Washington State

This time, Pete Carroll chose not to wait. A week after failing to announce a starting quarterback, and then watching Aaron Corp struggle in a loss at Washington, Carroll said Wednesday that freshman Matt Barkley would return to the lineup Saturday night against Washington State. "He's going to give us the best chance to win right now," Carroll said after practice. Barkley was sidelined last week because of a bone bruise in his right shoulder, an injury suffered against Ohio State on Sept.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley is not completely healed. Neither is safety Taylor Mays . But a day after announcing that Barkley would start Saturday night against Washington State despite a sore shoulder, Coach Pete Carroll on Thursday made a similar call regarding Mays, who is recovering from a knee sprain. "He's ready to go," Carroll said. Mays, though, said it was "50-50," and that it might be a game-time decision. "I think I'm going to play unless something goes wrong," he said.

Jake Harfman finally started doing double duty and it paid off for USC on Saturday night in its 27-6 victory over Washington State at the Coliseum. Harfman, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, has handled kickoffs all season, but Coach Pete Carroll installed him at punter in place of Billy O'Malley , who was averaging 37.3 yards a punt. Harfman punted three times and averaged 46.3 yards a kick. But his biggest play came in the first quarter after the Trojans took a 13-0 lead on Matt Barkley 's 29-yard touchdown pass to Brice Butler . Instead of kicking it deep, Harfman rolled an onside kick and recovered the ball before it hit a Washington State player.

Reeling from a deluge of torrential rain and melting snow, much of the Pacific Northwest became a virtual island Thursday as massive flooding and avalanche conditions cut off most major transportation arteries. Workers struggled to open a possible 400-mile detour around a waterlogged 20-mile section of Interstate 5 near Chehalis in southwestern Washington. Seattle was cut off by road and rail from Portland to the south, and snow blocked most mountain passes to the east.

Aron Baynes had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Washington State erased a second-half deficit to beat Oregon State, 61-57, in overtime Thursday at Corvallis, Ore. Caleb Forrest's two free throws to open the extra period gave the Cougars a 52-50 lead, their first advantage since a 30-29 lead with 1:30 left in the first half. Washington State (10-6, 2-2 Pacific 10 Conference) never trailed in overtime.

All the time Nic Wise and his Arizona teammates have spent shooting free throws lately paid off in a 106-97 victory over No. 23 Washington on Thursday night at Tucson. The Wildcats (13-8, 3-5) set a McKale Center record by making 41 of 51 free throws in the game, 34 of 40 in the second half. Wise scored a career-high 29 points and was 14 of 14 at the line. He had eight free throws down the stretch as Washington (15-5, 6-2) closed a 16-point lead to 91-88 with 1:51 remaining.

If anything is a certainty here, it is rain. Blinding sheets, gentle showers, a slow drizzle in the trees -- it comes in different forms almost every day. The Hoh Rain Forest on Washington's Olympic Peninsula gets more precipitation than anywhere else in the continental United States, up to 14 feet a year. Floods happen so often on the Hoh Indian Reservation that the wood-plank structure housing its administrative offices is permanently surrounded by sandbags, as are several buildings nearby.

Justin Dentmon scored a career-high 30 points and freshman Isaiah Thomas had 25 as No. 23 Washington handed No. 14 Arizona State its second consecutive home defeat, 84-71, on Saturday at Tempe, Ariz. Washington (16-5, 7-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference) led by 19 points twice in the second half before Arizona State got to within 74-68 when Derek Glasser made three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt with 1:58 left.

Some of the nation's most sophisticated military submarines are based in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, an inlet of islands, peninsulas and harbors that is worryingly vulnerable to terrorist attack from a furtive diver or brazen suicide swimmer. But the Navy's plan to use a squadron of highly trained dolphins and sea lions to patrol and protect the submarine fleet is running into opposition from those who fear the glacier-fed waters of the sound are too frigid for warm-water dolphins.

Led by the starring foursome of Isaiah Thomas, Justin Dentmon, Quincy Pondexter and Jon Brockman, Washington ran over Oregon, 103-84, Saturday afternoon at Seattle and took a 1 1/2 -game lead in the Pacific 10 Conference standings. The foursome each topped the 20-point mark, led by Thomas' 24 points. Dentmon finished with 21 points, same as Brockman, who also tied his career high with 18 rebounds. Pondexter had 20 points, the third time he has scored 20 or more in Washington's last four games.