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Just three conference games left, but still a lot that’s undetermined. 1, Oregon — No change at the top, with Ducks and Beavers waiting for Thursday to settle the Civil War and the Pac-10 title. In the interim, George Schroeder of the Eugene Register-Guard had an interesting column detailing how Oregon officials hoping the crowd behaves Thursday. 2, Oregon State — Whole key to Civil War may be this — OSU leads the Pac-10 in run defense at 98.5 per game, Oregon in run offense at 231.4. Whichever team stays closest to their trend coming in wins the game, probably. 3, Cal — Still no official word on whether Jahvid Best will try to play this week vs. Huskies. But Shane Vereen has been almost as good in his place, now with 738 yards on the season. 4, Stanford — Toby Gerhart should at least be invited to New York. Hard to imagine many players more valuable to their team than he is. 5, USC — Pete Carroll’s play call at the end of the UCLA game last night continues to draw conversation. My take on this one? Once UCLA called time out, anything was fair game. My take on the issue of running it up? When it’s two conference teams going at it, teams are entitled to play the full 60 and if one team can’t stop the other, oh well. If you want to remember it for motivation in future years, go ahead. But teams get 12 chances a year to play. If they want to use all 60 minutes of those to throw, call reverses, whatever, that’s up to them. Read more…

Sorry for the late start to the blogging day. Got an early start to the rest of it, heading out to the Macy’s parade . But we’re back and ready to work a little while. … — First off, a note that Vincent de Paul is conducting a blanket and coat drive at the game tomorrow. About 100 volunteers will be accepting blankets, coats and cash donations, starting at noon. Donations also accepted at local St. Vincent de Paul sites. More info svdpseattle.org. — For my main story for today’s paper , I wrote about WSU walk-on David Gilbertson , son of former UW coach Keith. Included is some updated info on Keith Gilbertson, who makes it clear he hopes to coach again next season in some capacity. — Steve Kelley wrote this column on what Steve Sarkisian should say tomorrow. — Here are the The Spokesman-Review’s WSU notes , as well as a short story on UW’s Cameron Elisara and his ties to the Cougars — seems like more instances of players on one side or the other with interesting ties to the other this season. — BetUs.com lists UW as a team on the “up and up” and says the Huskies may have a better immediate future than Michigan. — LuckyLester says “the Dawgs win and they win BIG.” — Ted Miller has his daily links — and for once, I think I know the movie he’s quoting. — And even more Pac-10 links from Ken Goe. — This has nothing to do with the Apple Cup, but Nick Daschel has an interesting story on the “myth of Autzen Stadium,” breaking down the numbers and showing that it hasn’t been such an impossible place for opponents to win as many might presume. I’ll be back with my pick in a little while, though if you’re still really wondering which way I’m leaning, I’d say I’ll be in LuckyLester territory.

Tuesday night usually means a long recap of the Steve Sarkisian radio show. But if you listened tonight, you know there’s not much real news to recap. It was an especially jocular show that included a costume contest and visits from Marques Tuiasosopo and defensive line and special teams coach Johnny Nansen . Sounded fun if you were there, but not a whole lot to really transcribe. But here are a few notes: — Sarkisian said Tuesday’s practice was “intense. … it was chippy, it was energetic, a lot of excitement and energy in the air, which is the way you want it to be in November.” — He said of E.J. Savannah that “it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to go.” — Asked about the Kavario Middleton comments of Monday, he repeated what he had said earlier in the day that it shows the team is still young growing up. He said that his players have “got to find a way to be comfortable in these types of settings and what to say and how to say it.” He that Middleton wishes he hadn’t said it but that he gave him credit that when he was asked about it “he didn’t back down and held his ground.” But he pointed to comments made earlier this year by Chris Polk and Quinton Richardson and said that “we are still learning how to answer tough questions when we get asked them” and that the coaches are continuing to try to prepare the players how to deal with the media. In other words, sounds like lots of years of boring quotes ahead. — He said he doubts that such comments really impact a game at all, saying “bottom line, those words don’t mean anything. It’s about playing the game.” He said the emotion that can be revved up from such comments can work both ways — either getting a player up for a game, or getting him so worked up he’s distracted. He said what really matters is preparing each week in practice and being mentally focused on game day. — Nansen talked a lot about playing for WSU and being on the other side in this rivalry, and facing Corey Dillon — he said he hosted Dillon on his official visit to WSU (which reminds me that Mike Price once told me that Dillon told him at the end of the trip that he was going to commit to WSU. Price said that was the last time he ever talked to Dillon until hearing that Dillon had committed to UW, instead). — Nansen said having played at WSU didn’t enter his mind when offered the job at UW by Sarkisian. “You couldn’t ask for a better person to work for,” he said. “When he called me, I didn’t even think about it.” IN OTHER NEWS. … Read more…