Pac-12
Networks will be in Pullman for "The Pregame" airing live from
Washington State ahead of Cougars' 3 p.m. Saturday football kickoff vs. Utah
By Pac-12
Networks PR
September
the 25th 2018
Saturday
coverage on Pac-12 Network anchored from on-site at Washington State outside of
Martin Stadium this Saturday, Sept. 29
Pac-12
Network to feature Utah at Washington State as well as Oregon State at Arizona
State
SAN
FRANCISCO – Pac-12 Networks continues its 12-week tour of “The Pregame” this
week by heading to Pullman, Wash. for the Cougars' matchup against Utah.
Coverage
this week begins with an all-new “Inside Pac-12 Football” tonight at 6 p.m. PT
/ 7 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network as host Mike Yam previews the week ahead with
analysts Curtis Conway and Yogi Roth.
Tonight’s
episode will feature a special interview with Stanford head coach David Shaw
after the Cardinal’s victory at Oregon this past weekend, as well as Washington
State quarterback Gardner Minshew.
On
Saturday, Sept. 29, coverage on Pac-12 Network begins at 2 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. MT
with “The Pregame” as host Ashley Adamson and analysts Nigel Burton, Evan Moore
and Yogi Roth preview the day’s slate beginning with Utah at Washington State
at 3 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. MT, also on Pac-12 Network.
The set
location for "The Pregame" this week will be outside of Martin
Stadium near the School of Molecular Biosciences building on the corner of
Stadium Way and Ferdinand's Lane.
Following the game will be “Pac-12 Football Gamebreak” before Oregon
State at Arizona State at 7 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. MT.
On the
call for Utah at Washington State will be Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth and Jill
Savage and for Oregon State at Arizona State Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and
Lewis Johnson.
Immediately
following the Oregon State at Arizona State game will feature host Mike Yam
along with analysts Lincoln Kennedy and Toby Gerhart for “Pac-12 Postgame
Report,” as well as “Pac-12 Final Score” at 11 p.m. PT / 12 a.m. MT to recap
the entire week of action.
Week Five
on Pac-12 Network: Sept. 25-30
==Tuesday,
Sept. 25
6 p.m. PT
/ 7 p.m. MT – “Inside Pac-12 Football,” presented by Maui Jim
Host: Mike
Yam, Analysts: Curtis Conway and Yogi Roth
Featuring
special interview with Stanford head coach David Shaw and Washington State QB
Gardner Minshew
==Saturday,
Sept. 29
2 p.m. PT
/ 3 p.m. MT – “The Pregame,” presented by 76, live from Washington State
Host:
Ashley Adamson, Analysts: Nigel Burton, Evan Moore and Yogi Roth
Live from
Washington State, the set will be located outside of Martin Stadium near the
School of Molecular Biosciences building, on the corner of Stadium Way and
Ferdinand's Lane
3 p.m. PT
/ 4 p.m. MT – Utah at Washington State, presented by Taco Bell
Play-by-play:
Ted Robinson, Analyst: Yogi Roth and Reporter: Jill Savage
“Pac-12
Football Gamebreak” between games
Host:
Ashley Adamson, Analysts: Nigel Burton and Evan Moore
7 p.m. PT
/ 8 p.m. MT – Oregon State at Arizona State, presented by Taco Bell
Play-by-play:
Roxy Bernstein, Analyst: Anthony Herron and Reporter: Lewis Johnson
“Pac-12
Postgame Report” following Oregon State at Arizona State
Host: Mike
Yam, Analysts: Lincoln Kennedy and Toby Gerhart
11 p.m. PT
/ 12 a.m. MT – “Pac-12 Final Score”
Host: Mike
Yam, Analysts: Lincoln Kennedy and Toby Gerhart
==Sunday,
Sept. 30
8 p.m. PT
/ 9 p.m. MT – “Football in 60: Game of the Week”
Each week
Pac-12 Networks will re-air each of the previous week’s Pac-12 home football
games in an action-packed and hour-long format.
The first airing occurs with the “Game of the Week” every Sunday evening
on Pac-12 Network.
Coverage
of the 2018 Pac-12 football season can also be followed all year long across
the Pac-12 and Pac-12 Networks’ digital and social media channels on
Pac-12.com, Twitter (@Pac12Network and @Pac12), Facebook
(facebook.com/Pac12Conference), Instagram (@Pac12Conference), Snapchat
(@pac12conference) and Pac-12 Networks’ YouTube channel.
HOW TO
WATCH
All Pac-12
Networks coverage of Pac-12 football can be seen on Pac-12 Network and the
Pac-12 Now app (available on the App store for iOS and Google Play for
Android), as well as on appropriate and available Pac-12 Networks regional
channels.
……………
Worst date
Mike Leach has ever been on
WSU
football head coach tells tale of disastrous high school prom at Monday press
conference
By JACKSON
GARDNER, Evergreen
September
25, 2018
Football
Head Coach Mike Leach sat down for his weekly press conference Monday afternoon
to field questions about the previous week, the Cougars upcoming game and, of
course, a few fun ones. Spokane’s KHQ does a weekly ‘fan question of the week,’
where a fan will submit a question for Leach. And boy, Leach saw that belt-high
fast ball and smacked it out of the ballpark.
Instead of
me trying to explain, it is better to hear Leach in his own words, so here is
his 762-word response to the worst date he has ever been on:
“Oh man,
the worst date? You guys act like I dated all the time … yeah I must say. God,
yeah I’ll tell you what.
OK so I
was in high school, and first of all, this young lady was a fantastic young
lady, we just had nothing in common. We honestly had nothing in common.
It was the
type of thing where we had the big dance coming up and I was heading up for an
athletic event — and in Wyoming you would go out early sometimes like for
track. The track meet would last three days. And I’m sure she feels the same
way just so we’re clear [about the date being a bad one] cause it really was
kind of mutual.
So we had
a track meet, and so I’m heading out Thursday, because you would be gone
Thursday, Friday and get back Saturday — because you know Wyoming is all spread
out, so they would have like 13-team track meets because it was hard to
assemble and get everyone together, and I’m heading 310 miles down the road.
So anyway,
we didn’t really know each other, we hadn’t talked very much and so we agree to
go together, and we literally did not know each other at all.
And it was
during the disco-era, which was the worst era of music that there is. I mean,
that’s just a bad memory, disco. All you people that like disco and want to
revive disco, you’re out of your mind. I don’t care what you think. I mean it
was horrible.
And then
of course they overreacted and punk rock followed that because everyone was so
angry. So it’s during the disco-era and the Bee Gees are on the radio, which
were not my favorite, and she is singing along to every song — every single
song, I can’t get in a word.
And so
this was prom and so were going around once we get to the dance, I’m talking to
more of my friends and she’s talking to more of her friends than we’re talking
to each other.
And the
other thing is we kind of went with my friend Larry, OK, and so Larry has a
date in a kind of similar situation with his date too, because we weren’t like
really going out with anybody, neither one of us, so then we end up — and the
other thing, the tradition there is after prom they would have like a midnight
drive-in movie, OK, the whole high school would go to the drive-in movie.
And this
drive in movie um … well it was the worst movie ever … its um, yeah no, the
disco one where they uhh … ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ that’s the
one! Where the other bands sing the Beatles’ stuff and they just butcher the
Beatles’ stuff, other than Aerosmith who sang ‘Come Together,’ I thought did an
outstanding job.
OK, so
then were sitting there in the car, and I can’t remember we had some goofy
signal, Larry and I. It was ‘alright, meet in the concessions store thing’ and
so we get out of our cars, go to the concessions store, he says, ‘So how’s it
going?’ ‘Yeah no horrible, she doesn’t even say anything!’ and stuff like that.
So then he
goes ‘Yeah me too! I mean it’s awful, she’s not doing anything here and this
and that.’
So then we
said ‘Alright, screw it, you got everything you need?’ So I went in his car and
sat with his date and I talked to her, who … we actually had a pretty good
conversation.
Then he
went in my car sat with my date, talked with her and he said it went alright.
He said, ‘Man, she sings along a lot, doesn’t she?’
So then,
the next day there’s supposed to be a picnic, you go to a picnic at one of the
big campgrounds with the whole high school. So I said — yeah know because I
didn’t want to be a bad guy — I said ‘So are you going to the picnic?’
She goes,
‘Ah, I don’t know if I’m going.’ Then she goes, ‘Do you want to go?’
I go,
‘Ahh.’ Then I go, ‘How about you?’
She goes,
‘Not really,’ then I go ‘Alright then, let’s not go.’
And so we
didn’t. And I think it was very mutual and I have a lot of respect for her, but
yeah know I think in the end she wanted to be going with someone else and so
did I.”
Truly a
Leach-moment for the books.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Evergreen
Athlete of the Week: Rachel Thompson
Backup
goalkeeper dazzles against No. 8 UCLA to earn honors
Redshirt
junior goalkeeper Rachel Thompson drop kicks a ball back to midfield during her
first game of the season against University of Idaho on Sept. 6 at the Lower
Soccer Field.
By TAYLOR
DUNLAP, Evergreen September 25, 2018
The
Evergreen Athlete of the Week for Sept. 16-23 is WSU redshirt junior goalkeeper
Rachel Thompson.
After
redshirt senior goalkeeper Ella Dederick was shelved due to an injury suffered
while playing against University of Idaho on Sept. 6, Thompson stepped into
fill Dederick’s position. Since then, Thompson has put in the work to be a key
player on the Cougar team.
“It’s a
big role to fill but I mean I have had college experience before,” Thompson
said. “It has just been really intense because I never know what is going to
happen, but it has been really fun through the whole process. It’s really a big
shame that [Dederick] got hurt but I was ready to step into the role whenever
my time came.”
WSU soccer
started Pac-12 conference play Friday when it hit the road to face No. 8
University of California, Los Angeles. The Cougars ended the night scoring the
lone goal which was enough to take home the win as Thompson earned a shutout.
The
high-intensity attack the Bruins’ offense employs meant WSU had to have a
stellar defensive game. With UCLA putting up 19 shots against the Cougar
defense, Thompson’s performance had a major impact on the team’s victory.
Thompson
had nine saves against the Bruins’ offense Friday night. Head Coach Todd
Shulenberger said Thompson’s effort was needed for a Cougar victory.
“The
defense was across the board from front to back and you know she had some key
saves and some key moments,” Shulenberger said. “For her to do that in the
first Pac-12 game was definitely something she needed and the team needed to
rally around. She showed us why she’s here and why she’s doing a good job.”
In only
her third career start as a Cougar, Thompson achieved her first solo shutout
against UCLA along with the nine saves resulting in a career-best for the
redshirt junior. Thompson’s career-best is the most saves a WSU goalkeeper has
had since Dederick tallied 11 saves back in 2015.
Thompson
and the Cougars will be back in Pullman 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lower Soccer
Field to take on University of Oregon looking to keep their undefeated record
intact.
……………..
Cougars
Sweep Soccer's Pac-12 Player of the Week Awards
Date: Tue,
Sep 25, 2018 at 12:08 PM
From WSU
Sports Info
PULLMAN,
Wash. - Coming off their biggest win of the season, the Washington State soccer
team was rewarded for their efforts as the Cougars picked up a clean sweep of
the Pac-12 Player of the Week awards as announced by the conference office
Tuesday afternoon. Junior Morgan Weaver picked up the offensive award,
sophomore Aaqila McLyn earned the defensive award while redshirt-junior Rachel
Thompson was named the conference's top netminder for the week. The awards
marked the third week the Cougars have taken home top honors after Maddy Haro
(Aug. 21) and Mykiaa Minniss (Aug. 28) each were awarded Pac-12 Defensive
Player of the Week to start the year.
For all
three Cougars, the awards marked the first-career weekly awards for the trio
while it was the first time in program history WSU swept the weekly honors. It
was the fourth time in as many seasons a school has taken all three weekly
awards.
Doing what
she does best, Weaver scored the biggest goal of the year for the Cougars'
Friday night as she netted the game-winning goal at then No. 8 UCLA in Los
Angeles. The lightning strike by Weaver came in the 61' of play on a
counter-attack giving the Cougars all the scoring they would need to pull off
the upset. The goal was Weavers' second-straight game-winning goal and sixth
goal of the season. The goal also marked her second game-winning goal over a
top-15 team. In all, Weaver needed just two shots in the game to do her damage.
Defensively,
McLyn was the Cougars' best defender in the shutout of the high-powered Bruins'
attack. McLyn came up with a defensive save early that preserved the scoreless
draw while also coming up with countless tackles to hold off the Bruins attack.
It was her second defensive save of the season. On top of all of her defensive
efforts, McLyn also came up with the game-winning assist, halting a Bruin
attack and turning it into the game-winning counter with a perfect ball over
the top to Weaver. It was her first assist of the season.
Making
just her third career start in goal, Thompson led the Cougars to their
second-straight shutout of the Bruins. Facing a constant Bruin attack, Thompson
turned UCLA away all night long as the redshirt-junior produced a career-best
nine saves, the most saves for a Cougar keeper since Ella Dederick's 11 at
Colorado on Oct. 11, 2015. The shutout was the first of Thompson's career and
fourth of the season for WSU.
The No. 9
Cougs return to the pitch Thursday, Sept. 27 to take on Oregon at Lower Soccer
Field. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
…………
WSU #8 Easop
Winston Jr. comes to fore in L.A.
Junior-college
transfer turns heads against Trojans with his six-catch, 143-yard effort
By DALE
GRUMMERT
Lewiston
Trib
9/26/2018
PULLMAN -
As Mike Leach was hand-signaling a goal-line play to quarterback Gardner
Minshew last week, the Washington State football coach pointed to his forehead
and seemed to mouth the words, "Think about 8."
That's the
jersey number of outside receiver Easop Winston Jr., who suddenly has a lot of
people thinking about him.
Making his
Pac-12 debut Friday night in the Cougars' 39-36 loss to USC before 52,421 fans
at Los Angeles Coliseum, the junior-college transfer caught six passes for 143
yards and two touchdowns - including one on the play mentioned above.
"I
grew up watching Pac-12 football, and just football in general, and to actually
be a part of something like that was something I'll never forget," Winston
said after practice Tuesday. "And it was great to have family down
there."
After a
28-yard catch-and-run for a second-quarter touchdown, the junior gleefully
sprinted toward a gaggle of relatives and friends in the stands and pointed to
his forearm, a gesture that among Cougar receivers means "Ice in your
veins."
The
Cougars (3-1, 0-1) return home to face Utah (2-1, 0-1) in a conference game at
Martin Stadium on Saturday (3 p.m., Pac-12 Networks). Although they opened as
two-point favorites, they were one-point underdogs Tuesday.
The
"Think about 8" play last week came on second-and-goal from the
4-yard line. Minshew indeed looked first for Winston in the Cougars' Z, or far
right, receiver position. But he wasn't initially open, and USC linebacker
Porter Gustin was fast approaching from the right. Minshew scrambled left,
eluded a defender and, lo and behold, found Winston open near the left edge of
the goal line. The TD gave the Cougars a short-lived 36-31 lead.
Leach
liked the way Winston flowed to the prescribed "landmark" when he saw
Minshew in trouble.
"That's
exactly where he's supposed to be," the coach said. "I think scramble
plays need to be viewed as an opportunity. You don't necessarily plan for them,
but when you scramble you should convert your routes, and if you're going in
the right place you can get some big plays."
Winston
said he saw Minshew scrambling and thought, "Well, he's not sacked yet, so
let me try to get over there, just to get in his vision. I got close to the
sideline and he made some guy miss. He's great at extending plays and he found
me."
During the
nonleague season this year, Winston showed a flair for end-zone fade routes and
caught a couple of scoring passes. But his breakout came in L.A., and he's now
got 18 catches for 212 yards and a team-leading four TDs this season.
"As
he's gotten more comfortable the first couple of games, he's really started to
take off," Leach said. "I think he's a really good player, runs great
routes and has great hands."
Great in
more than one sense. Leach said Winston has the largest hands he's ever seen on
a 5-foot-10 player.
"It's
astounding," he said. "It's been a trick to get him gloves. We can do
it here (at WSU) easier. He said (in junior college) they used to give him
lineman gloves. The trouble with lineman gloves is they have a pad in them, so
he'd have to cut the pads out."
Winston
starred at City College of San Francisco (his hometown) in 2015-16 and made a
splash in WSU spring workouts the next year. But coaches didn't think he was
fully conditioned during 2017 preseason workouts, and they wound up redshirting
him. Winston says he would have preferred to play at the time but now believes
he benefited from the hiatus.
"The
Pac-12 is known for (being) the speed conference," he said. "I guess
you could say I got a lot more conditioned this year, and I could see that on
the field during games as well."
PAC-12
PREGAME - Television coverage of Saturday's game against Utah will kick off
with an episode of the Pac-12 Networks' "The Pregame" series, this
one aired from the corner of Stadium Way and Ferdinand's Lane in Pullman. It
begins at 2 p.m.
…………….
WSU
football
With four
TDs in four games, WR Easop Winston is thriving in first season at Washington
State
Tue.,
Sept. 25, 2018, 9:47 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson of Spokane’s Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN –
Easop Winston Jr. was still huffing and puffing as he strolled up to a group
interview Tuesday afternoon following Washington State practice at Rogers
Field.
It feels
like the junior wide receiver hasn’t stopped moving since he put on a Cougars
uniform for the first time earlier this month.
Last
Friday in the second quarter against USC, Winston ran a crisp 10-yard post
pattern to shed Trojans corner Greg Johnson before motoring into the end zone
for a 28-yard touchdown. His route didn’t stop there. Winston dropped the ball
and raced back across the end zone to find the 10 family members in the
grandstand who’d traveled from the Bay Area to watch him play in Los Angeles.
“They came
in a pack and it was great,” he said. “… I had that kind of planned out. They
told me where they were sitting before the game, so I knew if I got in the end
zone I knew where to go.”
The dogged
persistence Winston has shown his first season at WSU was also on display later
in the game.
In the
fourth quarter, with the Cougars stationed on USC’s 4-yard line, Winston lined
up at his “Z” position, off to the right of Gardner Minshew and about 5-10
yards in from the sideline. Minshew caught the snap, looked off multiple reads
and scrambled toward the left sideline. Winston imitated his quarterback and
trailed across the back of the end zone until Minshew spotted him. The QB
finessed a short pass to the receiver, giving Winston his second touchdown of
the game.
It
resembled so many of the plays the junior college transfer made – and
touchdowns he scored – during spring camp, when Mike Leach regularly praised
Winston for his improvisation and ability to extend plays.
“Easop
gets a lot of mop-up balls,” Leach said in April. “Something will break down
and he keeps going and he keeps going and he’ll get a ball.”
After
catching his breath Tuesday, Winston gave a detailed examination of the
touchdown to local reporters. The key, he said, was to keep running until he
was squarely in Minshew’s line of vision.
“I see him
scrambling and I’m like, well he’s not sacked yet so let me try to get over
there just to get in his vision,” Winston said. “And I got close to the
sideline and he made some guy miss – he’s great at extending plays – and he
found me, so it was a nice scramble play.”
“First of
all, when you’ve got a scramble, you design kind of the landmarks you want them
to go, which I thought Easop did a very good job of because that’s exactly
where he’s supposed to be,” Leach said.
Winston is
not leading the Cougars in total receptions or receiving yards this season, but
he has the reign on another significant category: touchdown catches. The City
College of San Francisco transfer is up to four through four games after getting
into the end zone twice on Friday.
He caught
six passes for the second time in as many games and totaled 143 receiving yards
to earn a spot on Pro Football Focus’ National Offensive Team of the Week.
“I think
he’s just adjusted,” Leach said. “When he first got here, I think he got in
shape. Then I think even though he played some junior college games, I think
there’s just a different atmosphere here. Then I think as he’s gotten
comfortable the first couple games, I think he’s really started to take off. I
think he’s a really good player – runs great routes, very elusive and has great
hands.”
Somewhat
to Winston’s dismay at the time, WSU coaches decided to spend a redshirt season
on the JC transfer in 2017. The Cougars were well-stocked at the outside
receiver positions with Tavares Martin Jr. and Isaiah Johnson-Mack still on
campus, and Winston, they felt, would benefit from a full season in WSU’s
strength and conditioning program.
“I wanted
to play, I’m not going to lie,” Winston said. “I wanted to play right away, but
when I look back on it now it’s the best thing I could’ve done. I got to focus
on my body, focus on my route running, just things I needed to do to get better
as a player all in all.”
The
production the Cougars are getting from Winston these days made it well worth
the wait. He scored in his collegiate debut against Wyoming and he’s caught 18
passes for 212 yards through just one-third of his redshirt junior season.
“Man, I
see the benefits of that definitely this year so it worked out for me well,”
Winston said.
And it’s
hard to imagine WSU’s breakout receiver will stop moving anytime soon.
#
