A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s murky outside. Mirkwood after Mt. Doom exploded murky. Valyria murky. Dante’s fifth circle murky. The-West-Coast-is-burning murky. And yet, college football’s season is murkier still.

•••••••

• We want weekly college football games, don’t we? Isn’t that what we expect this time of year? But this time of year in 2020 isn’t typical. Other than, maybe, the murkiness in the air. Heck, the air quality is so bad today around here (and getting worse) the Cougars’ home game with Houston today might have been canceled.

That’s a little more typical than, say, canceling the entire fall season due to a pandemic. And yet, it’s no comfort at all.

Other areas of the country, who don’t have murky air hanging over their football fields (though it seems to be prevalent in conference offices), are trying to play. Not just today but throughout the fall. So far, it’s started as smooth as a 1975 Buick Regal in need of a tune-up and a new carburetor.

Just this weekend, the University of Memphis suspended all football activities due to an overdose of positive coronavirus tests. One report has a group of players riding a party bus after the Tigers’ recent win over Arkansas State. A player has disputed that, however, saying the Memphis players picked up the bug from the Red Wolves during the game.

Of the two, the latter is more problematic for college football, so the powers that be in the game are rooting for typical college-age poor decisions to be the source. Isn’t that nice?

Such stupid choices seem to be at the forefront of another postponement. Next Saturday’s ACC matchup between rivals Virginia Tech and Virginia has already been delayed. Seems the Virginia Tech campus’ problems have leaked into the football program, forcing quarantines and limiting practice. Who would have seen that coming?

Heck, everyone in Blacksburg, probably. The Hokies were scheduled to begin play today, actually, but North Carolina State, their opponent, couldn’t meet the commitment due to virus issues of its own. That game was already pushed back to Sept. 26, meaning the only chance to reschedule next week’s Virginia rivalry game may be for Dec. 12.

Welcome to college football, 2020.

• Why are schools going through this mess week after week anyway? Well, even for me, that’s a dumb question. Money. Plain, simple.

The news from the Washington schools’ athletic departments this week highlights that. The Huskies announced staff cuts Thursday and numerous other cost-saving strategies as athletic director Jen Cohen tries to deal with what’s expected to be a $65 million shortfall.

Washington State’s shortfall isn’t expected to be that high – somewhere in the $30 million realm – but that doesn’t mean the Cougars aren’t cutting drastically. After all, WSU’s athletic department was already closing in on $100 million in debt to the school administration, even before the pandemic cut the legs out. Now that number may seem like less of a goal and more of a nostalgic, what-could-have-been wish.

Cougar athletic director Pat Chun discussed the school’s cuts yesterday and they are about as bloody as a Quenton Tarantino movie. Everyone is getting nicked to some degree.

Will all this bloodletting be staunched if the Pac-12 returns to the football field sometime soon? Maybe, but to get back to making money, schools will have to spend money. You think all the tests the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are doing come without a cost? There is a reason Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, in announcing a testing partnership this week, didn’t address how much each school was going to have to pay. No one knows how much it’s going to hurt.

No matter what, college sports will be dealing with this year’s bloodletting for decades. Debt will pile up. It’s not going away. The only way to dig out will be to keep expenses down for years to come.

In other words, to change how college athletics have been run for the past half-century. That’s a future pivot that seems murky. At best.

•••

WSU: When it comes to news from Pullman, Theo Lawson is on it. He had two stories early yesterday, one on the budget issues and one on an even more pressing problem, higher positive tests among Washington State athletes. Those two came together in a story Theo put together for today’s website presentation. (As an aside, I like to give Theo crud on Twitter, mainly because he can take it but also because he does such a good job day-in and day-out, I’m trying to keep him humble. After all, if he’s too good at his job, it makes the work former S-R Cougar beat writers – a small group, admittedly – look bad by comparison. And yes, he’s doing that. Darn him.) … Around the Pac-12, the slow start to the football season might have helped Colorado a bit. … Oregon is dealing with a shortfall that could reach $80 million this year. … Dropping demand means prices for construction material have also dropped. That’s good news for Oregon State’s planned stadium remodel. … No football means no fans at games and no one to support football-related businesses. … A former Arizona coach helped lead the Wildcats to a big victory in 2012. … Stanford dropped a bunch of sports to make ends meet. It seems like a betrayal to those involved.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, a Northern Arizona basketball alum is going to be making good money overseas. … Montana added some games to its future football schedules this week. … The Griz gained a basketball player and lost one as well.

Preps: Prep football continued in North Idaho last night, though the marquee game had to be switched from Lewiston to Post Fall due to air-quality concerns. Dave Nichols still found it, however, and has the result in his roundup of Friday night’s games. … Dave also joined Larry Weir for the latest Press Box podcast.

Mariners: Remember those playoff dreams of earlier this week? Forget about them. Three consecutive losses have done that. The latest came last night in Arizona. … The new pitching savior showed off his wares yesterday in Tacoma. … If I had to vote, I would vote for Dee Strange-Gordon’s cleats over Braden Bishop’s. … Rainiers play-by-play voice Mike Curto is trying to find things to do in Tacoma.

Seahawks: There are a lot of upgrades on the defensive side but veteran linebacker K.J. Wright just keeps rolling along. … Is Russell Wilson the NFL’s best player? … What position groups are best – and worst? … Injuries always give other players opportunities. … There is a lot to watch tomorrow in the season opener.

Sounders: The MLS released the rest of the September schedule Friday and Seattle’s looks a lot like the schedule from the past few weeks. … The Timbers found out their schedule as well.

Storm: The regular season is almost over and Seattle seems to be ready for the playoffs. The Storm routed a good Phoenix team Friday despite two starters sitting out with injuries.

•••       

• The air-quality numbers are expected to get worse throughout the day. It’s not like this hasn’t happened around here before. It’s part of the reason we added air conditioning years ago. Though it might be overkill to wear my mask around the house, I’m contemplating doing that. My lungs aren’t what they used to be. I blame growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960s. The smog was so bad I lived about five blocks from the mountains and there were many days I couldn’t see them. Who needed cigarettes? A deep breath in those days seemed to do the trick. If the point of smoking a cigarette was to facilitate coughing. Until later …