The Cougars have temporarily run out of healthy players, so the Apple Cup football game is among the latest victims of the rapidly spreading coronavirus ravaging the nation. The annual rivalry game between Washington and Washington State, scheduled for Friday, has been canceled.

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This Washington Huskies football team may have to be taken a little more seriously. As in Southeastern Conference seriously.

That's the land of giant offensive lines, versatile quarterbacks, ruthless defenders and layers of fast running backs. As well as coaches with some swagger.

Here's some samples of what rookie head man Jimmy Lake had to say after the 44-27 triumph (box) Saturday night broken over the heads of the Arizona Wildcats:

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The coronavirus took another bite out of the Pac-12 Conference football plan Friday when Washington State's game with Stanford Saturday was canceled after the Cougars fell below the 53-player scholarship minimum needed to play. Per new league rules, it was declared no contest.

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The Fire Ken Norton Club members will have to convene an emergency meeting. They just lost, and now must figure out a way to overturn the result. Such intemperate behavior is a trendy thing now.

Or, the members could accept the fact that the Seahawks, with Norton continuing as defensive coordinator, are on their way to having an NFL-average defense, which would mean playoffs and fun and something normal in a world desperate for the familiar. A brutal price to pay, certainly.

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Three losses in four games for a team with high expectations is a great way to turn the innards of fans into knots worthy of a sailor's handbook. Thursday night, the Seahawks untied every one of them.

The 28-21 win over Arizona (box) was perhaps more an organizational triumph than any regular-season game in the Pete Carroll/John Schneider regime:

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The Clink is gone in a wink. Just in time to hype its new affiliate name in front of a national TV audience watching NFL Thursday Night Football, CenturyLink Inc., is renaming the home of the Seahawks and Sounders as Lumen Field.

Lumen Technologies, LLC became a  wholly-owned affiliate of CenturyLink, Inc. in September, and the re-brand debuts with the Seahawks-Cardinals game at 5:20 p.m.

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Furrows in the collective brow of the 12s over Russell Wilson run Grand Canyon deep. Is he hurt? Concussed? Mad at Pete Carroll? Worst of all -- is he actually Mr. Limited?

The likely answer to all is no. Well, maybe he's banged up, but he'll never admit it. He's like The Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail. After getting his arm cut off in a sword fight with King Arthur, TBK says, "Tis but a scratch."

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Absent evidence of physical injury, it is implausible that Russell Wilson could descend from the best quarterback in the NFL to an average one over the span of four games. More plausible is that the Seahawks have deteriorated around him.

So in answer to the popular question, "Is Wilson pressing?", the answer is yes. Clearly. What premier quarterback wouldn't?

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Listening to Russell Wilson talk himself up after the Seahawks' third loss in four games Sunday, I couldn't help but think of Stuart Smalley, Al Franken's needy nerd character on Saturday Night Live.

Said Stuart earnestly to the mirror: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."

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When the first long snap from the final college football team in America to start its season sailed deep into the rain, wind, and quiet gloominess of Husky Stadium, headed toward the worst possible outcome -- an opponent touchdown -- the curse of 2020 seemed to have settled in Montlake for a Saturday night of sardonic laughs.

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It appears the Seahawks will be introducing two linemen new to the lineup Sunday in Los Angeles against the Rams. It's a good news/bad news deal, sort of a "Snacks & Sacks" Jeopardy! category (miss you, Alex Trebek).

The good news for Seahawks fans is that 6-3, 353-pound Damon "Snacks" Harrison will finally move into the defensive-line rotation after a month on the practice squad, which presumably involved the lifting of a lot celery sticks and free weights.

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Amid all the lamentations about the worst defense since chicken wire for rhinos, recent history says that even when defenders were healthy and respectable, the Seahawks still are forced to out-shoot the Los Angeles Rams.

It the teams' past five meetings, four of which were won by the Rams, LA has averaged 33.6 points per game, the Seahawks 22.1. If the Rams were to play Sunday at new SoFi Stadium against the same Seattle defense the NFL world saw the past Sunday in Buffalo, the Rams (5-3) might outscore the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

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Eight games into an NFL season traditionally mandates analyses regarding the local gridsters: How far have they come, how far will they go, and whether, after a particularly odious game, the head coach and coordinators should given blindfolds and cigarettes, or just have their Seattle careers shot on the spot at dawn.

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Everyone agrees -- Kyle Lewis was the American League's Rookie of the Year. Unanimously. Nice to find something these days that all can agree on, even it was a 60-game season.

All 30 voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America said he deserved the Jackie Robinson Award. He's the the 12th to run the table, and first for the Mariners. White Sox CF Luis Robert came in second with 27 second-place votes and Astros pitcher Cristian Javier was third with 11 third-place votes.

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It's rare that a Seahawks game is all but decided on the first opponent play. But after the opening 60-yard kickoff return by Buffalo's Andre Roberts, things Sunday in sunny Orchard Park, N.Y., descended from whoops to whoa to WTF. Footing was never regained.

Four turnovers later, the Seahawks, 6-2 at the season's halfway point, fell into the great middle of the NFL, where problems and solutions are a weekly 50/50 proposition, unable to get ahead of things.

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It's a little late for a birthday present -- he turned 69 in September -- but Pete Carroll needs no ceremony. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported ahead of the Seahawks game in Buffalo Sunday that the winningest coach in Seahawks history has signed a contract extension through the 2025 season, when he will be 74.

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In contrast to many who have occupied his NFL position, such as Terrell Owens, Dez Bryant, Chad Johnson, Michael Irvin, Antonio Brown, Keyshawn Johnson and Randy Moss, Seahawks WR DK Metcalf is publicly self-effacing. He may need an ego transfusion from Odell Beckham Jr. just to ask a teammate to pass the cafeteria pepper.

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The Pac-12 Conference was first to the hilltop, shouting warnings about Covid-19 and refusing to play. Then it was the last to the party, rejoining the rest of college football after conversion to a new biotech testing solution that promised a safe salvage of part of the season.

This week the conference discovered that there is still no defense against the infernal contagion. Swift, accurate testing didn't keep the Washington Huskies and Cal Bears from becoming the first in the conference to pay the price.

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Now the Seahawks are getting somewhere. They have hired a writer to play defensive end.

Speaking on behalf of my fellow crafters, I am convinced our skills are shamefully overlooked. We are never asked to rush the quarterback for handsome compensation. I guarantee some of us can do it, particularly with the Seahawks.

I mean, how hard is it to be last in the NFL in defense? I know we can do that.

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Working in the sports world on potentially the wildest Election Day in American history is a bit like running a second-floor church above a bar having a massive brawl. Not supposed to take a side, but everyone has a stake in keeping the building from burning down.

The NFL is in full operation Tuesday, but it is, conveniently, the players' off-day, so some of them may watch the drama on TV. Or they may try to ignore it. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll figures to be in his office, where he said Monday he often has four TV monitors on at once.

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