A GRIP ON SPORTS • The echoes from Lumen Field are still reverberating throughout the NFL this morning. And will through the weekend. After that? Well, it’s up to the Seahawks. The future is in their hands.
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• What is it your high school coach used to say just about every day? Control what you can control.
Seattle’s 38-37 win over the Rams (11-4) on Thursday night put one thing in the Hawks’ pocket. A playoff berth. No matter what happens in games at Carolina (7-7) and San Francisco (10-4), they will be playing afterward.
The week after? Or two? That’s what the two games will decide. Win both and they earn the NFC’s top seed and the extra week of rest. Home field too. But falter? There is good chance they drop to wild-card status and a road game the first weekend.
That’s a lot at stake.
And the weirdest part of the scenarios for the 12-3 Seahawks? The 49ers have the same degree of control. That’s right. If San Francisco can sweep games at the Colts (8-6) – Monday night – and then finish with home wins against the Bears (10-4) and Hawks, it earns the NFC’s top seed.
Seems sort of weird, doesn’t it? Two teams in the same division with similar playoff-seeding chances. Especially considering how often a lot of folks decided Kyle Shanahan’s team was comatose, or just plain toast, after all their injuries.
Not true. Though playing at Indianapolis and against the NFC Central-leading Bears isn’t conducive to a healthy diagnosis. Stumble in either and the 49ers’ playoff ticket more-than-likely includes wild-card status.
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WSU: Which of the new Pac-12’s football hires was the best one? Jon Wilner has an answer in his weekly mailbag in the S-R, though there is some nuance involved. As always. … He also has his weekly recruiting roundup in the Mercury News. … We thought we better link Greg Woods’ transfer portal tracker today. No new names but we want to make it easy for you. … Utah State is getting healthier. … Gardner Minshew is back as a starting NFL quarterback. For the Chiefs. … Nothing has been easy for the Cougar women’s basketball team. They lost again Friday, this one 67-62 at Penn, to fall to 1-12 in nonconference play. That part of the schedule is over. WCC play opens for them Dec. 28 at Pepperdine. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the CFP games began last night, with John Mateer and Oklahoma racing out to a 17-0 lead and then hitting a wall. Alabama rolled back and rolled over the Sooners 34-24. … Oregon plays its CFP opener tonight in Eugene, hosting huge underdog James Madison (4:30, TNT). John Canzano has some thoughts about their overall playoff chances. … The Ducks were hoping to have everyone back from injury but that didn’t happen. … The Dukes, who edged WSU in Virginia during the regular season, saw their coach hired by UCLA. … Washington may keep Jedd Fisch this time, but that doesn’t mean he’s in Seattle for life. … Oregon State certainly isn’t keeping all its players this offseason. … It seems Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham isn’t headed to Michigan. Reports have him signing a new deal with ASU. … Could the Wolverines hire Kyle Whittingham to clean up the mess in Ann Arbor? He still has a bowl game left with the Utes. … Colorado State is making a huge effort to attract in-state players. … Colorado could use someone with an open pocketbook to help this offseason as well. … Could USC lose its defensive coordinator? … Myles Jack, the Bellevue High star who played his college ball at UCLA, was involved in a weird incident in Texas. … Arizona has decided on who it will hire as general manager for the football program. … Former Stanford coach Paul Wiggins was remembered fondly at his funeral.
• In basketball news, for the second consecutive year, Seattle U. upset the Washington men. … UCLA won against Cal Poly but accomplished the feat without playing much defense. … Former Pac-12 foes Colorado and Stanford meet today. … Colorado State is at Utah State to start Mountain West Conference play. … Boise State hopes to be in the MWC title conversation. … Utah still has two nonconference games remaining. … No. 1-ranked Arizona and San Diego State face off in the Phoenix area today. … Cal is off to its best start since 1959. … The 22nd-ranked Washington women lost at Stanford. The Cardinal have made a large bet their school’s degrees will still attract top talent. … Oregon State edged Montana State in Maui. … Fourth-ranked UCLA has another easy assignment.
Gonzaga: The women have been playing better lately. They came within a bucket of handing undefeated Arizona State a loss this week, then hit the road for a nonconference matchup in Missouri. And last night they played their best game of the season. Greg Lee has all the details of the Zags’ 68-49 win over Missouri State. … Mark Few is up for a spot in the basketball Hall of Fame again. This year he’s joined on the ballot by former WSU coach Kelvin Sampson. … Gonzaga and Oregon are finally playing Sunday. Why now?
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, ABC will be televising today’s 1 p.m. FCS semifinal in Bozeman between Montana State and Montana. It’s too bad the two schools are not on opposite sides of the bracket, so this game could be in the championship. … The Montana women’s basketball team lost again and is 2-8 on the season. … Weber State’s men host Utah Tech. … Northern Arizona finally played in their dome this week and won.
Preps: The rivalry games continued last night at the Arena, with Dave Nichols and Colin Mulvany covering the Groovy Shoes. Dave has this story on the games between North Central and Shadle Park, while Colin has this photo gallery. … We can also pass along Cheryl Nichols’ roundup of other basketball action.
Mariners: Mike Campbell, who not only pitched for Seattle in its early days but was also a graduate of Issaquah’s Newport High, died earlier this week. He was 61.
Seahawks: We mentioned above the noise still bouncing around from Seattle’s win. And the number of stories we have to link, even just those on the S-R’s website, reflects that. They cover strategy and importance, history and important players, expectations and wacky geography. And more. Much more. … The suspension handed Derick Hall once again shows how out-of-whack the NFL’s discipline is. Hall has been given a one-game suspension for stepping on a Rams player’s ankle after a play. I watched the video more than once and can’t discern at all if it was on purpose or just a stumble. If upheld, it will cost Hall about $90,000. Meanwhile, L.A. receiver Puka Nacua didn’t just criticize the league’s officials publicly, he questioned their partiality. Before the game and after. The NFL decided comments that tore at the fabric of the league’s credibility, in a time when gambling scandals are rampant, were only worth $25,000.
Kraken: Seattle made a trade. Could this be the beginning of a bunch of them?
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• I have a busy day today. And tomorrow. Bet you do too. Until later …