A Wednesday full of news
COUGARS
Talk about a morning just chock full of news. Today is it. Nothing knock-your-socks-off major, but a bunch of interesting little stuff. Read on.
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• Washington State: Most days the Cougars' football practice has about two or three media members around. We're there, of course, and usually Braulio Perez, a student who works for Cougfan. There are usually one or two television folks from Spokane, who get their interviews and leave early in the practice. And maybe one other person at the most. Yesterday was different. There were so many media types hanging around it felt like a Mariners pregame, without all the whining about Jack Z. All it took was a change in status for the quarterbacks. Fun. ... We had some notes from last night's practice, including a couple on that quarterback situation. ... Our John Blanchette writes about how Paul Wulff is handling the circumstances. ... We also had our Pac-12 notebook in the paper today. ... Freelancer Howie Stalwick writes about the quarterbacks today as well. ... Here is an outsider's view of the Cougars, but he got the final Colorado play backward in his lede. ... ESPNLA looks at the Cougs and I love this quote from Rick Neuheisel in the piece: "Obviously they have stayed the course. They’ve let young players grow in the program and now they’ve reached some level of maturity and they’re making plays. So, it’s no accident that good things are starting to happen for them." Translation: "Stay the course here and good things will happen too." ... ESPN.com's Ted Miller sees the two programs that meet at the Rose Bowl this Saturday night going in opposite directions.
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• Around the Pac-12: Conference games start this week on Thursday night (and will for a while). Here is Miller's take on them. ... One thing about Neuheisel, he's a pony-in-room-full-of-fertilizer type of guy (and if you know that reference, you were alive during the Reagan years). ... Bud Withers writes about the Pac-12's national reputation, but also includes this nugget at the end: "Pac-12 officials erred, the league confirmed, when they ruled a horse-collar tackle against Stanford's Tyler Gaffney the other night on UCLA's Josh Smith. Gaffney yanked Smith down by his flowing dreadlocks, which is legal, if painful." Saw this live on TV and went ballistic in the bar. During the Pac-12 media day, I asked one of the officials about this very type of play and was told it was not a horse collar. Then to see it called. ... Washington: The Huskies stuffed the Utah running game and Alameda Ta'amu played a big part in that. ... Oregon State: The Beavers' schedule finally lightens up some, but if they don't play better, it won't matter. ... Oregon: Last year, the Ducks' final drive vs. the Bears defined the season. Kenjon Barner played a big part in it. ... California: Jeff Tedford has more wins than any Bear coach ever, but he's not beloved. ... The Bears swear there will be no faked injuries Thursday night. ... Stanford: Andrew Luck needs security off the field. He has it on the field. ... Colorado: The Buffs vow to cut down on their penalties. ... Utah: It takes a great attitude to be a great special teams player. ... USC: According to the coordinator, the Trojans' defense is better than it looks. ... UCLA: One Bruin defensive end won't need bucking up from his coach. He's dealt with much worse problems than losing football games. ... Arizona State: The hits just keep on coming for the Sun Devils as another starter goes down. How would they have looked with everyone healthy? Like this. ... Arizona: The Wildcats have a new starter on the offensive line.
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• That's what we have for this morning. Enjoy your day. It's raining here. We'll be back after practice. Until then ...
