Pac-12 notes: From afar, Washington State providing Houston with relief, well wishes

PULLMAN – Even 2,000 miles away, the Washington State Cougars are doing their part to provide relief and lift spirits in Houston, Texas.
Flooding from tropical storm/Hurricane Harvey has left catastrophic damage in the southeast corner of the state and more than 30 fatalities have been linked to the excessive rainfall, which has been measured at 50 inches in some places.
Kirkland Parker, the only Texan on the Cougar roster, hails from Houston and a number of other WSU players and coaches have connections to the region.
Coach Mike Leach has ties to just about every county in the Lone Star State, having spent 10 seasons at the helm of the football program at Texas Tech. Leach said Tuesday the Cougars had donated supplies and clothing to former WSU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, who’s organized a drive on behalf of his University of Houston hoops program.
Sampson, who spent 10 years in Pullman as both an assistant and head coach, made a call for help on his Twitter account on Monday. He requested that colleagues of all levels – men’s and women’s high school, junior college, NCAA Division I, II and III, and NAIA – ship 20 school-branded T-shirts and 10 pair of shoes to the UH basketball center.
Leach and the Cougars obliged without any hesitation.
“I know a ton of people in Houston and it’s a really tragic event,” the WSU coach said. “… They’re certainly all in our prayers as far as fighting through it and persevering and I know that Houston will. Houston is one of the most resilient cities that I’ve ever been in. But I know it’s tough times now and I know there’s better times ahead.”
It wasn’t clear on Tuesday how the storm impacted Parker’s family, although the nickel posted “Praying for my city!!” from his Twitter account on Monday, along with two photos of the Houston cityscape.
Outside linebackers coach Roy Manning was in contact with a first cousin who’d been flooded out of the city and forced to take shelter inside a church.
“He sounded in good spirits and so I’m going to trust that they’re in good hands,” said Manning, whose former college roommate also resides in Houston.
“If you go around the team everybody probably someone affected by that,” Manning said. “All we can do from here is hope for the best and the message to our players that may have family or loved ones, control what you can control because you can’t do a whole lot from here.”
A war of wideouts
It’s called the Rocky Mountain Showdown, but this year’s Colorado-Colorado State rivalry game might as well be the Wide Receiver Rumble.
The Buffaloes are concerned about the Rams’ Michael Gallup, for good reason. The aptly-named Gallup caught 11 passes for 134 yards during a 58-27 rout of Oregon State in the season opener. He caught 76 passes for 1,272 and 14 touchdowns in 2016.
“He can track the ball well and they use him a lot of different places to get him open and get him the ball,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said Tuesday on a Pac-12 teleconference call. “He’s an excellent, excellent player.”
CU will trot out some strong receivers as well: Shay Fields (845 yards in 2016), Devin Ross (765) and Bryce Bobo (523).
Preparing for the unknown
One of the two quarterbacks starting in Sunday’s rematch between UCLA and Texas A&M is a well-known commodity – a bona fide Heisman Trophy contender whose team will likely go as far as he takes them this year. Anyone who calls themselves a college football fan knows about Bruins starter Josh Rosen.
And A&M’s No. 1 guy? Well, that’s anyone’s guess. Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin has been coy about who he’ll start and it’s likely UCLA finds out when everyone else does: on Sunday at the Rose Bowl. It could be junior Jake Hubenak, it could be freshman Kellen Mond, or it could be another rookie, Connor Blumrick.
“A little bit, yeah, all those guys bring a little bit something different to the table,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said on the conference call. “Have different skill sets, different levels of experience. So we have to be prepared for any of three.”
The Bruins do know one thing. It won’t be Tyler Bruggman, the former WSU QB who’s now at his fifth school (WSU, Louisville, Scottsdale CC, Montana State, Texas A&M) and didn’t crack the depth chart as of the top four signal-callers at A&M.
Sumlin and Mora met this weekend last year, when the Aggies edged out the Bruins 31-24 in overtime at College Station, Texas.