Counting down the hours to UW's homecoming match with Oregon State, which will mark the midpoint in the Huskies' season.

My preview story in today's paper deals with the increasing heat between these Northwest rivals -- and especially after last season’s meeting in when Jake Locker was sent to a Corvallis hospital with a concussion. The intensity grew from there, with pushing and trash talk. Four players were ejected, including UW guard Ryan Tolar, who returns to the starting lineup this week.

Here's a look at roughly the same topic from the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Both coaches said they hope none of that will carry over.

UW’s Tyrone Willingham: “There is always some concern about that, especially with the way things happened down there, and who they happened to. I think that has a little impact on that. But we will try to get our guys focused on playing the game, hopefully play it with great emotion but never cross that line.”

OSU’s Mike Riley: “It’ll be a hard-hitting, passionate game. I would anticipate that. I don’t know if there will be any fallout from last year. That’s usually kind of overrated. It’ll be just about these two new teams. There are a lot of the same guys, but a lot of different guys, so I don’t know if there will be any carryover.”

A quick game preview:

OREGON STATE (3-3 OVERALL, 2-1 PAC-10)
AT WASHINGTON (0-5, 0-3)
Kickoff: 4 p.m., Husky Stadium.
Television: Versus. Radio: 950-AM.

The series: Washington leads 57-31-4 overall and 32-18-2 in Seattle. However, the Beavers have won four straight, their longest domination of the series. OSU won last season, 29-23, in Corvallis; and took the last meeting in Seattle, 27-17, in 2006.

What to watch: OSU uses a big-play offense featuring reverses, fly sweeps, screens and a deep passing game. OSU’s Jacquizz Rogders, James Rodgers and Sammie Stroughter are among the top big-play threats in the Pac-10. Hard feelings from last season’s chippy game could carry over for both teams. The Huskies’ resolve will be tested if they fall behind early.

What’s at stake: This is UW’s homecoming game. Washington is the last remaining school from a BCS conference that hasn’t won yet. Another loss would clinch a sixth straight non-winning regular season for UW. The Beavers are looking for their first road win. OSU sees this as a chance to move into the upper levels in the Pac-10 race.

The Huskies begin men's basketball team reports to work today for the first of four practices over three days at St. Martin's University in Lacey.

The practices are closed to media and public, which is the way Romar likes it. Here's a look at that angle, from our sister paper, the Olympian.

And here's my overview preview story from the Thursday TNT.