Eastern Washington will be hooked up against a Big 12 Conference power for the second week in a row on Saturday when he takes on Colorado in Boulder.

You can read an unedited version of the game advance that will appear in Saturday's S-R -- along with some additional comments from head coach Beau Baldwin and some of his players -- below.

The Eastern Washington football team is playing up for the second straight weekend but its not backing down.

The Eagles aren't predicting a win, but they will play with confidence.

COUGARS

What have we got for you on this fine Friday? An early morning post here in Spokane, with some links and a couple of answers to questions. What more could you ask for? By the way, after being down on the Martin Stadium turf yesterday, two things hit me: The new scoreboard is pretty cool (a Laz-E-Boy and a beverage at the 30 facing west would be just about perfect) and the sun is going to be a pain Saturday for the passing game of the team marching east in the third quarter.

General manager Tim Speltz liked the Spokane Chiefs’ puck possession on Thursday night.

He also like the end result – a 3-1 Chiefs victory over the Everett Silvertips at the Tri-City Americans tournament in Kennewick.

More below...

I'm reasonably certain that GU fans aren't out there desperately surfing the net, trying to find out the final score from Thursday's charity basketball game at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

But it's either post this write-up now or wait 'til the morning. We're opting for tonight.

So click below to read an unedited article about an entertaining game. And come back tomorrow for some thoughts from Austin Daye, who spent a few minutes courtside.

Due to the Lakeside football field being vandalized early in the week, the Eagles have changed their home opener to an away game against Quincy.

VANDALS

As promised, I'm posting the Vandal notebook that will appear in tomorrow's S-R. Keep reading for the story, which focuses on Jayson Bird's ties with Idaho, Idaho State and a current member of the Vandals.

COUGARS

We are on our way back to Spokane for the evening, but before I leave I wanted to post the unedited version of the notebook that will appear in tomorrow's S-R. Read on.

While we wait and wonder how good the Greater Spokane League is going to be, we no the greater number of football teams are on the other side of the state.

The Seattle Times took its comprehensive look at the larger leagues including this interesting story on a sought-after Bellevue player

We officially kicked off the 2008-09 school year on the Washington/Idaho combined Prep Page today.

Click here to read Greg Lee's column, which includes football predictions and an abbreviated version of Panhandle Picks.

PRAIRIE VOICE: This week, we take a look at the Post Falls, Lakeland and Timberlake volleyball teams. Coming Saturday in the Handle Extra, we'll take a look at the Sandpoint, Lake City and Coeur d'Alene volleyball teams.

With Colorado well aware of the Big Sky Conference (see Montana State, 19-10, 2006), Eastern Washington (see Texas Tech comments from last Saturday) and knowing that nationally people are eyeing this game as a real possibility for an upset (see S-R Big Sky notebook today), the Eagles can't sneak up on the Buffs ... can they?

COUGARS

Good morning. We have a lot on the plate, so let's get to it. It's already Thursday morning and another Saturday football feast is waiting to be served.

The Idaho football team has done all it can to forget the 70-0 loss to Arizona last week. Read on for a few comments from players and coaches.

COUGARS

For your reading tonight, we have our unedited version of the Cal-oriented feature we'll have in tomorrow's S-R. Plus we have some notes from today's practice. Read on.

At this point in the exhibition season last year, the Spokane Chiefs had three wins and zero losses.

This season the Chiefs are 1-2 after dropping two of three games at last weekend’s Everett Silvertips tournament. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that the Chiefs preseason record – through the first three games anyway – wasn’t the top priority for new head coach Hardy Sauter.

Sauter said that winning games will be a little more of the focus when the Chiefs take on the Silvertips today and Tri-City on Saturday at the Tri-City Americans tournament in Kennewick.

Keep reading for the rest of my unedited notebook that will run in tomorrow's Sports section. I'll have team preview capsules from beat writers around the league after this weekend.

At least one writer for ESPN The Magazine feels Eastern Washington has a good shot at upsetting Colorado in Boulder on Saturday.

But if that happens, don't look for the Eagles to be all that surprised.

You can read more as part of an unedited version of the Big Sky Conference football notebook that will appear in Thursday's S-R below.

And here's a link to the story mentioned above.

Click the tab below to see this week's Idaho high school football rankings.

You'll also find at the bottom of the rankings the records for every team in the state, separated by conference. A tip of the hat to Dan Thompson of Pocatello who came up with the idea of sharing records throughout the state.

We have a great group of media in this state that works together for the good of the preps.

The anticipated opening football game of another school year is tomorrow night when new-look league champion Ferris plays North Central. Two big games on Friday are the Mead-Mt. Spokane rivalry and Gonzaga Prep at East Valley. Not only do they determine a pecking order, but are a chance to see how good the two 3A schools can be

Who will finish where? Here's your chance to pick 'em.

Eastern Washington football fans, at least the ones we hear from, are a little giddy. They're very pleased with the way the Eagles, after a shaky start, settled down and battled a ranked Texas Tech team.

And, since Colorado, isn't a ranked team, maybe, just maybe, an upset can make this pay-day game a win-win situation.

The discussion question planned this week is: Did Montana State's win at Colorado two years ago help or hurt EWU chances?

COUGARS • UPDATE: 10:30 A.M.

The first day of practice for Cal had some high points – one of Reid Forrest's punts had a hang time of 4.34 seconds, or the approximate time it takes me to run a 40 – and low points – Andrew Roxas' knee injury, which may be just a sprain, darkened the mood early. The rollercoaster is typical for a Tuesday. Read on.

I can't believe I forgot to post this, but when two readers asked a couple of questions earlier about the Spokane Chiefs recent addition in the crease and word on who the new assistant coach would be, I realized I never linked to my notebook from last week.

My apologies, and here is the link - it ran last Friday. I will be writing a notebook tomorrow for Thursday's paper, which I will post an early version of tomorrow evening. There's also more below.

COUGARS UPDATED: 6:40 P.M.

Before we head out to practice, we're going to share our Pac-10 notebook with you (it will appear in tomorrow's S-R). We're also going to share your question of the week we asked Paul Wulff and his answer. Read on - for the update as well.

Plenty of tidbits to kick off the week before Eastern Washington heads to the FBS Bank in Boulder, Colo., this weekend.

There are Big Sky Conference players of the week, the BSC weekly report, national players of the week, the Top 25, story and rankings - with the Eagles hanging tough with a respectable showing at the FBC bank in Lubbock, Texas - and a weekly wrapup from The Sports Network and another from College Sporting News.

COUGARS UPDATE: 10:20 A.M.

The day after the holiday – or is it just the day after Monday? – doesn't hold much in the way of WSU news for the casual fan. Even after searching, we couldn't find much. So we added something else. Read on.

UPDATE: Missed this in the morning, but adding it now. Our Rich Roesler had a story out of Olympia on UW's stadium plans and the opposition from some.