already in Spokane for today’s game. But they also did ensure former
St. John’s star RJ Luis, whom a judge ordered Friday to be added to the Tigers’ roster immediately, couldn’t make it here to add to LSU’s already formidable offense.
… Despite a veteran-filled roster, the GU women have not started the season
with their usual success. They traveled to Phoenix for a matchup with Grand
Canyon on Friday and didn’t seem in sync to start. A large halftime deficit
resulted in an 82-62 loss. Greg Lee tells us how it all came to be.
EWU and Idaho: The flight issues also had an
impact on both games featuring the local Big Sky schools. Dan Thompson explains how, and how much, in this story. … Dan also has his three things to watch for the
Eastern at Utah Tech game (now starting at 6 p.m.) while Peter Harriman has the same for the Vandals as they host UC Davis at 5. … The Eagle men’s basketball
team played its first home game Friday and rolled visiting Corban University
102-68. Dan has that story as well. … The Vandal men couldn’t hold on at home, losing
to Cal Poly 83-74 despite leading for much of the contest. Peter has that story.
… Elsewhere in the Big Sky in football, Southern Utah edged host Portland State 23-21 on a late field goal last night. … Second-ranked Montana State is still playing at Northern Colorado, though the start time has been moved back. … No. 20 Weber State and fifth-ranked Northern Arizona are
in Flagstaff, with the game starting later than originally scheduled. … No. 21 Idaho State faces No. 12 Montana in Missoula. … In
basketball news, the winless Northern Arizona men came this close to
giving the conference a signature upset. But a late 3-pointer lifted host
Kentucky to a 78-77 victory. … The Montana women have lost three consecutive games.
Whitworth:
The slow start for the Pirate men continued at home Friday, with Whitworth falling to Northwest University 94-91 in the Fieldhouse.
Preps: Much of the State playoff action on
the football field is today but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some games last
night. As well as other sports. They are covered in this roundup.
Chiefs: With the Zags playing a 12:30 game
today in the Arena, the MVP of the weekend might just be the folks who had to
turn the place from a hockey rink to a basketball venue in only a few hours. Spokane hosted Everett last night, won 2-0, continued their hot start to the season – (14-2-0-1)
– and then allowed the crew to get to work.
Seahawks: We’ve been thinking about this a
lot lately. If Drew Lock wins again and Sam Darnold struggles whenever he returns,
will the Hawks have an always-hated quarterback controversy? Yes. And it may be a big one. …
The addition of Klint Kubiak on the other side of this game injects some challenges
into the Hawks’ prep. … A few injured players are returning. … You like picks?
We can pass some along from The Athletic.
•••
• It is way-too Seattle-like outside this morning. Rain
turning to mist turning back to a drizzle. Moss growing everywhere like
something out of a Steve McQueen ‘50s sci-fi movie. But no worries. It will be
snowing soon. And there could be a lot of it this winter. Oh joy. Is it too late to become a skier? Until later …
•••
• Photos: The Spokesman-Review, Getty
Images, Tribune News Service
Source: www.spokesman.com
