Trip to Pac-12 title game at Levi’s on the line in Apple Cup
Located inside the Washington State football complex is a glass enclosure where, when it’s in the possession of the crimson and gray, the Apple Cup trophy resides.
It’s been five years since the trophy has called Pullman home, and reclaiming ownership today when No. 7 Washington State hosts No. 16 Washington would add a chapter to a season already unlike no other in the Cougars’ history.
“None of the past five years has a great deal to do with right now,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said. “I’m not terribly focused on that.”
A year that began with tragedy could end with unexpected triumph if the Cougars (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12, No. 8 CFP) can end their five- game skid. The winner will play in the Pac12 championship game at Levi’s Stadium against Utah as the North Division champ, and for the Cougars, there still remains the outside possibility of landing in the College Football Playoff with two more wins and a lot of chaos.
Washington State even being mentioned in the CFP conversation is astonishing. The season has provided joy and excitement to a program shrouded in sadness less than a year after the death of Tyler Hilinski.
“I’d like to make jokes, but I think Mike Leach is awesome for college football and what he’s all about. But at the end of the day I don’t think there’s too many people that have not been impressed with what he’s done over there because they have been through a lot. It’s impressive,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said.
Gardner Minshew is a big reason why the Cougars — who were picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 North — have a chance to land in the conference title game. The grad transfer from East Carolina with the well- groomed mustache has mastered most of Leach’s offense in just a few months on campus and become the national leader in passing.
• One of three charter buses carrying members of the Washington marching band to the game rolled onto its side Thursday on Interstate 90, the Washington State Patrol said.
No serious injuries had been reported from the accident. A total of 25 students were treated for injuries that were not serious or life-threatening. ARCEGA- WHITESIDE EXPECTED BACK » Stanford receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside, the team’s top downfield threat, is expected to return Saturday after missing the Oregon State game with an ankle injury.
Arcega-Whiteside’s return was helped along by the postponement of the Cal game to Dec. 1. NO. 22 MISSISSIPPI STATE 35, MISSISSIPPI 3 » Nick Fitzgerald ran for two touchdowns and threw for another score to lead Mississippi State (8- 4, 4- 4 SEC) over Mississippi (5-7, 1-7) in an Egg Bowl in Oxford marred by a fight in the second half that led to four ejections.
Mississippi State looked as though it would cruise to a fairly uneventful win before Ole Miss receiver A. J. Brown appeared to score a touchdown at the end of the third quarter. Players immediately started shoving, and the fight spilled into the end zone while both benches emptied onto the field. The referee said every player on both teams received an unsportsmanlike penalty. AIR FORCE 27, COLORADO STATE 19 » Junior fullback Cole Fagan rushed for 260 yards, the thirdmost in Air Force history, and linebacker Kyle Floyd thwarted a late drive with an interception to help the Falcons (5-7, 3-5 Mountain West) hold off visiting Colorado State (3-9, 2- 6).
Horse racing
STEVENS RETIRES » Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens told Jay Privman of the Daily Racing Form this week that he’s retiring after a doctor told him that he’d risk permanent paralysis if he continued to ride and was involved in a spill.
Stevens rode three Kentucky Derby winners and won 11 Breeders’ Cup races.
“There won’t be any comebacks from this one,” the 55-year-old Stevens told the publication.
Golf
TIE AT THE TOP IN WORLD CUP » Ian Poulter’s approach to less than a foot helped set up one of England’s six birdies on the back nine to give him and Tyrrell Hatton a share of the lead with South Korea and Australia after the first round of fourballs at the World Cup of Golf in Mel- bourne, Australia.
Cameron Smith made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th to ensure he and Australia teammate Marc Leishman were in a tie atop the leaderboard with South Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim, all with 10-under 62s.
The U. S. team of Kyle Stanley and Matt Kuchar was in a group tied for 13th among 28 teams after a 66.
Baseball
BEETLE NAMED AFTER BAUTISTA » Jose Bautista has a new namesake buzzing around. Entomologist Bob Anderson of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa has dubbed a newly discovered species of beetle Sicoderus bautistai after the former Toronto Blue Jays star.
Anderson decided to name the insect known as a weevil for its long snout after Bautista because of the bat-flip home run that propelled Toronto to the 2015 ALCS.
“It was one of those moments in Toronto baseball sort of lore where he hit this big home run,” Anderson said. “And I thought what a great way to kind of recognize his contributions to Blue Jay baseball and to Canadian baseball, really, as a whole.”
The Sicoderus bautistai is a tiny black weevil that is found in Bautista’s native Dominican Republic.
Soccer
PANEL WANTS TO GIVE GOALIES MORE FREEDOM » World soccer’s rule-making panel wants to give goalkeepers more freedom to move when facing a penalty.
Currently, the Laws of the Game state goalkeepers “must remain on the goal line ... until the ball has been kicked.”
The panel, known as IFAB, proposed that goalkeepers should need “only one foot on the goal line when a penalty is taken.”
This would allow ’ keepers to begin moving forward earlier without risking referees ordering the kick to be retaken if they make a save.