The Washington State Cougars were riding what was essentially a two-and-a-half game win streak. After wins on the road against the Arizona Wildcats and Arizona State Sun Devils, the Cougs were looking promising in the first half at home against Washington.

Then ... the second half happened.

I won’t get too far into it, mostly because Jeff did it far better than I ever could on Monday. But the main takeaway was that the Cougs were doomed by the same thing that’s doomed them in all of their losses: turnovers and defense (or lack thereof). WSU turned the ball over on nearly 30% of their possessions, a new worst for the 2018-19 season. On the other side, it was an abysmal second half for the Cougs on defense, who stubbornly stuck to the zone defense, despite running a successful man-to-man scheme in Arizona. The result was allowing Washington to outscore WSU 52-33 in the final 27 minutes of play (minus a meaningless Robert Franks buzzer beater).

But today is a new day, and the Cougs will look to recapture the magic at home against Colorado.

And Colorado is coming into Pullman on a hot streak. After a rough 2-6 start to Pac-12 play (which included a 92-60 win over WSU in Boulder), the Buffs have picked things up in a big way. They’ve won five in a row, including a road sweep in LA and a home sweep over the Arizona schools.

In the standings, Colorado is caught up in that patented Pac-12 meat grinder™. At 7-6 in conference play, the Buffs are one of seven teams with in two games of second place in the Pac-12.

Tip off is set for 7 p.m. from Beasley with TV coverage on the Pac-12 Network. If you’re one of the few (and the proud) people that will attend this one tonight, the school is encouraging you to wear crimson to promote heart health. I would hope that you would wear crimson to the game anyway... But now you can do it for a good cause!

Cougars Remain Home to Host Buffaloes Wednesday - Washington State University Athletics
Fans are encouraged to wear crimson Wednesday for heart health awareness.

Pac-12 basketball roundup: Arizona falls back to 10th place - Arizona Desert Swarm
Wazzu’s incredible two-week stretch would have looked a lot cooler if it had upset Washington in Pullman, but the fact remains that this team has turned around out of nowhere.

Football

Do scheduling mandates in college football really matter?
Washington State hasn’t scheduled a regular season non-conference Power opponent since 2015. That didn’t stop the Cougars from falling one-loss short of winning last season’s Pac-12 North division and playing Utah for the conference championship.

Mike Leach Tweets About Sasquatch And The First Guy To Hear A Parrot Talk | The Daily Caller
Washington State football coach Mike Leach has been pretty entertaining on Twitter lately. He has tweeted about Sasquatch and parrots.