Roundup: Fake representatives for USC

There are always a ton of names that get thrown around when a school is conducting a coaching search – some legitimate candidates, some not so legitimate. This link is for the latter: Fake representatives are contacting coaches on USC’s behalf (nobody does it better than The Ripsit Blog). That’s just… a weird thing to do.

Ever since it has been reported that Condoleezza Rice would be a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee, many have not been so supportive of the former Secretary of State. This includes someone from her own native backyard of Alabama, as former Auburn head coach Pat Dye said “all [Rice] knows about football is what somebody told her.” That’s a pretty blanket statement, but in some non-ignorant news, Trent Murphy and Ty Montgomery were named Pac-12 Players of the Week for their efforts on defense and special teams, respectively.

Super Mariota was the Offensive POTW, but the bigger talk around Eugene right now is Colt Lyerla’s decision to skip town, and Ted Miller writes that Lyerla leaving Oregon is addition by subtraction for the Ducks.

Balance is cool, but the Beavers understand Brandin Cooks gives them the best chance to win; hence No. 7 getting a bunch of touches on Saturdays.

As the esteemed Vin Diesel once told me (and millions of movie-goers), it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. I think Ted Miller would disagree with that, however, because he thinks sometimes close does count, especially for Washington after it lost by three on the road at No. 5 Stanford.

First it was Kelvin York, then it was Bubba Poole, then it was Lucky Radley, then it was York as the go-to guy in the Ute backfield. So many options for Whittingham/Erickson/Johnson to choose from, so York, Poole and Radley are all vying for time at running back.

The Arizona air game hasn’t been as effective this year with injuries in the receiving game and a new quarterback, but wide receiver David Richards hopes to fortify the passing attack as he continues his return from an injury that held him out the first three weeks of the season.

Wanna know Todd Graham’s message to the Arizona State football team? Forget the 3-2 start and focus on the rest of the season. Still a Pac-12 South title and Rose Bowl berth to play for. And, ICYMI, the Sun Devils snapped Stanford’s 73-match home unbeaten streak in women’s soccer on Sunday.

Guess the injury bug wasn’t done picking on the Golden Bears, because now cornerback Stefan McClure is out for the season with a knee injury and will have surgery.

The Golden Bears might be struggling, and the Bruins might be playing very well, but UCLA doesn’t want to get caught looking past California with trips to Stanford and Oregon on the horizon. After all, Cal did trounce the Bruins last year 43-17.

Might have been hard to see with them giving up 57 points and all, but the Buffs’ defense is making progress despite the ugly numbers.

So GameDay is coming to Seattle for the Washington-Oregon game, and CougCenter is debating whether or not Cougar fans should flood the ESPN GameDay set at Washington. At the very least, you’ll know the WSU flags will be in attendance.

Hey, Czech this out: For The Win, a USA Today site, ranks the Pac-12 as the best conference in college football.