A drive to ‘Bama awaits

COUGARS

FROM ATLANTA — Our pit stop in this fine Georgia city is almost over, because it’s time to drive into Auburn to take a look around before Saturday’s game. First, we have our usual links to get to, including coverage of the first Pac-12 games of the season.

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—- Our story in today’s newspaper focuses on the football-as-religion aspect of SEC country, with a couple WSU coaches speaking from experience.

—- I did a Q-and-A about the game with Ryan Black of the Ledger-Enquirer.

—- No practice yesterday, so no practice report. We’ll have a series of five questions and answers from a pair of Auburn beat reporters later today.

—- Auburn and WSU are both coached by offensive gurus .

—- More on Leach vs. Ellis Johnson .

—- Auburn doesn’t necessarily need its quarterback to be Superman.

—- Lots of other Auburn stuff from AL.com.

There were two Pac-12 games yesterday …

Utah 30, Utah State 26 — The Utes picked up an important win in their opener, outlasting the team that derailed their season from the get-go in 2012.

USC 30, Hawaii 13 — The Warriors scored a touchdown in the final seconds to cover the spread, but the Trojans used defense to coast in this one.

As for Friday …

Northern Arizona at Arizona , 7 p.m., Pac-12 Networks — Arizona is ready to shake off its jitters and get the season started with what should be an easy victory.

And elsewhere …

—- If you didn’t already think Mike Riley is one of college football’s good guys, read this story and you will.

—- Mark Helfrich has been preparing his whole life to be Oregon’s coach.

—- The Seattle Times reported last night that Austin Seferian-Jenkins will indeed be suspended for Washington’s opener.

—- A junior receiver is finally getting his chance for Colorado.

—- An interview with Arizona State’s Will Sutton.

—- Nevada doesn’t care about its big-time underdog status heading into Saturday’s game against UCLA.

—- Next year’s Big Game won’t be played in Levis Stadium, after all. Imagine that — an athletic department listening to the needs of its fans.

—- Stanford wrapped up its first depth chart .

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com . Twitter: @ChristianCaple