WSU will be in either northern or southern California
Good morning, and welcome to college football’s version of Christmas Day. By 9:15 (PST) this morning, the College Football Playoff committee will have announced its four participants (almost certainly Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington – probably in that order). Once that is complete, and once everyone commences yelling about how the dumb stupid morons on the CFP committee got it wrong because they’re all dumb and stupid, the rest of the bowls will announce their matchups.
It is then that we all expect the Holiday Bowl to extend an invitation to WSU, which will be happily accepted. The signs all point to the Cougs facing either Iowa or Minnesota. The guess here (and elsewhere) is that Iowa ends up in Tampa and the Golden Gophers head to San Diego. If WSU does indeed face Minnesota, it will do so 10 years after Mike Leach faced the Gophers in a bowl game. You might remember that as the greatest comeback in bowl history, as the Red Raiders rallied from a 38-7 deficit to force overtime, ultimately winning 44-41.
A rematch between Leach and the Gophers would probably be a fun one, as it would be a clash of styles. While the Cougs are well-known for the Air Raid, the Gophers had more rushing yards in 2016 than passing yards. They also don’t beat themselves, giving up 37 points off of turnovers while scoring 93 points off opponent turnovers.
Since I spent three paragraphs talking about the likelihood of a trip to San Diego to face Minnesota, the Cougs are all but guaranteed to either draw Iowa, or head to the Foster Farms Bowl. Either way, we get to find out pretty soon. And at least we know that WSU won’t be in El Paso the day after Christmas.
The CFP selection show begins at 9 a.m. PST on ESPN and lasts four hours, during which you will hear every lava-hot take from every ESPN analyst who ever lived. If that isn’t enough for you, flip on over to ESPNU at 1 p.m. for the Championship Drive Bowl Selection Show. Hopefully they’ll dedicate a minute or three to the Cougs. Merry College Football Christmas.
Football
Washington State likely headed to Holiday Bowl | The Spokesman-Review
Washington State will know its bowl destination by early Sunday afternoon, and all signs right now point to the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 in San Diego.
Pac-12 Final Regular Season Rankings, Bowl Projections, Scores | College Football News
Welcome to the Pac-12 rankings, bowl projections and scores in the final week of the college football season.
Bowl watch: Still plenty of options for Holiday, Poinsettia bowls – The San Diego Union-Tribune
The Cougars, who haven’t been to the Holiday since a 2003 win over Texas, are expected to bring plenty of fans after a resurgent season. Stanford has turned its season around with five straight wins, has never played in a bowl game here and has one of the country’s most exciting players in Christian McCaffrey.
Basketball
WSU’s bad basketball team played a bad basketball team from New Orleans Saturday. Once all the bad basketball was over, the Cougars were once again on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
New Orleans downs cold-shooting Washington State | The Spokesman-Review
For the second time in a week, the Washington State men’s basketball team competed on its own floor and played a lackluster game that resulted in a loss against an inspired opponent.
Beer
Best beer I had this week: I was all set to come in here and tell everyone that Dogfish Head Pennsylvania Tuxedo Imperial Pale Ale was easily the best of a lot of good beer I had. It is tremendous. Then I tasted another beer I bought at the same time, and a new winner emerged. Genesee Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter is one of the best beers I’ve had this year.
Non-Sports
Lee Harvey Oswald’s little green book shows JFK wasn’t the real target – LA Times
James Reston Jr. offers an address book belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald as additional evidence indicating that President Kennedy wasn’t the target of the Dallas assassination.