NCAA football

PULLMAN – Here is the third installment of our countdown to Washington State fall camp, which starts on July 31. This issue covers the Cougars’ presumptive starting quarterback.

The Big Sky Conference extended its broadcasting deal with ESPN through 2030, league commissioner Tom Wistrcill announced Monday.

Nineteen-and-a-half-pounds of lacquered Douglas fir shaped like a giant spud and resting atop a wood base dominated the University of Idaho’s table at the Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff media day.

Here is the second installment of our countdown to Washington State fall camp, which starts on July 31. This issue covers the Cougars’ edge rushers.

If Eastern Washington goes on to reach the FCS playoffs this year, it would be overachieving in doing so.

As the majority of guests settled into their seats for the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday night, a swath of name tags sat unclaimed until the final minutes before the program began.

PULLMAN – The first Washington State football season under a new reality, without the Pac-12 as we know it, is about a month away.

The Hotline mailbag publishes weekly. Send questions to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com. Please note: Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Rightly so, Erik Meyer calls Spokane his second home.

PULLMAN – Jake McCoy always knew when his mom was at his sister’s swim meets. He’d be watching the live stream of Taylor’s race, a couple years back when she swam for Washington State, and he’d hear a certain voice start cheering somewhere in the background.

USC was well represented, but we found plenty of worthy selections from other schools, including Steve Emtman (Cheney) of UW and Jason Hanson (Mead) of WSU.

Charles White or Reggie Bush? LaMichael James or Penei Sewell? We boiled 100 years down to four names.

PULLMAN – Kyle Williams could have sworn the snack was a donut. It was shaped like a lollipop, a sphere of a light brown something on top of a wooden stick, handed to him by a greeter at this week’s two-team Pac-12 media day.

On Dec. 1, delirious Dawgs danced inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Purple confetti fell from the big barn’s roof, blanketing the Pac-12 logo at midfield. Conference commissioner George Kliavkoff (remember him?) congratulated Washington athletic director Troy Dannen (remember him?) and coach Kalen DeBoer (remember him?). The field was littered with Husky legends Dante Pettis and Will Dissly and Marcus Peters and more.

The status quo was the simplest solution for the conferences and the bowl games.

PULLMAN – The defensive back corps in Washington State’s class of 2025 is looking stronger by the day.

PULLMAN – Somewhere out there, in conversations among fans and floating around the internet, is a sense that Washington State should have an easier time with this fall’s football schedule.

LAS VEGAS – Jake Dickert turned around, footsteps echoing in a hallway somewhere inside the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, and greeted the guy he thought for sure was gone.

Football might be America’s favorite pastime, but the sport is much more raw behind the scenes than when dressed up for national TV.