Cougar Quarterback derby likely narrowed to two

Guten morgen. If you notice a decided lack of quality in today’s edition of Hot Cougar Action, it’s not an accident. Kevin asked the old man to fill in for him this morning, saying he’d be off the grid Friday night. Turns out he went to a rock concert. Kevin, you are grounded! On to regularly scheduled programming.

The Cougar football team held its first camp scrimmage Friday night, under considerably cooler conditions than they’d experienced in Lewiston. The main theme centered, as one would imagine, around the quarterback derby. Gardner Minshew started hot, and Trey Tinsley rallied from a slow start to finish well. On the other end of the spectrum was Anthony Gordon, who completed just four of 14 passes, the fewest among the four QBs who participated.

Here is what Leach told the Spokesman Review afterward, regarding the quarterbacks:

“I thought (Gardner) had the best scrimmage,” WSU coach Mike Leach said. “I think Gardner looked real sharp. Missed some balls down there, but other than that, he drove the group pretty well.”

Tinsley rebounded well after going 3 of 6 with a pick in his first series to go 8 of 10 with two touchdowns in his second. “He had a pretty good second series, I thought,” Leach said.

And finally, the coach’s thoughts on Gordon: “Gordon had a tough day but he’s had a really good camp.”

Leach expects to shave the QB race to two by some point next week: “We won’t (rep all three) all of next week,” he said, “we’re going to sort it out some.”

Minshew’s favorite target near the endzone was Brandon Arconado, who was on the receiving end of both Minshew touchdown passes. Jamire Calvin led all receivers with six catches for 81 yards. While there were 62 passing plays, the Cougs ran the ball just 12 times. Max Borghi led all running backs with four carries for 18 yards.

There was no shortage of impact plays on the other side, as the defense collected six sacks and intercepted two passes. Hunter Mattox led the way in sacks with two, while Dominick Silvels and Armani Marsh intercepted Trey Tinsley and Cammon Cooper, respectively. Halid Djibril, Tyrese Ross and Fa’avae Fa’avae all led the way with five tackles, and Ross forced a fumble as well.

In the race to replace Erik Powell, both kickers offered a mixed bag. Jack Crane and Blake Mazza both hit two of three field goals, all of which were between 34 and 42 yards. Hopefully one of these guys takes a step forward in the remaining practices.

As far as the two players who continue to be prominent in their absence, Ri Chun-hee tells the Spokesman Review that “(Nnamdi Oguayo and Derek Moore) are doing exactly what we want them to, and expect to see them shortly.” Color me skeptical.

The Cougs continue camp with another evening edition, Sunday at 630pm.

Scrimmage Highlights and Reaction

The highlights aren’t the usual musically-accompanied version, and instead are overlaid with Leach’s comments. Among other things, you’ll see that stupid play where the QB flips the ball to a receiver coming in motion, which never results in anything but a loss of yardage. I will never understand why they try to run that.

Gardner Minshew takes a step forward ... and four other reactions from Washington State’s first fall scrimmage | The Spokesman-Review
After a rugged week of practice at Lewiston’s Sacajawea Junior High, Washington State returned to a much more comfortable and familiar setting Friday night for their first scrimmage of preseason camp.

Football

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Soccer

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This Week in Parenting

Team Kendall loaded up the family truckster and moved to Europe this week. The kids had never been on a red eye flight, and certainly have never undergone a six-hour time change. As a result, I had to use blasting caps and an air raid siren to get them out of bed at 11am the next day. They’re usually awake before seven.

After a 930pm bed time Friday, I thought I heard some stirring around three in the morning. A peak into their room revealed both of them wide awake, watching movies on their tablets (Kindles, not iPads. I’m not a General for God’s sake). After begging them to go back to sleep, I had to pry them out of bed Saturday morning at nine. Jet lag is a helluva thing, especially when it comes to young minds.

Oh, and I asked the 6 year-old if he was scared or nervous about moving here. He said a little bit, because he was afraid “the Germans will turn against us.” Goddamn older brothers.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: Met up with a friend at Cigar City shortly before we left, and shared a bottle from their cellar collection. The Double Barrel-aged Marshall Zhukov Stout was sublime.

A Rainier IPA is hitting stores and Seattle beer-drinkers’ brains might explode | The Seattle Times
Rainier, Seattle's favorite cheap beer, is trying to muscle into another favorite beer market — hoppy brews.

Non-Sports

Opinion | The High School We Can’t Log Off From - The New York Times
Twitter rewards us for our mistakes. It isn’t designed to let us grow up.