Winds and rain chase away smoke in Pullman. The Cougars will play season opener against Portland State as scheduled
Here we are, folks — it’s the first week of college football. Let the games begin!
The crazy winds and a little rain over the weekend did Washington State a favor and cleared out a lot of residual smoke from the wildfires that have ravaged the state. As a result, the Cougars are on track to play their football season opener against Portland State at 11 a.m. on Sept. 5 as scheduled.
Until last week, there was concern that poor air quality — the air quality index was around 200 early Saturday — would force WSU to postpone or move its game against the Vikings. That is now unlikely. More rain is expected on Wednesday and this will also likely help WSU’s cause.
The Cougars are off Monday, and will resume game week practices beginning Tuesday afternoon.
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Now, some links from around the Pac-12:
- Jacob Thorpe from The Spokesman-Review talks about how key freshmen such as Darrien Molton and Tavares Martin Jr. could play a big part for the Cougs this year.
- USA Today’s George Schroeder has this piece on how former EWU QB Vernon Adams managed to win the starting job at Oregon within two weeks.
- The Autzen Zoo blog predicts WSU will finish the season 4-8.
- USC’s Su’a Cravens, Washington’s Budda Baker and Arizona’s Scooby Wright are the three candidates ESPN.com’s Pac-12 writers predict could be the league’s defensive player of the year.
- Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury-News predicts how the Pac-12 division race will shake out. Interestingly, he ranks WSU to finish No. 4 over No. 5 Washington in the Pac-12 North.
- The Trojans continue to deal with the fall out from Steve Sarkisian’s drunken episode at a booster event. The OC Register’s Scott M. Reid says USC would be better off without Sarkisian and Pat Haden.
- Also from the OC Register, apparently UCLA has nicknamed freshman quarterback Josh Rosen “J-Chosen.” Is this kid really the next coming of Troy Aikman?
- No cupcakes in Salt Lake — Utah opens its season against Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan squad. The hype starts now.
- Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright isn’t complacent after his breakout season, Daniel Berk writes for the Arizona Daily Star.