PULLMAN -- Washington State athletic director Bill Moos sometimes speaks carefully when asked about the future of the NCAA -- and consequently -- his alma mater.

The college football landscape, convulsed by multi-billion-dollar television contracts, conference realignments and outrageous coaching salaries, has increased pressure on the former WSU offensive lineman to take a perceived small-time school in a big-money conference -- University of Washington AD Scott Woodward referred to them as an "irritant" in 2009 -- and make it more competitive.

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PULLMAN -- It was during a visit to a library in Golden, CO., the first time Mike Leach discovered Geronimo, the famous Apache warrior. His mother told him he could pick out whatever book he wanted. She didn't mind if the book was inappropriate for a kid, let alone his five younger siblings.

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PULLMAN -- Coach Mike Leach's most pressing need entering Washington State's first spring practice  Thursday will also be his most difficult to achieve -- creating clarity at quarterback.

Freshman Tyler Bruggman won't arrive in Pullman until June. Meanwhile, the evaluation process is muddled since redshirt junior Connor Halliday and redshirt freshman Austin Apodaca have a pint-sized share of combined experience.

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Jim Sweeney, who coached the Washington State football team from 1968-75, has died at the age of 83. Fresno State, where Sweeney coached for 19 seasons after leaving the Cougars, announced his death late Friday. The school did not provide any details of Sweeney's passing.

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Washington State reserve wide receiver Drew Loftus will have some explaining to do when football coach Mike Leach returns from his latest recruiting trip.

Pullman police arrested the 19-year-old early Friday morning at Dissmore's IGA grocery store when Loftus tried to steal two bottles of tequila by pushing them down his pants, per a report from WSU's student newspaper.

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Art Thiel is LIVE from the red carpet at the 78th Annual Sports Star of the Year Awards at Benaroya Hall.

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You will excuse DeSoto High School (Dallas) defensive back Myron Turner if he doesn't root for Washington State for, well, the rest of his life. According to the Dallas Morning News, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound safety took an official football recruiting visit to WSU last weekend and re-affirmed his intention to sign with the Cougars on national signing day Feb. 6.

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Just as Aristotle observed that nature abhors a vacuum, so does human nature abhor a coincidence. Random events happening simultaneously bother us. Compulsion is strong to connect dots/pixels until it makes a picture, however irrelevant, but preferably suitable for Instagram. Once resolved, we can return to the TV and "Hoarders."

This week in sports delivered us a cavalcade of crap in the persons of Lance Armstrong, Manti Te'o and Ryan Leaf. At risk of ever more lethal brevity in a 140-character maximum world, here is my summary:

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The Washington Huskies (9-5, 1-0) erased their season-long shooting woes early, sprinting out to a 21-4 lead against Washington State (9-5, 0-1 Pac-12) in their conference opener. It was just enough to beat the Cougars 68-63 Saturday night in Pullman.

Scott Suggs made back-to-back contested jumpers, then an uncontested bucket on a WSU turnover in the final two minutes to give the Huskies a 64-61 lead. After Mike Ladd and Andrew Andrews exchanged free throws, Davonté Lacy capped a horrific shooting night (3-11) by drawing back iron on the potential game-tying three.

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In 2013, there's some sports stuff I want to hear, and don't want to hear.

WHAT I DON'T WANT TO HEAR

"Russell Wilson is slow to get up."

"The Big East Conference is pleased to announce the addition of the University of Hawaii, and the Sorbonne."

"The initial excavation revealed the remains of a prehistoric village that carbon-dates to at least 10,000 years ago. So until researchers more fully examine the extraordinary discovery, the arena construction at this site is on hold until further notice.'

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Umwilling to wait for a decision from the NCAA, senior quarterback Jeff Tuel decided not to seek a fifth year of eligibility at Washington State and will make himself eligible for the 2013 NFL draft. That leaves the starting job to Connor Halliday, a sophomore with whom Tuel swapped the No. 1 position as new coach Mike Leach in his first year tried to make something out of one of the nation's  worst offenses.

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Admitting he did step in to stop players from being sprayed with water by staff, Washington State athletic director Bill Moos said head coach Mike Leach and his assistants did not physically or verbally abuse players, rebutting the contention of WSU's star receiver, Marquess Wilson.

Moos said Tuesday that the university's month-long probe into the football program revealed what Moos already knew after Wilson recanted his abuse allegations in a text message to him Nov. 10 after the Cougars lost 44-36 to UCLA.

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As expected, an investigation by Washington State University's athletic director found no substance to the allegations made by former wide receiver Marquess Wilson, who quit the Cougars and charged the coaching staff with physical, mental and emotional abuse.

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Dumbfounding as was the Apple Cup outcome Friday, the parallels to the game 30 years earlier at Martin Stadium in Pullman were equally jaw-dropping: Heavily favored Huskies sleepwalk through a second-half rally by the lowly Cougars, who take advantage of a late-game miss on a field goal to pull the upset of the conference season.

But that isn't nearly the most palm-to-forehead part:

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Only one University of Washington football player made first-team All-Pac-12, and it wasn't Austin Seferian-Jenkins, a finalist for the Mackey Award, presented to the nation's outstanding tight end. The first-team squad announced Monday included senior cornerback Desmond Trufant.

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In Apple Cup Church, this one will be celebrated with hymns and genuflections when Cougars come to worship. When the Huskies come, they will slink into the dark confessional booth and say, "Father, we were really dumb."

Ahead 28-10 with 11 minutes left, the Huskies, West Side big-timers that they were with the 7-4 record and four-game win streak, seemed certain they knew the Washington State Cougars, 14-point underdogs and winless in conference, were dead.

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PULLMAN -- Washington State shed a third-quarter meltdown, then scored 21 consecutive points -- the last three on a 27-yard game-winning field goal from Andrew Furney in overtime -- to beat the heavily favored University of Washington 31-28 Friday at Martin Stadium.

Huskies kicker Travis Coons missed a 35-yard field goal as regulation expired, squandering a chance to give the UW (7-5, 5-4 Pac-12) its fourth straight Apple Cup win. The stunner snapped an eight-game WSU losing streak and marked the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in the rivalry's history.

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GAME: Washington (7-4 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) at Washington State (2-9 overall, 0-8 Pac-12 Friday, 12:30 p.m., Martin Stadium, Pullman. MEETING: 105th (Washington leads 67-31-6 ). COACHES: Steve Sarkisian, Washington; Mike Leach, Washington State. RANKINGS: UW 25 BCS. LINE: UW by 11½. TV: FOX national. RADIO: KJR-950 AM, IMG College Sports Network.

Where WSU head coach Mike Leach is concerned, one never knows. Leach said earlier this week that senior Jeff Tuel "will probably" start when the Cougars and Huskies engage. At this point in WSU's season -- the last game -- Tuel's assignment doesn't mean much. He's started several recent games, but hasn't finished any of them.

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At 31-67-6 all-time against their snooty cross-state rival, the Cougars and their alums base a season's success on their ability to beat the Huskies in the Apple Cup. Most cherish a win against the UW more than a newly purchased rack of Schmidt beer.

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The same person who thought that playing the Apple Cup in Pullman at noon the day after Thanksgiving was a good idea, had to be the same one who invented burlap underwear.

How oblivious, dimwitted, insensitive, reckless and addled. How did this person avoid being in the field for the Republican presidential nomination?

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