A GRIP ON SPORTS • Can you feel the heat? No, not the one that hit us in the face like a Jack Reacher headbutt yesterday afternoon when we opened the slider. That was unavoidable. No, the heat that accompanies the opening of college football season. Pennant races. NFL camps winding down. Late-summer heat. Heralding fall surprises.
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• Will the Cougars be one of those surprises? Could they, in a season of firsts, actually finish first in the Pac-12 football race, something that hasn’t happened since 2002?
We’re starting to think there’s more than a Lloyd Christmas-like chance.
Sure, Washington State has an entirely new football hierarchy in place. New athletic director, new head coach, new coordinators, heck, even a new seating arrangement at Gesa Field. The also have a new quarterback. And, of course, face an almost-entirely new Pac-12 lineup.
But when did “new” morph into a synonym for “not-as-good” in the college football lexicon?
All we’ve read this summer is Oregon is good but it has two new coordinators, so it won’t win the national title. Or Lane Kiffin has a new address so he won’t act as crazy. Or new lawsuits will destroy the sport forever.
The leaps from Point A to Point B seems misguided at best.
New isn’t automatically worse. Or better. It just is. And every circumstance is, well, new.
Kirby Moore is new at being a head coach. But he’s been prepping for it since he was an infant. And seems to be making all the right moves.
The Cougars’ new coordinators are either ultra-experienced (Trent Bray with the defense) or have Moore’s expertise to fall back on (Matt Miller on offense).
The quarterback, Caden Pinnick, is everything the Cougs need in the position. The defense seems to be everything Bray needs as well, aggressive, fast, hell-bent to take away the ball.
Sure, there could be growing pains. The nonconference schedule is atrociously hard. Opening against No. 17 Washington in Husky Stadium? It holds the potential to be similar to Dan Lanning’s first game in charge of the Ducks. And it’s followed by a trip to Kansas State. After a breather against Duquesne at home, underrated Arizona may just tote a 3-0 record into Martin Stadium. Those four September contests are followed up by a visit from Fresno State. And then a trip to Logan, Utah. Quite a first half to the Moore’s first schedule.
No, we’re not trying to talk ourselves out of seeing the Cougars as a surprise champion. In fact, the gantlet might just serve to propel them forward.
To paraphrase some screenwriter, with great challenge comes great opportunity. It’s obvious Moore’s first team in Pullman will face the former. Take advantage of the latter and the season’s narrative changes.
There doesn’t have to be five wins in the first six games. Just win the home games and everything, from a decent bowl to a conference title, is possible. The latter would be new, of course. The former? That’s proved to be old hat for the Cougs, new coaching staff or not.
• It’s not surprising the Mariners are involved in a pennant race. That’s been the case every year for a while now. The mediocrity of the American League West almost assures it. No matter how poorly the M’s play.
And make no mistake. They have played horrendously this season. In every phase.
Yet, here we are. An August schedule seemingly designed by Thanos is winding down and the Mariners are still within shouting distance. Lo and behold, after the next road trip (to Toronto and Boston), they don’t play a team with a winning record – as of today – the remainder of the season. It’s almost as if the Marvel bad guy put on his glove, snapped his fingers and the winning teams all disappeared.
It doesn’t hurt at all Cal Raleigh is beginning to look a bit like his 2025 self, with five home runs in five games. At his best, he’s potent enough to lift the entire lineup.
A lineup that hasn’t supported the pitching staff is all of a sudden doing just that. The starting pitchers are turning the ball over to a bullpen that hasn’t dropped it. Just as everyone thought the entire season would go.
Sorry. Got a bit excited there. By just a couple of wins over the Phillies. At home, where Seattle has the West’s best record. Lucky for the M’s, after the upcoming trip ends, they will play 13 home games and only nine – three each in Sacramento, Anaheim and Denver – on the road.
Is it enough? We can’t shake the nagging feeling it won’t be. That they will come up a game or two short. They are the Mariners after all. But the past couple days have supplied hope. False, maybe. But hope nonetheless.
• The Seahawks have one more preseason game. And one mission. The game? In Kansas City. Friday night. The mission? Keep everyone healthy.
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WSU: How did Pinnick win the starting spot? Greg Woods answers that question in today’s S-R. We linked the story above as well. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, John Canzano’s column from Tuesday focuses on the Cougs and Oregon State. … Jon Wilner has his bowl projections for the Pac-12 legacy schools in the Mercury News. He has Washington State earning a berth again. … Could Oregon State be adding a graduated running back to its roster? The Beavers have talked with Anthony Hankerson, who was waived by the Seahawks recently. And they are letting two players in legal limbo practice. … Fresno State has a starting lineman who has gone from just getting by to dominating. … San Diego State has one gap in its special teams. … In basketball news, Boise State’s men will play in a new Idaho Thanksgiving tournament. … Recruiting never stops for Utah State. … Elsewhere in the West and the nation, both the SEC and Big Ten took matters into their own hands and banned pretty much anyone who touched the NFL this season from playing in their conferences. Tomorrow’s headline? Something about a lawsuit. … Wilner returns with a ranking of the Big Ten schools. … The Athletic looks at every FBS school. … Washington welcomed a healthy Mississippi State transfer to practice for the first time. … Oregon has answered some of its preseason questions. … Progress is a good thing. … How did training camp go for Utah? … New rules about NFL guys? UCLA says its newest roster addition isn’t covered by the Big Ten’s ban. … USC has already been hit with injuries, though replacements have been named. … Arizona State lost a player for the season. … Arizona figured out its backup quarterback spot. … In basketball news, the Washington men announced their nonconference schedule. … Utah lost a player the other day. And added one Tuesday. … Recruiting never stops for the Arizona women.
EWU: The Big Sky football season begins Friday night, though the Eagles don’t play at No. 25 Northern Arizona until Saturday. Yep, they open with a conference game. Dan Thompson documents how rare an occurrence that is. … Dan also returns with another schedule story. This one on basketball. Men and women, starting with Dan Monson putting together another tough nonconference slate.… Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the Friday night games? Idaho at Cal Poly and Northern Colorado hosting Weber State. The Wildcats’ season will be different, with a first-year head coach. … Saturday’s games? No. 6 UC Davis at Portland State, Southern Utah re-acquaints itself, traveling to Missoula to face second-ranked Montana and No. 1 Montana State hosting the other newcomer, Utah Tech. Idaho State hosts VMI in a nonconference matchup.
Preps: Dave Nichols continues to visit GSL football practices this week to see how it is going.
Indians: If Spokane is going to make the Northwest League playoffs, a fast finish will have to begin soon. As early as tonight. The Indians dug a deeper hole in the standings last night, losing 6-1 at Vancouver. Dave Nichols has the game coverage.
Mariners: George Kirby was nearly unhittable. The offense, with Raleigh hitting another bomb, supplied enough. And the M’s earned a series win over the Phillies with Tuesday night’s 4-1 decision. … The column from Mike Vorel on whether or not the M’s will try to re-sign Randy Arozarena we linked yesterday? It is on the S-R site today. … J.P. Crawford is back from injury. So long, for now, Leo Rivas. … Can the owners stick together long enough to outlast the players in a work stoppage?
Storm:Seattle has tremendous potential in the frontcourt. But it has yet to prove it can play together.
Sounders:The trade with Kansas City for striker Dejan Joveljić was officially announced Tuesday.
Seahawks: Our injury concerns? They are based on what happened in Nashville. The Hawks placed a couple of players, including rookie Bud Clark, on injured reserve. They won’t play this season. … The sale will be voted upon today. … The fourth episode of “Hard Knocks” (double-checked our typing today) was instructive. And painful. … Byron Murphy is asserting himself more.
Golf: A hole in one? Never had one. Never saw one in person either. Too bad we weren’t playing recently with Mike and Joyce Sedler at Latah Creek. We would have seen two. One by each of them. Madison McCord has the story. … The PGA’s Fed-Ex playoffs end this week. Changes are coming in 2028. Will the current LIV players be part of them? That is murky at the moment.
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• Having lunch today with a couple of folks who are legends in this town. Well, to us anyway. One was our first boss here. The other was first among our friends until he moved away. Until later …
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• Photos: The Spokesman-Review, Getty Images, Tribune News Service