College football season finally kicks off
COUGARS
Two Pac-12 teams opened their 2011 season last night, with one really happy with a rout and the other, not so much. Read on for more on that, plus Washington State news.
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• Washington State: We covered most everything about the Cougars' Thursday on our post last night, but here's another link to our story concerning the strange nature of tomorrow's game. ... The Times' Bud Withers has this feature on B.J. Guerra, one of five WSU players who were with the Cougars when Bill Doba was their coach. ... We had our summary of coach Paul Wulff's press conference in last night's post and Cougfan has its summary here. ... Five things CougCenter is looking for this weekend.
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• Around the Pac-12: As we alluded to in our opening paragraph, there were mixed results last night despite both conference teams winning. It's mainly about expectations, isn't it? ... Bud Withers looks at the upset candidates in the conference's first week. ... An examination of the schedules. ... There are more people talking about the Big 12, the Pac-12 and Oklahoma. ... Washington: The Huskies first leap into the FCS pool isn't displacing much water. ... The UW seniors kept the flame burning. ... Oregon State: James Rodgers' knee is progressing. ... Oregon: Calling Saturday's game with LSU the Willie Lyles Bowl, now that's funny. ... The two coaches couldn't be any more different. ... Terrance Mitchell has fast shoes to fill. ... California: The Bears want more out of their running game. ... Stanford: The Cardinal have five freshmen who will play a lot. ... Colorado: Nothing to pass along today. ... Utah: We mentioned expectations. Most casual football fans don't realize how good a top-notch FCS school can be. And Montana State is a top-notch FCS school right now. Still, Utah's 27-10 home win over the Bobcats didn't inspire much confidence. ... USC: With only hours before the season opener, the Trojans lose an assistant coach. ... UCLA: Speaking of confidence, this columnist doesn't have much in Rick Neuheisel. ... The Bruins know what they are getting in Houston. ... Arizona State: As expected, the Sun Devils roll over UC Davis, 48-14. The Aggies are not one of those top-notch FCS teams right now. ... Vontaze Burfict was near-perfect.... Arizona: Right now, a freshman is starting at outside linebacker.
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• That's it for this morning. The Cougars have their final walk-through this afternoon then are off to the hotel for the night. We'll have some final notes and links before we crash this evening as well. Until then ...
