Arizona State
Arizona State at Wazzu is a file of 3 stories. The newest of them: “The Pac-12 chaos bowl math for Cougs to sort”, “Palouse Hoops Is Back: Cougs, Vandals Set Two-Year Series”, and “Ace Glass trades Crimson for Gold as fourth Coug exits Pullman”. The math for the Cougs right now is quantum physics, and not the fun kind. The Battle of the Palouse is back on the hardwood, and this time it's got a two-year guarantee. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Arizona State story on Wazzu, newest first.
The Pac-12 chaos bowl math for Cougs to sort
The math for the Cougs right now is quantum physics, and not the fun kind. Jon Wilner's latest bowl projections lay it out cold: Washington State needs five wins in five games just to get to six and be bowl-eligible. That's not a stretch run. That's a Hail Mary from your own end zone with no time left. The rest of the Pac-12 legacy schools are sorting through their own chaos. UCLA and Utah are undefeated, Oregon has two losses, and somehow Oregon State is a juggernaut with a path to the College Football Playoff. Five legacy schools are one win away from locking in a bowl. The other seven, including the Cougs, are doing calculus, trigonometry, and long division just to see if they can get to six wins. For Wazzu, the answer is probably no. Wilner suggests the Cougars should turn their attention to 2027, and he's not wrong. They've already flipped play-callers and quarterbacks. There aren't many cords left to pull. You can read more about one of those tough tests ahead in "Boise State's offense is the test WSU's D hasn't passed yet." But here's the thing: even if the bowl math doesn't add up, you still show up on Saturday. You still yell. You still wear the flag. Because being a Coug was never about the math. Go Cougs.
Palouse Hoops Is Back: Cougs, Vandals Set Two-Year Series
The Battle of the Palouse is back on the hardwood, and this time it's got a two-year guarantee. Washington State and Idaho have agreed to a home-and-home series, with the Cougs hosting at Beasley on Nov. 27 and the Vandals returning the favor early in the 2027-28 season in Moscow. That last part matters. The game hasn't been played in Moscow since 2021, when WSU won by a series-record 109-61. Idaho fans probably remember that one. They also remember last year, when the Vandals walked into Pullman and won 83-81. This rivalry is the oldest continuous college basketball rivalry in the country, running every year from 1906 to 2021. Then a Pac-12 rule killed the streak. The league wouldn't let its teams play opponents ranked too low in the NET over a five-year period. Idaho wasn't ranked high enough. So the series sat for a year. It came back in 2023, and now it's locked in for two more. WSU leads the all-time series 168-115. The Cougs are coming off a 12-20 season in their first year of the new Pac-12, with an overhauled roster. Idaho just won the Big Sky Tournament and made its first NCAA Tournament in 36 years, then lost most of its roster too. Both teams are rebuilding. That makes this year's game harder to call, which is exactly why you want to be there. If you're already thinking about hoops, check out the news that the Cougs get Duke in Palm Springs this November.
Ace Glass trades Crimson for Gold as fourth Coug exits Pullman
Ace Glass is gone. The freshman who dropped 40 on Arizona State in Maui, broke WSU's single-season scoring record, and shot 88% from the line is taking his game to Vanderbilt. He announced it Friday. That makes four Cougs out of the ten who hit the portal who have found a new home, and this one stings the most. Glass was the guy last season. 16.4 points per game, All-WCC second team, all-freshman. He scored in double figures in all but five games. He hit a game-winning and-one against LMU at home. He was the reason you kept watching when the season went sideways. Now he's heading to the SEC to play with Tyler Tanner, who just got Vanderbilt back to the Tournament for the first time in nine years. The money part is real. Glass was a four-star who originally signed with Texas A&M. When Buzz Williams left, he reopened things and chose WSU for the family feel. This time, Vanderbilt likely made him an offer the Cougs couldn't match. That's the world now. But the roster isn't empty. The Cougs have added five new guys, including a D-II guard who averaged 20 points as a true freshman. We've got more on that in the piece about the Providence guard who just committed. Go Cougs.